Bank of England policymaker Adam Posen believes inflation will plunge to 1.5% by the middle of next year. His expectation is for a much sharper fall than his fellow policy members. The American economist is so certain of his prediction that he has threatened to step down from the Committee, when his three-year term ends [...]
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has provided a gloomy assessment for UK unemployment, suggesting it could hit a 17-year high of 2.7 million next year. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show UK unemployment at just over the 2.5 million mark – at a rate of 7.9%. However, [...]
Influential think tank, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), has today said the world is not in danger of a double-dip recession. Despite this, it has revised its growth forecasts downwards, now predicting that the global economy will expand by 3.5% this year and 3.4% next year. Down from the 3.7% and 4.1% [...]
Britain has a one in three chance of going back into recession before 2012 because of the government’s spending cuts, a Legal & General economist has claimed. James Carrick said the government’s growth forecasts are too optimistic, and said the economy’s health is not as strong as many investors believe. “The government forecasts private sector [...]
UBS has today said it is predicting a net profit of SwFr2.5 billion (£1.5 billion, $2.4 billion) for the first three months of 2010. The prediction comes ahead of the Swiss banking giant‘s shareholder meeting on Wednesday and the stock gained more than 3% in Frankfurt following the announcement. UBS is among one of the [...]
Recent increases in the purchasing managers index (PMI) should not be taken as an indication that Britain is entering a strong recovery, one expert has claimed. Vicky Redwood, economist at Capital Economics, said economic recovery will be “sluggish” over the next two years. She made the remarks despite conceding that PMI data released this week [...]
A double dip recovery in the housing market is unlikely according to investment company Assetz. According to the Halifax and Nationwide, house prices have been rising over the last few months but many experts are predicting that house prices will fall again, resulting in a double dip (or a W-shaped recovery). Last month, the Ernst [...]
Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered Bank, is predicting that interest rates could remain at historically low levels for many years to come. Interest rates currently stand at 0.5% – the lowest level since the Bank of England was established over 300 years ago. According to Mr Lyons, it is quite likely that the [...]
Property prices will “really start to improve” in 2010, a housing market expert predicted this week. Peter O’Donovan, head of mortgages at Bestinvest, made the remark following predictions by the National Housing Federation(NHF) that the housing market will not fully recover until 2014. The NHF’s forecast, which sees house prices continuing to fall through 2010, [...]
There is bad news today with regard to UK jobs after the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) warned that 334,000 jobs will be axed across the business services sector by 2011. The study suggests that the credit crunch and recession will result in more than half of the jobs that were created in [...]
Hometrack is predicting that UK house prices will fall by a further 10% during 2009, with the decline continuing in 2010 but slowing to three per cent over the year. The property intelligence website estimates that the average cost of a home has fallen by a modest 9% this year, compared with Nationwide at minus [...]
Such is the state of the UK housing market and economy that Halifax and Nationwide are opting out of making house price forecasts for 2009, although Halifax blames its merger with Lloyds TSB for its abstinence. Both lenders will continue to publish their monthly indices, which in the case of Halifax showed a 14.9% annual [...]
M&S Money launches 3% cash ISA
M&S Money has launched an Advantage Cash ISA paying 3 per cent, and which allows transfers in from other ISAs. It can be opened with a minimum deposit of £100 lump sum followed by minimum monthly deposits of £25. The 3% rate is variable, but there is no short-term bonus so the return won’t plummet [...]
Google suspends UK Compare Mortgages site
Google has closed its UK mortgage comparison site which it launched in July last year, after it proved to be less popular than expected. Mortgage comparison sites are designed to allow visitors to compare mortgages quickly and easily without having to visit each lender’s individual site. Google was competing with several well-established comparison sites, including [...]
AA launches ‘black-box’ policy for young drivers
The AA is launching an innovative car insurance policy called Drivesafe which could help younger drivers save up to £850 a year. Younger drivers already pay substantially higher premiums than other motorists and these costs are increasing. A new study by Confused.com suggests insurance costs for younger driver have gone up by 5.7 per cent [...]
ATOL scheme updated to protect online bookers
ATOL, a financial protection scheme managed by the Civil Aviation Authority, is being extended to protect up to six million more holidays a year. The scheme ensures that holiday makers do not lose out financially if a travel company collapses, and that they are not stranded abroad. An increase in the number of holidays booked [...]
Home repossessions lowest for four years
The number of UK homes repossessed fell to 36,200 in 2011, significantly below the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ forecast of 40,000, and lower than 2010 when 37,100 homes were repossessed. With interest rates remaining low and lenders adopting a sympathetic attitude to customers in financial difficulty, repossessions fell to their lowest level since 2007. However, [...]
Monthly pay lasting just 17 days
Workers are running out of money just 17 days after receiving their monthly pay, according to new research by the Halifax bank. This means that the average UK worker spends half the month worrying about money. The study, based on the responses of more than 2,000 adults, found that 10 per cent of workers start [...]
Women disadvantaged by auto-enrolment changes
Government proposals to increase the auto-enrolment threshold to £10,000 could put 1.8 million women at risk of missing out on a pension, the TUC has warned. Under the auto-enrolment scheme, which will be phased in from October, private sector employers will automatically enrol workers between the age of 22 years and the state pension age, [...]
Emergency household repairs company Homeserve is taking longer than expected to get back on track after its operations were suspended last October. The company expected customer numbers to fall by 5% this year but it has increased this estimate to 8% and announced the loss of 200 jobs. It estimates that renewal revenue in 2013 [...]
Sale rumoured for Yorkshire and Clydesdale banks
There is growing speculation that National Australia Bank (NAB) may sell Yorkshire Bank and Clydesdale Bank after the Australian parent company announced a strategic review of the two banks’ operations. The Australian economy is performing well and NAB reported strong profits for the final quarter of 2011 but with the UK economy at a virtual [...]
More women experiencing debt difficulties
Women in Debt, which offers female-focused debt advice, has warned that the number of UK women facing serious debt has grown significantly over recent years. The organisation believes that more women will need advice on solving debt problems in the future because they are building up an unsustainable level of indebtedness. Women in Debt’s director, [...]
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