Profits looking strong for the financial services industry but outlook remains weak January 18, 2016 Financial services firms reported strong profitability for the last quarter of 2015, although the sector is slightly cautious in its outlook. A survey of 100 financial services firms out today from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and professional services firm PwC has discovered that financial services firms are reporting strong profitability for the three [...]
Overseas regulators increasingly asking the Financial Conduct Authority for assistance, hiking up the compliance burden for UK businesses January 18, 2016 The number of requests for assistance from foreign enforcement agencies received by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has risen over the last year. According to figures released today from City law firm RPC, the FCA received 1,073 such requests in the year to 30 September 2015, up four per cent compared to the year before, [...]
London small business confidence booming but UK north-south divide becomes apparent January 18, 2016 London’s small businesses are in a buoyant mood and are expecting a strong start to 2016, new survey figures published today reveal. In the fourth quarter of 2015, the Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) gauge of confidence – compiled from a survey of 144 London firms – climbed to a score of 25 points from [...]
Oil price rout and Iran sanctions lifting send Middle East markets lower January 17, 2016 Middle East markets have fallen after the lifting of Iranian sanctions and the country's promise to resume crude oil exports. It stokes worries of the market's over supply which has already sent oil prices below $30. The Saudi Tadawul All Share Index fell 5.4 per cent to its lowest since March 2011. The Qatar Exchange, the second largest in the Gulf after [...]
Average pay in Scotland is now higher than England for the first time January 17, 2016 Average pay in Scotland has overtaken that of England for the first time, a new think tank report has found. Average hourly pay north of the border has risen at a faster rate over the past two decades, closing the gap between pay in the two locations. That means average pay now stands at £11.92 per hour [...]
UK economy on track for growth despite global turmoil, EY Item Club forecasts January 17, 2016 Consumer spending will help fuel UK economic growth in 2016, according to new forecasts, painting a more positive picture amid global market turmoil which has wiped trillions from global equities this year. The economy is expected to grow at an accelerated rate of 2.6 per cent in 2016, up from 2.2 per cent last year and previous forecasts [...]
Li Keqiang: China’s economy grew by seven per cent in 2015 with GDP totalling more than $10trn January 16, 2016 China’s economy grew by seven per cent in 2015, said the country’s Premier Li Keqiang today, broadly in line with analysts’ warnings that the world’s second-largest economy is hitting its slowest growth rate in 25 years. Keqiang announced that China’s gross domestic product (GDP) totalled more than $10trn in 2015 when speaking at the opening [...]
New York manufacturing activity index falls to financial crisis-era low January 15, 2016 Manufacturing activity in the New York-area shrank at its fastest pace since the financial crisis. The New York Fed's empire state index fell thirteen points to -19.37 in January, from a revised reading of -6.21 in December. This was the sharpest fall than at any time since the 2007-09 recession. "The new orders and shipments indexes plummeted, indicating [...]
FTSE 100 closes lower on mining stocks as US markets tumble following a sharp drop in Chinese markets and oil prices January 15, 2016 You probably saw this one coming: The FTSE 100 finished the week 1.92 per cent lower, closing under 6,000 points for the second Friday running, as US markets tumbled. The FTSE 100 finished at 5,804 points, pushed down by miners including Anglo American, which finished the day 11.5 per cent lower at 232.7p, Glencore, which fell 6.5 per [...]
Generation Rent is fleeing London as housing costs soar January 15, 2016 Is London bracing for a mass exodus of millennials? The capital’s exorbitant housing costs are hardly news, but a new survey suggests that the situation is getting so bad that more than 80 per cent of London’s twenty-somethings may be sent packing to other parts of the UK. At £1,507, the average monthly rent for [...]