According to the European Central Bank (ECB), bank lending to companies within the euro zone declined for the first time ever in September, sparking fears that weak lending could hind a recovery within the economy. The euro zone, which comprises 16 countries, is still officially in recession and the fall in lending comes at a [...]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) yesterday announced that the US budget deficit could hit a record $1.4 trillion (£877 billion) in the fiscal year to 30 September 2009. The previous record deficit was $459 billion – set last year. The CBO said the forecast federal deficit for the 2009 fiscal year was the highest shortfall [...]
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has today announced its best ever annual results despite the economic downturn. The group, which has more than 700 pubs across the UK, said takings rose 1.2% in the year to 26 July, with underlying pre-tax profits up 13.6% to £66.2 million. The pub operator also reported sales of £955.1 million [...]
Financial services provider Just Retirement this week posted record fourth quarter sales of £234.9 million, up 20% on the previous record. Chief executive Mike Fuller said the result for the three months ending 30th June 2009 was “very pleasing”. “We have also improved our capital position whilst maintaining our rigorous focus on profitability”, Fuller said. [...]
Japan’s core private sector machine orders, a leading indicator of capital spending, fell in May to a record low, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The world’s second largest economy, which is heavily dependent on exports, has been hit by a slump in demand for its products overseas, particularly cars and electrical goods. Exports [...]
Official data released today showed that the world’s second largest economy contracted at a revised 3.8% in the first three months of 2009. Despite the figure being revised downwards, the economy still shrank at a record pace. Meanwhile, the revised figure translates into an annualised contraction of 14.2%. The export-dependent economy, which was once seen [...]
The UK’s unemployment rate currently stands at 7.1% and has risen by 1.3 percentage points since the third quarter of last year, and according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – this is a rate not seen since the early 1980s. Job losses have been particularly rife in the finance and business services sector [...]
Individual insolvencies are at a record high with an average of 330 people going bust everyday, with the latest insolvency data for the first three months of 2009 showing a 19 percent year-on-year rise inclusive of Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and bankruptcies. KPMG has stated that 51 per cent of people entering into IVAs are [...]
As expected the New Zealand central bank Governor, Alan Bollard, has cut interest rates for the seventh consecutive time, as the recession has slowed exports and reduced business investment on the island. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has officially cut interest rates by 0.5 percent to a record low of 2.5 percent. After 18 [...]
Supermarket giant Tesco has announced a pre-tax profit of £3.13 billion – the highest ever full-year earnings reported by a UK retailer. The UK‘s largest supermarket, with a 30% share of the market, said the current year had started “solid” with like-for-like sales (stripping out petrol) in the past six weeks rose by 3.4%. The [...]
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) has revealed that Singapore’s economy contracted by 19.7% for the January to March period – the largest quarterly contraction on record. The MTI said the economy’s performance was much worse than expected and comes despite efforts of boosting economic activity, following the country’s £8.6 billion stimulus package, announced [...]
The latest figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows that the UK will need to raise an extra £39 billion a year for the next five years if the Government is going to balance the books by 2015. This would mean that if the money was to be raised solely through an increase [...]
The latest Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey has revealed that business confidence among major manufacturers in Japan has hit the lowest level ever. The survey of 10,000 companies, which is seen as a key indicator of the health of the country’s economy, revealed that confidence has plummeted to a 35-year low. The world’s second [...]
The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price index has reported that house prices in the US plunged at a record rate in January compared with the previous year. Prices plunged by 19% and represents the biggest fall since the index commenced over 20 years ago. Meanwhile, the closely-monitored index showed prices fell 2.8% in January compared [...]
The US Commerce Department has revealed that US housing starts fell by 16.8% last month – the lowest level since the Commerce Department started collecting data in 1959. The construction of new houses and apartments fell to an annual rate of 466,000 units in January, much less than the forecasted rate of 530,000 by analysts. [...]
