Financial news

• UK's £1 trillion export target is a big stretch, says trade minister

  18-01-2016 22:38 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Exclusive: UK would have to treble of growth 'at a time when world trade is shrinking' to hit target
  
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• Motor insurers form alliance to tackle driverless cars

  18-01-2016 22:00 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Britain's biggest motor insurers have joined forces to respond to the rise of driverless cars, as the technology threatens to turn their industry upside down and hit profits
  
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• Stocks turmoil: FTSE 100 hits three-year low after oil falls through $28 - as it happened

  18-01-2016 21:30
  
  All the latest economic and financial news, as world markets continue to gyrate amid fears over China’s economyEuropean markets sag after early rallyStiglitz: China fears are overblownJapan on brink of bear market
  Oil falls though $28 after Iranian santions lifted6.42pm GMTAnd on a final note, tough negotiations between debt-stricken Greece and its creditors over further cost-cutting measures has once again – alas - got off to a rocky start as the role of the International Monetary F
  
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• The tragic decline and fall of the UK's steel industry

  18-01-2016 21:25 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  A visitor from Mars would be forgiven for thinking that the UK's energy policy is deliberately designed to shut down our manufacturing industry
  
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• Investors eye growing number of online UK estate agents

  18-01-2016 21:25
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's resilient property market is fuelling increasing numbers of online estate agents, and investors are warming to a new business model whose fees often undercut those of traditional estate agents.
  
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• Italian bank shares plunge, sparking ban on short-selling

  18-01-2016 20:37 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Investors are nervous about how the sector will cope with lower interest rates and a €200bn pile of loans
  
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• Tata job cuts: unions attack lack of government action

  18-01-2016 20:24
  
  Government pledge to help steel industry condemned as rhetoric after Indian company cuts further 1,050 UK steel jobsThe government faced renewed calls to tackle the crisis engulfing the British steel industry after the UK’s largest steelmaker announced more than 1,000 job cuts. Tata Steel announced plans to axe 1,050 jobs, including 750 at the UK’s largest plant in Port Talbot, south Wales, as it warned that cheap imports from China were endangering the European steel industry.Contin
  
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• Only stiff tariffs on Chinese steel will reinforce UK producers

  18-01-2016 20:21
  
  China’s top 101 steel producers, most of them state-owned, lost about £7.7bn during the first 10 months of 2015, although their exports have grownHands up, who wants to open a trade war with China to protect the UK’s and the European Union’s steelmakers? The sad truth about the crisis in the UK steel industry, where Tata Steel yesterday cut 1,050 jobs, including 750 at its Port Talbot plant, may be this: in the current climate, nothing less than stiff tariffs on imported
  
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• Kipper Williams on BT's drive to hire 1,000 extra UK call centre jobs

  18-01-2016 20:10
  
  BT is to recruit 1,000 UK staff after repeated customer complaints about dealing with call centre staff located in Bangalore and DelhiBT hires 1,000 UK staff after complaints over Indian call centresContinue reading...
  
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• Changes show ITV is focusing on the bigger picture

  18-01-2016 20:07 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The management changes look designed to try to give more impetus to the ITV Studios operation, particularly in the US
  
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• Ultra-low interest rates could be here to stay, says Bank of England adviser

  18-01-2016 20:01
  
  Monetary policy committee member Gertjan Vlieghe says debt, demographics and distribution of income could all depress interest rates for years to comeThe prospect of ultra-low interest rates persisting for years to come has been conjured up by a leading Bank of England policymaker after a further fall in oil prices and shares in London sinking to their lowest level since late 2012.Gertjan Vlieghe, one of the nine members of Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee, the body that set
  
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• Big Society Capital invests in affordable homes

  18-01-2016 19:47 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The social investment firm has put money in Funding Affordable Homes, which hopes to invest £500m over the next three years
  
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• Steep decline in confidence exposes issues with 'Northern Powerhouse'

  18-01-2016 19:37 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  London and the South East surge ahead of the North once more
  
