PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS September 2, 2010 LANDLORDS LACKING IN CONFIDENCE Confidence among landlords has dipped for the first time in almost two years. The latest National Landlord Association Optimism Index shows a drop from 51 to 47 points between the first and second quarter. The drop is believed to have been caused by falling house prices and cuts to housing benefits, [...]
Barratt beats forecasts but warns of dip September 8, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Barratt Developments said concerns about the economy and the lack of mortgage finance meant the market for new housing was still challenging as it reported better-than-expected full-year profits. “It’s early days in the autumn-selling season but so far private reservation rates are in line with expectations and prices are holding up,” chief executive Mark [...]
Surveys cast shadow over house pricesa September 2, 2010 HOUSE prices fell much faster than expected last month and construction activity slowed, industry surveys showed yesterday, reinforcing concerns that economic growth will fall off sharply. The strongest quarterly construction growth for decades pushed British economic growth to a nine-year high of 1.2 per cent in the second quarter, but the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index [...]
Surveys cast shadow over house pricesa September 2, 2010 HOUSE prices fell much faster than expected last month and construction activity slowed, industry surveys showed yesterday, reinforcing concerns that economic growth will fall off sharply. The strongest quarterly construction growth for decades pushed British economic growth to a nine-year high of 1.2 per cent in the second quarter, but the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index [...]
Strong recovery requires a rate hike October 26, 2010 So much for the merchants of doom and all of those who, desperate for another fix of cheap money, have been calling for a resumption of quantitative easing. They have all been proved completely wrong. Yesterday’s excellent GDP growth numbers confirm what I have long been arguing: that far from being on the brink of [...]
Crisis must be used to force change November 18, 2010 SOMETIMES, crises are the best way to force through change. Take what has happened to the US car industry. I wish the US government hadn’t bailed out General Motors; governments should not be in the business of helping individual firms in this way. The assistance helped GM’s remaining employees but it unfairly put other companies [...]
Crisis must be used to force change November 18, 2010 SOMETIMES, crises are the best way to force through change. Take what has happened to the US car industry. I wish the US government hadn’t bailed out General Motors; governments should not be in the business of helping individual firms in this way. The assistance helped GM’s remaining employees but it unfairly put other companies [...]
Retail sales hit by tax and inflation October 21, 2010 THERE is a simple reason why retail sales are beginning to fall, and it has very little to do with the Comprehensive Spending review. A triple whammy of limited pay rises, elevated inflation and tax increases have conspired to impoverish most of the public over the past year, a development that has been barely picked [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES F&C OPPOSES US POLITICAL DONATIONS BY NEWS CORPORATION F&C, the UK asset manager, will vote against the re-election of News Corp’s audit committee chairman at its upcoming annual meeting on Friday over the media group’s million-dollar political donations to the Republican Governors Association and the US Chamber of Commerce.“We are concerned to see [...]
Foreclosures dominate bank earnings season October 18, 2010 JUST before third-quarter earnings season kicked off in the US, JP Morgan released a research note on the US banking sector calling banking stocks “attractively valued”. Pointing to improved credit conditions this year, the note was cautiously upbeat, revising near-term estimates upwards. But there was one word missing from the note: foreclosures. In the past [...]