The Bank has put the brakes on Funding for Lending – Why not on Help to Buy? December 21, 2013 Threats of an overheating housing market have reached Threadneedle Street, and they’re cutting out the mortgage incentives from the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). This morning Bank of England governor Mark Carney said that “risks to financial stability may grow if there are further substantial and rapid increases in house prices”. FLS was launched at [...]
Rapid boost for UK builders as sector heats up November 4, 2013 UK CONSTRUCTION firms have continued their upward climb during October, posting the strongest one-month improvement to activity since before the financial crisis. According to Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the sector, construction is expanding at the fastest rate since September 2007. The headline figure of the index is 59.4, well above the neutral 50 [...]
Carney worried risks building in housing market November 27, 2013 BANK of England governor Mark Carney has indicated he fears a new bubble could build in the housing market, ahead of the publication of the Financial Stability Report today. In a letter to Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie, Carney said he is preparing measures that could stabilise the market, should his intervention be needed. “The [...]
The West has killed its entrepreneurs and replaced them with bureaucrats February 23, 2014 IF WESTERN economies have lost considerable ground to emerging powers over the last two decades, it is not simply because we lack the cheap labour of China and India or the natural resources of Russia and Brazil. It is because we have killed our own entrepreneurs at a time when our competitors made business creators [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 30 January 2014 January 29, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES 20 years of energy pain for Europe High gas and electricity prices will continue to plague Europe for at least 20 years, damaging the competitiveness of industries that employ almost 30m people, the world’s leading energy forecaster has warned. In findings likely to inflame claims EU climate change policies are damaging the bloc’s [...]
We need to stop playing politics with aviation and go for growth December 11, 2013 IT is time for our political establishment to get its act together and take the tough decisions this country needs. The case in favour of airport expansion is overwhelming. Britain has failed to build a single new full-length airport runway anywhere in the South East of the country since the Second World War (City Airport, [...]
Why higher education is this country’s secret industrial powerhouse December 15, 2013 WHEN considering the powerhouses of the British economy, most people’s minds flick to the City, or perhaps pharmaceuticals or retail. Yet it’s British universities – the envy of the world – which have the potential to save the British economy. Higher education is the UK’s secret industrial powerhouse. UniversitiesUK suggests that our universities are responsible [...]
Rio Tinto leads FTSE on iron ore project savings November 28, 2013 ANGLO-AUSTRALIAN miner Rio Tinto topped the FTSE 100 yesterday morning, after it delighted investors with $3bn (£1.84bn) of unexpected cost cuts to its iron ore expansion project. The company said production capacity at the Pilbara iron ore mine in western Australia would hit the previously announced 360m tonnes per year target at a significantly lower [...]
London house prices barely slowing in 2014 December 10, 2013 HOUSE prices in the capital will continue to soar next year, rising by up to seven per cent, estate agent Marsh and Parsons predicted yesterday. The agency has 18 buyers on its books for every prime London property, well up on the 13.5 a year ago and a level which will keep the market rising. [...]
Where cost matters when investing through an Isa February 18, 2014 Price is only one part of the equation THE END of the tax year is approaching, and Unbiased research has found that UK savers are set to pay an unnecessary £1.1bn in tax in 2014 by failing to move their money into an Isa wrapper. Not only should you make the most of your tax [...]