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• UK economy could be in stronger shape if Bank of England had cut rates below zero, says official

  18-01-2016 19:32 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Gertjan Vlieghe argues that introducing negative interest rates in response to the crisis may have led to a stronger economic recovery
  
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• Questor share tip: William Hill faces tough year

  18-01-2016 19:32 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The outlook for the gambing sector is uncertain as governments makes a tax grab and new entrants online increase competition, says Questor
  
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• Sir Stelios to oppose pay deals at easyHotel

  18-01-2016 19:25 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The entrepreneur said his campaign against remuneration is 'not just about salaries, this is about growing profits'
  
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• FTSE closes at three-year low amid global sell-off sparked by oil plunging below $28 a barrel

  18-01-2016 19:15 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The FTSE 100 hit its lowest level since November 2012 as oil price volatility and concerns about demand for metals wreaked havoc on Britain's benchmark index
  
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• From Specsavers to Tesco, the cost of glasses on the high street compared

  18-01-2016 19:15 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Our table shows the cost of basic glasses and various enhancements at the major opticians' chains
  
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• BT could be forced to divest Openreach after buying EE

  18-01-2016 19:11 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Forced spin-off of BT's broadband is 'more likely' after its £12.5bn purchase of phone company EE was approved, ahead of major industry review
  
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• The self-employed will overtake the public sector with the 'gig economy'

  18-01-2016 19:01 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  People who work for themselves are going to become an ever-more powerful economic and political force
  
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• Trust in British business hits post-recession high

  18-01-2016 19:00 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The percentage of university-educated, high-income individuals who trust UK plc jumped to 60pc from 52pc last year
  
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• FTSE closes in the red amid global sell-off sparked by oil plunging below $28 a barrel - live

  18-01-2016 18:29 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Japanese stocks hit one-year low on Monday morning after Middle East saw more than £27bn wiped off stocks as Tehran enters oil war
  
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• Banking Standards Board yet to outline any banking standards

  18-01-2016 18:17
  
  Industry board set up to bolster reputation of financial sector has not issued any advice despite being set up nine months agoThe Banking Standards Board, established to bolster the reputation of the industry, has yet to issue any standards nine months after formally being created.
  The body, chaired by Dame Colette Bowe, was the industry’s response to the public backlash against bankers unleashed by the £290m fine imposed on Barclays for Libor rigging in 2012. Continue reading...
  
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• BT hires 1,000 UK staff after complaints over Indian call centres

  18-01-2016 17:57
  
  Telecoms group says 80% of calls will be answered in the UK by December after its customer service was ranked among worst in the industryBT will recruit 1,000 staff in the UK after customers complained that that they did not like speaking to staff in Indian call centres.The group said as a result of this feedback, it would ensure that at least 80% of calls were answered from the UK by the end of the year, up from more than 50% currently. Continue reading...
  
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• Stelios Haji-Ioannou poised to block easyHotel chiefs' pay deals

  18-01-2016 17:40
  
  EasyGroup chairman urges hotels group to adopt lean overheads policy as he steps up war against high executive wagesSir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is poised to block pay deals for directors at easyHotel, in the latest battle of his war on high wages.The billionaire investor has objected to the rewards on offer to directors at several companies in which he owns a major stake, including easyJet and Fastjet, the low-cost African airline. Continue reading...
  
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• Our pension reforms will give everyone a better retirement

  18-01-2016 17:35 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The new state pension will be better for women, while nine million workers will benefit from 'auto enrolment'
  
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• Hundreds of Bakkavor jobs at risk as Tesco axes mashed potato contract

  18-01-2016 16:50
  
  Ready-meal firm begins 45-day consultation with 280 agency staff and 30 employees about potential job lossesUp to 300 jobs are at risk at London-based ready meals company Bakkavor Meals after it lost a contract to supply Tesco with mashed potato.Bakkavor – one of the UK’s biggest ready meals companies, which provides prepared foods from salad to pizza and stir fries to all the major supermarket chains – has begun a 45-day consultation with 280 agency staff and 30 employees abou
  
