News

Your daily news update straight from the City PM newsroom in London

Bank reports a rise in home loan approvals

November 30, 2009

HOME loan approvals rose in October to a 19-month high as the housing market showed signs of recovery. Banks approved 57,345 mortgages in October against 56,205 in September, the highest since March 2008 and the 11th monthly rise in a row, the Bank of England said. Net mortgage lending rose by £922m in October versus [...]
British consumers repay record amount of debt

November 30, 2009

BRITISH consumers paid back a record amount of unsecured debt in October according to the Bank of England, which reported yesterday that net consumer credit fell by a record £579m in October. This marked the largest monthly fall since records began in 1993 and was the fourth monthly repayment in a row. City economists had [...]
Money supply weakens

November 30, 2009

The supply of money in the UK economy rose in October by 1.6 per cent on the previous month on the broad M4 measure. But the annual growth rates slowed and the Bank of England’s preferred measure of the money supply (which excludes intermediate financial companies)?showed a 0.7 per cent drop, following a similar fall [...]
US data shows economy on track

November 30, 2009

Manufacturing and business activity in parts of the US gathered steam in November, data showed yesterday, keeping the economy on track for recovery, though continued weakness in the labour market will constrain growth, economists said. Business activity in the Midwest and in New York City expanded more than anticipated in November, according to the Institute [...]
Inflation returns to Eurozone

November 30, 2009

Prices are rising again in the Eurozone according to preliminary estimates from Eurostat. Consumer price inflation in the single currency area rose to 0.6 per cent in November from -0.1 per cent the previous month. This marked an end to five straight months of deflation. But the inflation was down to energy-price base effects which [...]
Online organisation tools are the next big thing

November 30, 2009

FREQUENTLY I find myself in discussions on panels where some well-intentioned moderator asks, “when will the advertising market come back?” Sir Martin Sorrell and other advertising executives frequently get quoted on their views on this subject, and overall, most people seem to think that the dip is cyclical, and if we wait long enough, good [...]
Aberdeen set to benefit as mergers near

November 30, 2009

ABERDEEN Asset Management yesterday predicted further consolidation in the fund management sector next year as improving stock markets encouraged investors back to equities. Chief executive Martin Gilbert described the company’s performance over the year to the end of September as “solid” in what had been months of unprecedented turbulence. The company saw an exodus of [...]
Irish banks ask shareholders to support bad bank scheme or risk nationalisation

November 30, 2009

BANK of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks may net €28bn (£26bn) from selling toxic property loans to the country’s so-called “bad bank”. Both banks warned their shareholders to accept the plan to sell the assets at a steep discount to the government’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) or they could face further financial difficulties and [...]
Air travel ascends from doldrums as flyers return

November 30, 2009

AIR travel is slowly climbing out of its sharp descent in the recession, industry figures showed yesterday.Passenger demand last month rose 0.5 per cent on October last year, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Growth is now six per cent above a low in March, when firms and holidaymakers stopped flying in the [...]
St Ives suffers sales slump

November 30, 2009

St Ives, printer of the Harry Potter books, suffered a nine per cent fall in underlying sales in the first quarter but said profitability remained in line with expectations. The printer said the economic outlook remained uncertain with a number of clients cautious about the early part of next year. St Ives, which has cut [...]