General Election 2015: The 10 key points of the Conservative Party manifesto April 14, 2015 David Cameron has launched the Conservative Party manifesto ahead of May’s General Election, promising the “good life” for Brits, with pledges on housing, childcare and increasing the personal tax allowance. At the launch in Swindon, Cameron promised to “finish the job” of fixing the economy and sought to win over voters heading to polling stations come [...]
SocGen leads European banks lower at the close as rout resumes on Deutsche, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS share prices and Credit Suisse hits 27 year lows February 11, 2016 Well that didn’t last long. Europe’s bank shares closed down this evening, led by French bank Société Générale after it announced earlier it may struggle to meet its profitability targets this year. The bank, whose share price slumped over 13 per cent in early trading but managed to scale back loses to end the day down just over 12 [...]
UK house prices: Buyer interest surges in March despite looming General Election April 22, 2015 Home buyer demand surged in the UK during March, as almost 22 per cent more people were hunting for houses than in the previous month. The uncertainty around next month's General Election was expected to dampen demand in the market, but the figures show healthy interest – in line with seasonal trends in a non-election [...]
Buy when there’s blood on the floor: The market chaos of January and February has created a buying opportunity March 9, 2016 There was much to concern investors in the first two months of 2016. Chinese growth has slowed further, and the renminbi devaluation has kept investors nervous that there is a more intense currency war ahead. Commodity prices have remained under pressure, with oil prices hitting the lowest levels since 2003. Closer to home, investors have [...]
Prepare to salivate: John Lewis predicts the 10 things we’re going to go nuts for in autumn/winter 2016 April 22, 2016 Yes, the summer has only just arrived (or has it? Is this really it?) but retailers are already one step ahead of us, forecasting what we'll be buying this autumn/winter. Well it is only 246 days until Christmas. So while you might be daydreaming about which holiday clothes you're going to splurge on, the buyers [...]
Budget 2015: Personal finance groups including Hargreaves Lansdown, St James’ Place and Rathbone’s share price boosted by “saving revolution” Budget March 18, 2015 Personal finance groups were treated to a share price boost this afternoon, after George Osborne unveiled “a saving revolution”. Bristol-based IFA Hargreaves Lansdown led the pack, up 4.8 per cent at pixel time. St James' Place also jumped on the announcements, up 3.5 per cent. Rathbone Brothers's share price was up two per cent, while [...]
Tesco’s getting into vinyl and will start selling records by Coldplay, George Ezra and classics from the Beatles, and Nirvana December 6, 2015 Music fans worried that the spectre of streaming is killing off the music industry, relax – here's one sign that vinyl still holds a place in people's hearts Now, along with supermarket staples such as bread and milk, shoppers can add the sounds of Coldplay, The Rolling Stones and Radiohead to there shopping basket, in LP format. [...]
HSBC provides bounce as FTSE hits new highs – London Report April 27, 2015 THE FTSE rose to another record high yesterday as reports suggesting HSBC will spin off its British retail bank in a £20bn ($30bn) deal boosted stocks. The banking giant was up 3.1 per cent and has already said it is reviewing whether to keep its headquarters in London, given increased regulation and the possibility of [...]
2015 was a record year for new car registrations – but VW has lost January 7, 2016 Everyone's a petrolhead now. The year 2015 was a record year for new car registrations, new figures have shown, with 2.63m new vehicles registered during the year – up 6.3 per cent from last year. That was boosted by December – the biggest on record – during which 180,077 new cars were registered, up 8.4 per [...]
Housing market activity picks up after cooling over winter February 15, 2015 THE AVERAGE London residential property price was 2.8 per cent higher in February than in January, new figures show today. However, the average time it takes to sell has climbed to 69 days, according to the data released by Rightmove. It marks seven straight months of increase in the time taken to sell a property, [...]