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• Homebase brand to disappear as £340m sale agreed to Australian group Wesfarmers

  18-01-2016 16:49 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Home Retail Group sells DIY chain, clearing the way for Sainsbury's to renew bid for Argos
  
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• Friends Reunited website to close after 15 years

  18-01-2016 16:36
  
  Though it has been around since Mark Zuckerberg was just 15 years old, one of the original social networking websites is to closeFriends Reunited was a pioneer of social networking when it launched in 2000, but on Monday founder Steve Pankhurst announced its closure.In an emailed entitled “the sunset of an era”, Pankhurst wrote that “the world is now a very different place” and that Friends Reunited is no longer able to compete with Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Contin
  
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• FTSE back in the red amid global sell-off sparked by oil plunging below $28 a barrel - live

  18-01-2016 16:28 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Japanese stocks hit one-year low on Monday morning after Middle East saw more than £27bn wiped off stocks as Tehran enters oil war
  
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• Tata Steel's last attempt to revive Port Talbot

  18-01-2016 16:18
  
  Management hopes the job cuts will identify whether it is worth pumping in more cash than the £300m it has already spent on modernisationSo this is what the last roll of the dice looks like. A further 1,050 jobs are to go at Tata Steel, including 750 at Port Talbot.The South Wales steelworks is Britain’s biggest, accounting for about a third of the country’s total annual production of steel. Continue reading...
  
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• How to boost British productivity and save the NHS all at once

  18-01-2016 16:00
  
  Unipart boss John Neill reckons he has the answer to the UK’s industrial doldrums. So he’s off to Davos to tell everyone, George Osborne includedAs George Osborne heads down to breakfast in Davos this week, he should brace himself for a lecture along with his muesli.John Neill, the businessman who spread the Japanese concept of “lean manufacturing” around Britain, wants a word with the chancellor about the UK’s woeful productivity record. He is on a mission to chang
  
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• Big banks still have a problem with ethics and morality

  18-01-2016 15:33
  
  The biggest compliment you can get in the City is ‘professional’. It means you do not let emotions get in the way of work, let alone moralsAmid all the misunderstandings about global finance, the idea that bankers are a bunch of coke-snorting evildoers on the model of Gordon Gekko or the Wolf of Wall Street is probably the most widespread. It is also largely wrong. Worse: this stereotype stops us from seeing the real issue in finance and the publicly listed corporate world generally.
  
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• Local councils guilty of 'softly, softly approach' to rogue landlords

  18-01-2016 15:21
  
  Research shows that authorities received 51,916 complaints about poor living conditions but inspected just 14,043 homesCouncils are taking a “softly, softly” approach to rogue landlords, with only about a quarter of complaints regarding substandard housing leading to inspections, it has emerged.On Tuesday MPs voted down an amendment to the housing bill which would have forced landlords to ensure homes were fit for habitation, with the government arguing that councils already had adeq
  
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• Gourmet Burger Kitchen ad campaign sparks angry backlash from vegetarians

  18-01-2016 15:11 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The chain initially defended the adverts saying: 'We're just channeling our inner-carnivore a little this January'
  
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• Oil price crash: rout reaches $27 as Opec warns US shale will be forced to relent

  18-01-2016 15:00 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Cartel says persistent low prices will finally begin to bite for rival producers, as cost for some barrels of US crude turn negative
  
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• Australian DIY brand Bunnings to launch in UK after Homebase deal

  18-01-2016 14:49
  
  Acquisition of 265 Homebase stores would make Bunnings the second largest home improvement and garden retailer in the UK and Ireland behind B&QWesfarmers is to invest £500m in transforming Homebase into the Bunnings brand over the next three-to-five years if shareholders approve the Australian firm’s takeover of the British DIY chain.Home Retail Group accepted a £340m bid for its Homebase business on Monday, paving the way for a takeover of its Argos business by Sainsbury&r
  
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• Asda to cut 'hundreds' of jobs after weak Christmas

  18-01-2016 14:12 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  The supermarket is expected to have performed worse than its rivals during the holidays, resulting in 200 job losses
  
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• Is your CV failing you? The are 8 important details you might be missing...

