Moody’s: How the oil price rout will affect Saudi Arabia’s economy February 15, 2016 Saudi Arabia will be faced with tough choices when it comes to spending cuts if oil prices fail to recover in the medium-term. Oil prices have fallen around 75 per cent from a high of over $100 per barrel in June 2014. This has heaped pressure on the balance sheets of oil producing nations, such [...]
The UAE is offering India free oil in order to store crude there February 15, 2016 With millions of barrels of oil sitting in tanks and oil fields across the world, the UAE is offering India free oil in exchange for storing the commodity there. Local media reports suggest that the United Arab Emirate's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) has agreed to store crude in Indian's maiden strategic storage, giving away [...]
Bank of England not out of ammunition, says Ian McCafferty February 15, 2016 The Bank of England could cut interest rates into negative territory or resume its bond-buying programme if the economy were to slow, one of its officials has said. “I certainly don’t believe we are out of ammunition,” rate-setter Ian McCafferty told the Wall Street Journal today. McCafferty voted to keep interest rates at 0.5 per cent this [...]
Death of the high street? Don’t be so sure – bricks and mortar shopping still matters February 15, 2016 The ‘death of the high street’ has been a favoured headline for years now, but is yet to actually materialise. Online is certainly growing – on that we can all agree – but we shouldn’t be too hasty in declaring that this is at the expense of everything else. Indeed, new data today from the British Retail [...]
London house prices: South Ruislip the hottest property spot on the Tube map as Crossrail boosts prices in Zones Three and Four February 15, 2016 When you're thinking of the hottest property spots in London, Hillingdon's finest South Ruislip might not be the first location to pass your lips. But the Zone Five station has named London's most in-demand neighbourhood out of the 280 Tube stations on the network, with 75 per cent of available properties selling within the last three [...]
Mario Draghi says ECB is “ready to do its part” on economy as he tries to dampen fears over health of European banks February 15, 2016 European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi has signalled that further monetary policy easing is likely in March. "A general deterioration in market sentiment has taken root and has gathered pace over the last week," he told European Parliament today. "Activity and trade data have been weaker than expected, turbulence in financial markets has intensified and [...]
US economy suffering winter blues as business survey data points to stagnation February 15, 2016 The US economy is currently stagnating, according to business survey figures released today. The sales managers’ index (SMI) compiled by World Economics dropped to a score of 50.8 in February from 51.1 last month. Scores above 50 imply the economy grew compared with the month before, with February’s score pointing to very sluggish growth. Business [...]
UK house prices: Help to buy has boosted the number of houses built and first-time buyers – but it’s not inflating prices, claims government report February 15, 2016 Suffering from misgivings about whether help to buy is really the panacea the government claims it is? A new report published this morning claims it has boosted both house building and first-time buying – but it has not artificially boosted prices. And the report has been published by… er… the government. The equity loan scheme, [...]
Thousands of steelworkers to protest in Brussels for EU action against Chinese dumping February 15, 2016 More than 5,000 European steel workers are expected to gather together to protest in Brussels today, to coincide with a conference on the future of EU steel. The industry is urging EU leaders to stop Chinese 'dumping' of cheap steel, which it argues is giving the Asian superpower an unfair advantage and is putting thousands [...]
Eurozone exports climb five per cent in 2015 as sales to the US soar February 15, 2016 The value of goods and services exported by the Eurozone climbed by five per cent last year compared with 2014. The currency-bloc sold €167.5bn (£129.6bn) of goods to the rest of the world in December, taking the 2015 total to €2.04 trillion, according to data released this morning by Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU. [...]