Rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today affirmed its “AAA” long-term rating on Britain but maintained its negative outlook on the long-term rating. Following the news, the pound fell to $1.5017 from $1.5068. Commenting on its announcement, S&P analysts Trevor Cullinan and David Beers, said: “The coalition government has set out what we view as [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed the UK economy grew by 0.3% in the January to March period – unchanged from the previously estimated figure, but marginally higher than the first estimate of 0.2%. Analysts had expected GDP to remain unchanged in the first quarter but many economists believe that economic growth [...]
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is tomorrow expected to leave its estimate of GDP in the January to March unchanged at 0.3%. Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a key measure of economic growth, is closely watched by economists as an indication of the health of the economy. The figures were due to be released last [...]
The CIPS/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) has today revealed UK manufacturing activity growth held steady in May, at the 15-year high. The closely-watched CIPS/Markit manufacturing PMI remained unchanged at 58 last month. The index has exceeded the crucial 50 mark, which represents growth, since July 2009 and May’s figure just exceeded analysts’ expectations of [...]
The recovery in the world’s second largest economy appears to be faltering after figures today revealed a fall in industrial output. Japan’s industrial output has fallen for the first time in a year, by 0.9% in February, following strong growth in the previous month, according to official figures. “The first decline in the past year [...]
The Labor Department today revealed the world’s largest economy appears to be under no inflationary pressure as consumer prices remained flat in February, as widely expected. According to the Labor Department, the consumer price index remained unchanged during the month, although prices were 2.1% higher than in February 2009. Meanwhile, core inflation, which excludes food [...]
The Federal Reserve has today elected to keep US interest rates at the historically low level of between 0% and 0.25%, as widely expected. After the one day meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted 9-1 to keep rates unchanged. Interest rates in the world’s largest economy have been at the low level since [...]
The Labor Department has today revealed the US unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7% in February and lower than the 10% rate reported in December. According to the Labor Department, employers cut 36,000 jobs last month – fewer than the 50,000 analysts had been expecting and compares to a revised 26,000 job cuts in January. [...]
The European Union’s statistics agency has today announced unemployment in the 16-member euro zone remained at 9.9% in January. Unemployment rose by 38,000 during the month, leaving the unemployment rate flat at December’s (downwardly-revised) 6-year high of 9.9%. However, the amount of unemployment in the euro zone is at its highest since the single currency [...]
The Bank of Japan has again elected to keep interest rates on hold at the low level of 0.1%, as widely expected. It is anticipated that the Bank will leave rates at the low rate until around 2012 as a result of deflationary pressures. The world’s no.2 economy exited recession in the second quarter of [...]
Official figures have today revealed Germany’s GDP remained flat in the last three months of 2009, with growth unchanged compared with the third quarter. Germany, which is the euro zone’s largest economy, emerged from recession in the second quarter of 2009 after experiencing positive growth. However, in the fourth quarter, GDP fell below expectations of [...]
Eurostat has today revealed retail sales in the euro zone were unchanged in December from January. The figures disappointed analysts who had expected a 0.4% rise in which is traditionally the busiest month of the year for retailers. The latest figures highlight the fragile state of the economy and weak consumer demand. On an annual [...]
The Federal Reserve yesterday opted to keep US interest rates at the historically low level of between 0% and 0.25%, as widely expected. Interest rates have been at the record low since December 2008. However, yesterday’s decision to hold the rate was not unanimous. One committee member, Thomas Hoenig, said economic conditions had changed so [...]
The Bank of Japan has again elected to keep interest rates on hold at the low level of 0.1%, as widely expected. It is anticipated that the Bank will leave rates at the low rate until around 2012 as a result of deflationary pressures. The world’s no.2 economy exited recession in the second quarter of [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the record low of 0.5% – a level which has been in force since March 2009. Furthermore there are no changes to its quantitative easing (QE) programme. In November, the Bank announced that it would pump [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the record low of 0.5% for the ninth month in a row. Furthermore there are no changes to its quantitative easing (QE) programme. Last month, the Bank announced that it would pump another £25 billion into [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is today expected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the historically low level of 0.5% for the ninth month in a row. Last month, the Bank announced that it would pump another £25 billion into the economy under its quantitative easing programme. The amount was [...]
The latest survey from the Nationwide has revealed UK consumer confidence remained unchanged in November from October‘s revised figure. However, the reading of 73 is way ahead of the record low in January of 45 and is at an 18-month high. Meanwhile, the Nationwide’s expectations index, which gauges peoples’ sentiment about the economy, jobs and [...]
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee is today expected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the record low of 0.5% for the eighth month in a row. It is the first meeting since it was revealed on 23 October that the UK economy had not emerged from recession as hoped. Official figures [...]
US Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, has opted to keep interest rates at the record low of close to zero and hinted that they would stay this way for the short-term at least. Despite signs of an improvement within the world’s largest economy, the Fed said that low inflation and high levels of unemployment were [...]
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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