The latest house price index from the Nationwide Building Society has revealed prices rose by just 0.1% in September on a monthly basis. On an annual basis, house prices are now 0.3% lower than this time last year with the average UK home costing £166,256. Meanwhile, when comparing prices in the three months to the [...]
Standard & Poor’s has cut Ireland’s credit rating by one notch to BBB+ from A- citing debt concerns but said further downgrades were now unlikely following recent stress tests. The ratings agency also said the outlook is stable and believes that the Irish economy is “set to gradually recover”. S&P credit analyst Frank Gill comments: [...]
Influential think tank, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has today reported the number of unemployed in the 33-member OECD countries stood at 45.8 million in November. The figure was down 0.3 million from November 2009 but almost 16 million higher than in November 2007. The unemployment rate held steady at 8.6% in [...]
Credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has today expressed its support for the Coalition Government’s handling of the UK economy after revising its outlook on the UK economy to “stable” from “negative” and affirmed its top AAA credit rating for Britain. The revision came on the same day that the Office for National Statistics [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed public sector net borrowing totalled £15.302 billion in August – a record high for the month. The figure was higher as interest payments on gilts rose because of higher inflation. It was also much higher than the £12.51 billion expected by analysts. However, despite this, receipts [...]
Credit rating agency Moody’s has today said the UK’s top-ranked AAA credit rating is safe, as a result of the tough austerity measures, introduced by the coalition Government. Despite slower economic growth, the rating agency said the outlook for the UK’s public finances remained stable. There have been fears that the tough measures, announced by [...]
China’s central bank has refused to bow to pressure to allow its currency, the yuan, to find its own level, after the bank’s website said: “There is at present no basis for major fluctuation or change in the [yuan] exchange rate”. The country’s currency policy has been widely criticised and its comments come just 24 [...]
Moody’s credit rating agency has cut Greece’s credit rating to “junk” status from A3 to Ba1 but said the outlook is stable. Meanwhile, the agency also downgraded the country’s short-term issuer rating to not-prime from Prime-1. According to Moody’s, there was still “considerable uncertainty” surrounding the impact of tough austerity measures implemented to slash the [...]
Wen Jiabao, China’s Premier, has denied his Government is keeping the yuan undervalued after lawmakers and economists said it is hampering a global recovery. Mr Wen argued keeping the yuan stable was “an important contribution” to global recovery and said: “We oppose countries pointing fingers at each other and even forcing a country to appreciate [...]
In its twice-yearly Financial Stability Report, the Bank of England said that over the last six months, the financial sector has become “significantly more stable”. While the Bank acknowledged that commercial banks still had more to do to improve their long-term stability, action taken to strengthen the sector, such as historically low interest rates and [...]
A scarcity of housing is propping up house prices in England and Wales, with growth in demand strongest in southern England. So says housing intelligence firm, Hometrack, as it reports that prices remained stable in June, for the second consecutive month. The market is now showing an annual decline of 8.7%, having eased from 9.6% [...]
Britain’s largest employers’ group, the CBI, has warned today that even though Britain’s economy is showing signs of stability, recovery will not be until early 2010. According to the organisation, the economy will shrink by 3.9% over the course of this year before seeing a return to growth of 0.7% in 2010. CBI director general [...]
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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