Figures from the Federal Statistics Office have revealed Germany’s economy contracted by 2.1% in the fourth quarter of 2008 – its worst quarterly performance since German reunification in 1990. Germany, which is Europe’s largest economy, has been hit by a slump in manufacturing and the Federal Statistics Office said the contraction was led by a [...]
Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) have revealed that the number claiming unemployment benefit in Ireland reached the highest monthly level on record in January. The CSO said 326,100 people made unemployment claims in January, up from 293,100 in December. Meanwhile, the CSO said the unemployment rate increased to 9.2% in January compared with [...]
As recession bites and fears grow over job security, US consumer confidence has plummeted to a record low in January. According to the Conference Board’s monthly consumer index, confidence fell to 37.7, from a revised 38.6 in December, below analysts’ expectations of 39. The figure is the lowest since the New York-based group started monitoring [...]
The US economy continues to struggle and shows no sign of recovery after property prices fell at their fastest rate in the 12 months to October and the country experienced the worst Christmas shopping figures since 1969. The S&P Case-Shiller index (the closely monitored measure of residential property values across the US), said property prices [...]
Phone fraudsters stealing bank card pins
Fraudsters using a phone scam to trick bank card holders into revealing their pin numbers stole £750,000 in the first four months of this year. This is the same amount stolen through this scam in the whole of last year. The fraudster telephones a bank customer, often someone elderly or vulnerable, telling them that their [...]
FSA rules out ban on interest-only mortgages
Speculation that the Financial Services Authority would ban interest-only mortgages as part of its Mortgage Market Review has proved to be unfounded. However, lenders will be required to monitor the performance of the investment product taken out by the customer to repay the mortgage at the end of its term. Investments are performing poorly because [...]
Bank of England may end free in-credit banking
A director of the Bank of England has warned that official intervention could be considered to end the ‘dangerous myth of free in-credit banking’. Andrew Bailey has already spoken out against free banking in relation to the mis-selling of financial products. In a speech made available to media, he reiterated his concern, saying that it [...]
Bank of England votes against more economic stimulus
The Bank of England voted against a further round of quantitative easing, at its latest Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. Just one member, David Miles, voted for further asset purchase to encourage growth in the UK economy, while the other eight members voted to keep the Bank’s quantitative easing programme steady at £325bn. The minutes [...]
Catalogue debt growing says helpline
Calls from people concerned about their debts with mail order catalogues accounted for more than 12 per cent of all calls received by National Debtline last year, compared with just 8 per cent in 2007. More people were concerned about catalogue debt than about payday loans, mortgage or rent, according to the Money Advice Trust [...]
Homeserve faces mis-selling investigation
HomeServe, which provides emergency insurance cover and domestic repairs to households in the UK, is to be investigated by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Issues over the possible mis-selling of household emergency policies were uncovered last October during an internal review at the Walsall-based company. Homeserve’s call centre staff were found to be selling ‘Complete [...]
OFT warns Wonga over debt collection methods
Payday loan company Wonga used aggressive and misleading methods to collect debts from customers, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has found. Wonga sent letter and emails to certain customers suggesting they had committed fraud and threatening to report them to the police if they did not act in the way Wonga suggested. The company [...]
NS&I re-launches investment account
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has re-launched its Investment Account at a higher interest rate than it previously offered. The account now offers 0.75 per cent before tax, compared with between 0.2 and 0.3 per cent previously, depending on the account balance. Deposits and withdrawals on the account can no longer be made at Post [...]
Rightmove reports property downsizing trend
Two in five property owners planning to sell in the next year are planning to ‘trade down’, compared with one in four who plan to ‘trade up’. A survey by property website Rightmove found that moving to a smaller home is the main reason for moving in nine out of the ten regions in the [...]
More people failing to save for retirement
The proportion of people with no pension savings has grown from 20 per cent to 22 per cent over the past year, according to Scottish Widows’ latest survey. The pension provider surveyed 5,200 adults in the UK, aged 30 or over, and earning at least £10,000 a year, for its annual review of pensions. Ian [...]
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