Coronavirus: Knight Frank and Rightmove call for stamp duty holiday to reignite market April 20, 2020 Estate agent Knight Frank and property platform Rightmove have both backed a stamp duty holiday as part of a package of measures to reignite the housing market after the coronavirus lockdown is lifted. The companies have separately called for a stamp duty holiday to be among a range of measures designed to stimulate the market, [...]
John Lewis closes eight stores putting 1,300 jobs at risk July 9, 2020 John Lewis has announced that it will not reopen eight stores after the UK coronavirus lockdown, putting around 1,300 jobs at risk. The company said this morning that the stores, which includes the department store at Birmingham’s Bullring shopping centre, had been struggling before the pandemic. John Lewis will also close its department store in [...]
Pearson appoints Disney veteran Andy Bird as new chief executive August 24, 2020 Publishing group Pearson has appointed former Disney bigwig Andy Bird as its new chief executive. The company said Bird will take over from current boss John Fallon on 19 October. Fallon will step down from the board but remain as an adviser until the end of the year. Veteran media industry boss Bird, whose career [...]
Weekly outlook, 2-6 November: FTSE heavyweights in spotlight as election day arrives November 2, 2020 It’s election day at last, and while the outcome of Tuesday’s vote in the US will drive the headlines for much of this week and beyond, there’s still a full slate of results and economic updates in store for UK markets. With coronavirus cases now surging at an alarming rate, Boris Johnson has announced a [...]
32 reasons not to invest in the stock market June 28, 2021 Wars, disasters, economic strife, political instability and now a pandemic – the last four decades have challenged and affected people’s attitude towards investing. In many cases they make an already tough decision to commit your money to investments even harder, leading some to not invest at all. Behavioural scientists have a name for this: loss [...]
Navigating the UK’s economic recovery – a sector analysis September 4, 2020 We are living through extraordinary economic times. There is no hiding from the fact that this is a deep recession, and one that provides ample risk for investors. Recent GDP figures paint a gloomy picture and suggest that it will take some time for the economy to fully heal from Covid-19. The good news is [...]
Boris Johnson commits to independent coronavirus inquiry July 15, 2020 Boris Johnson has committed to hold an independent inquiry into the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Johnson told the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions that there would be an inquiry, marking it the first official confirmation that the government’s response would be officially scrutinised. The format [...]
Nice try housing secretary, but your ‘First Homes’ policy will do nothing to solve the housing crisis February 11, 2020 There is a housing crisis in this country. In our cities in particular, the majority of people are spending a significant chunk of their income on rent or are unable to afford to move out of the family home. The idea of home ownership is now a pipe dream for many young people — a [...]
Housebuilders boosted by HSBC stock upgrade February 19, 2020 Shares in housebuilding firms jumped today after HSBC upgraded its view on the stocks, saying the decisive general election result “unleashed pent-up demand” in activity. Berkeley’s share price rose 3.2 per cent to an all-time high this morning after HSBC upgraded the stock from “hold” to “buy”. The bank now has “buy” ratings on all [...]
Democrat sweep to open fiscal floodgates and boost growth January 11, 2021 Democrats have completed a sweep of Congress following the double victory in the state of Georgia’s run-off election. The disturbing scenes of protestors storming Capitol Hill last night may have soured the victory, but nonetheless the Democrat party now have control of the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time since 2009. [...]