M&S aims to launch banking and loyalty ‘superapp’ in long-term commitment to financial services March 17, 2024 Marks & Spencer (M&S) is reportedly close to a seven-year agreement with HSBC to overhaul its banking division as a financial services and loyalty "superapp".
China’s housing crisis: Chinese home prices fall in February as property woes deepen March 15, 2024 China's housing market displayed continued weakness in February, with new home prices declining for the eighth consecutive month, according to official data released on Friday.
Metro Bank shares tumble on reports it needs £600m to shore up balance sheet October 5, 2023 Metro Bank shares tumbled by more than 20 per cent this morning after reports that the challenger is in talks to raise hundreds of millions of pounds in an effort to shore up its balance sheet. Metro has reportedly hired bankers at Morgan Stanley and Moelis to raise £600m in extra financing, which includes £250m [...]
Food inflation lowest level since last August, as supermarket price wars pay off October 3, 2023 The rate at which food prices increase has fallen to 9.9 per cent in September, down from 11.5 per cent the prior month, and the lowest level since last August, in the latest signal that cost of living pressures customers face at the till are beginning to ease. Shop price annual inflation is now also [...]
Retail sales fall to lowest level in two years as inflation bites November 17, 2023 Retail sales volumes have fallen for the second month in a row — slumping to their lowest level since 2021— as consumers continued to feel the impact of inflation, Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed. Sales volumes fell 0.3 per cent month-on-month in October and 2.7 per cent year-on-year. However, consumers are spending more. [...]
Jeremy Hunt admits National Insurance won’t be scrapped ‘any time soon’ March 7, 2024 Jeremy Hunt has admitted scrapping National Insurance (NI) - as he hinted at in Wednesday’s Budget - won’t happen “any time soon”.
Letters: What’s wrong with renting? May 9, 2022 [Re: We should be creating a Right to Build not reviving more Thatcherite dreams, May 5] Elena Siniscalco is right to criticise the right-to-buy policy, and not just because it reduced both rented housing stock and increased house prices across-the-board: the policy was also one of the main underlying causes of the 2008 crash. The [...]
Spring Budget 2024: Just four per cent of London homes exempt from ‘hefty’ stamp duty fees as pressure mounts on Hunt February 28, 2024 Only four per cent of homes on sale in London are exempt from “hefty” stamp duty charges, as fresh pressure is piled on the UK Chancellor to reform the levy ahead of the Spring Budget next week.
Andrew Bailey, Christine Lagarde and Jerome Powell warn inflation fight not yet done June 28, 2023 Andrew Bailey and the cream of the global central banking crop today warned they may need to keep heaping pressure on the global economy before they can declare victory over high inflation. Speaking at the European Central Bank’s (ECB) annual monetary policy conference in Sintra, Portugal, the chiefs of the Bank of England, Federal Reserve [...]
New UK growth figures to ‘mark the start of a mild recession’ November 6, 2023 New figures out on Friday are expected to show that the economy contracted in the third quarter, raising the possibility that the UK is already in a recession.