How the Budget could affect your personal finances, and what you should do if it does November 22, 2017 Philip Hammond hasn’t got it easy. Putting a Budget together is difficult at the best of times, but with Brexit looming large over the UK, producing a financial plan for our economy is now a hell of a lot harder. In such an uncertain time, how can Hammond hope to offer the stability the [...]
Carrefour jumps on blockchain bandwagon in effort to track food supplies October 8, 2018 Europe’s biggest retailer is to roll out blockchain technology to trace the supply of goods such as chickens and eggs. Carrefour is planning to gradually deploy a blockchain ledger across its fresh product lines over the next several years, in a bid to bolster the security of its global supply chains. The French retailer is employing IBM, [...]
Housebuilder share prices are being pushed lower for the second day: Redrow, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Berkeley Group drop November 9, 2017 Shares in housebuilders tumbled for the second consecutive day this morning, after a double whammy of bad news from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and housebuilder Redrow spooked investors. On the FTSE 100, Persimmon was the biggest faller, dropping 2.6 per cent, but Taylor Wimpey, Barratt and Berkeley Group all slid lower. On [...]
Property withdrawals overtake sales for first time in two years August 12, 2018 More properties are being taken off the market than are being sold for the first time in two years, a new report has found. The findings show that in the second quarter of this year, 51 per cent of properties taken off the market were withdrawn from sale, compared with 49 of residences which were [...]
UK car production falls for third consecutive month in August September 27, 2018 UK car production declined for a third consecutive month in August by 13 per cent, due to model changes and maintenance shutdowns, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has said. Around 89,254 cars were produced last month. Domestic production fell by nearly 40 per cent while exports were down by 3.8 per cent to [...]
Autumn Budget 2017: Treasury understood not to be planning “radical” Budget October 16, 2017 Chancellor Philip Hammond might be coming under pressure to unveil a “radical” – and vote-winning – Budget, but anyone expecting “big, bold” announcements could yet be disappointed. Hammond, who has in the past said “fiscal” is the best word to describe him, is currently canvassing the opinion of hundreds of MPs and other groups, sifting through thousands of submissions [...]
Focus On Vauxhall: Donald Trump might not be keen on it, but international investors dig these skyscrapers south of the river February 2, 2018 Vauxhall got dragged through the mud by no less a figure than the President of the United States recently. The US Embassy’s much touted move to the “off location” was supposedly the reason behind Donald Trump’s cancelled visit to the UK, even though the new building has its own moat. Clearly, tech behemoth Apple didn’t [...]
New homes: What’s on sale this weekend, in Croydon, Highgate, Ealing and Uxbridge November 23, 2017 New developments on the market this week Westgate House, Ealing From £299,000 New homes are being added to this development in west London due to high demand. Developer Galliard Homes will apply next month to build two more floors on top of its building on Hangar Lane, a “growth zone” in Ealing. This would up [...]
UK mortgage lending is (almost) at its highest level since April 2008 September 26, 2017 Mortgage lending rose to its second highest level since April 2008 in August, new figures have shown. The figures, by UK Finance, showed total gross lending rose to £24.2bn in August, up 6.4 per cent from last month. The figure is the highest since March 2016, when an impending hike to stamp duty on buy [...]
Can you compare tulips to Bitcoins? Central banks think so November 28, 2017 “Bitcoin is a sort of tulip”. So said European Central Bank (ECB) Vice President Vitor Constancio in September. For many that might sound like an odd statement to make, but those that know their history – and specifically the history of the stock market – will instantly know what Mr Constancio is talking about. For [...]