Sotheby’s figures beat forecasts as auction house prepares for Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko sales November 10, 2014 Art lovers expectantly awaiting the auction of works by Andy Warhol and Mark Rothko this week have already had an eye-opening surprise from Sotheby’s, the auction house selling the pieces. The auction house’s quarterly figures beat Wall Street forecasts in what is traditionally a quiet quarter for sales. Sales fell 12.7 per cent [...]
Job interview questions from the City’s toughest banks including Barclays, HSBC, RBS, Lloyds, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs January 19, 2016 There's nothing worse than going into a job interview without quite knowing what you're in for. And given that City institutions are notoriously tough on their interviewees, going for a chat at City banks is particularly nerve-wracking. But worry no more: careers website Glassdoor.com has listed some of the toughest questions its interviewers asked potential employees. [...]
London house prices: Housing market cools in capital with July sales drop and slower growth forecast August 14, 2014 London house sales dropped last month as the market cooled, calming fears of a housing bubble in the capital- a trend that’s expected to continue over the next 12 months. The data from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors suggest the market is “going into reverse”, as sales fell for the third month in a [...]
London house prices: Ex-council flat in Covent Garden sold for record-beating £1.2m August 14, 2015 A small two-bedroom flat near London’s Covent Garden has become one of the most expensive council flats ever sold after going under the hammer for £1.2m. Property agent Barnard Marcus said the flat, which is part of Siddons Court, an ex-council mansion block on Tavistock Street, has been snapped up for £1.21m after just six [...]
Pound and euro plunge along with US markets as the Federal Reserve leaves US interest rates unchanged October 28, 2015 The Federal Open Market Committee has held steady and left interest rates in the US unchanged after its two day meeting. US markets have taken a dive as a result, losing the gains from this morning. The S&P 500 was down from highs of 2,083 to 2,065. The Nasdaq dropped from 5,074 to 5,027 and the Dow Jones [...]
Buy into conservation hotspots: Why it’s worth investing in a historical home July 23, 2015 As London’s housing crisis rumbles on, more and more shiny skyscrapers are shooting up. If you find this state of affairs rather unseemly – un-British, even – then buying a home in a conservation area is worth considering. Designated by local authorities for their special architectural or historical interest, there are currently over 8,000 [...]
George Osborne starts £2bn Royal Bank of Scotland sell-off August 4, 2015 Chancellor George Osborne has kick started the government's first sale of shares in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) today, a sale likely to raise £2bn for the government. UK Financial Investments (UKFI), the agency which holds the government's 79 per cent stake in RBS, announced its intention to sell about 600m shares, representing 5.2 per [...]
UK gambling firms bet on strong results – London Report August 23, 2015 UK SALES data and GDP estimates are due out this week, while on the corporate calendar several bookmakers are set to issue results, with both 888 Holdings and its takeover target Bwin.party due to report on Friday. Tomorrow, the British Bankers’ Association will release its latest mortgage approvals data, while on Wednesday, Nationwide will publish [...]
Grocers’ price wars weigh on July retail sales August 11, 2015 RETAIL sales slowed in July from the previous month’s two-year high as the fierce supermarket price wars continued to weigh on the sector. Figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG this morning show that like-for-like UK retail sales were up 1.2 per cent in July compared with the same month last year, when [...]
Falling crude oil prices drop Canada into its first recession since 2009 September 2, 2015 Canada has officially entered a recession, after their economy shrank again in the second quarter of this year, by 0.5 per cent. Plunging oil prices were blamed for putting the country back into recession for the first time since the financial crisis, though the 0.5 per cent GDP contraction beat forecasts. Lower oil [...]