  18-01-2016 14:08 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  According to new research, job seekers often prioritise the wrong things when putting a CV together
  
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• Owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks forced to cut float price

  18-01-2016 14:07
  
  National Australia Bank could set value of planned flotation at just £1.5bn compared with previous estimate of £2bn Share market turbulence has forced the Australian owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks to cut the price at which their shares will be floated on the London Stock Exchange next month.The banks – to be known as CYBG – could be valued as low as £1.5bn when they are spun out of National Australia Bank (NAB), much lower than the valuations of closer to &
  
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• Funding a dream project? 'I raised £45,000 from 40 different charities, trusts and businesses'

  18-01-2016 14:01 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Little-known pots of money can fund an adventure, project or degree. This is how to find them
  
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• Financial detox: how to save money on your car

  18-01-2016 14:00 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Katie Morley offers tips on how to cut petrol costs, find the best-value insurance and more
  
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• Davos braces for an influx of digital disruptors

  18-01-2016 13:58
  
  Taavet Hinrikus hopes to shake-up the money transfer market much as Skype disrupted the phone industryTaavet Hinrikus is a disruptor. As the first employee of the internet phone service Skype, he helped spark a revolution in the way people communicate with each other. Now, Hinrikus is aiming to transform the way people move cash around the world through TransferWise, an online money transmission service.The 34-year-old Estonian is plotting his latest revolution from the unglamorous location of O
  
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• Office workers, construction workers and journalists facing 'redundancy' in next few years

  18-01-2016 13:15 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Around 7m white-collar office jobs could be lost by 2020, says the World Economic Forum
  
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• FTSE edges higher amid global sell-off sparked by oil plunging below $28 a barrel - live

  18-01-2016 13:05 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Japanese stocks hit one-year low on Monday morning after Middle East saw more than £27bn wiped off stocks as Tehran enters oil war
  
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• ITV creative chief Peter Fincham quits in executive overhaul

  18-01-2016 13:02 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Broadcaster shakes up top team with Kevin Lygo put in charge on screen as chairman heads for exit
  
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• Asda to cut 200 jobs at Leeds head office

  18-01-2016 12:58
  
  Cuts are on top of 1,360 middle management jobs axed in stores in 2014 as Walmart-owned chain tries to lower costs by £1bn Asda is cutting about 200 jobs at its head office in Leeds after the supermarket endured a tough Christmas trading season.The Walmart-owned business began talking to staff on Monday morning about the job cuts, which it is understood will come from trimming departments across the board. Continue reading...
  
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• Ikea executive: 'We've hit peak home furnishings' – audio

  18-01-2016 12:53
  
  The appetite of western consumers for home furnishings has reached its peak, according to Ikea’s head of sustainability Steve Howard. He tells a Guardian debate on climate change that consumption of many familiar goods is at its limit. Photograph: Jonathan Saruk/Getty ImagesIs business action on climate change believable? - Guardian Live eventWe’ve hit peak home furnishings, says Ikea bossContinue reading...
  
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• Watch out Wickes and B&Q: Bunnings is coming for your DIY customers

  18-01-2016 12:37
  
  The takeover of Homebase by the Australian hardware chain could see simpler store layouts, earlier opening times and a more tolerable shopping experienceB&Q should be worried. News that Homebase is going to be taken over by the Australian hardware chain Bunnings means that the UK is in for a revolution in DIY retailing – and even shopping cuisine.Bunnings is an institution Down Under, famous for its customer service, massive range of products and low prices.Continue reading...
  
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• Tata confirms 1,050 more jobs to go as steel crisis intensifies

  18-01-2016 12:32 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Latest Tata job cuts mean more than 5,000 steel jobs axed as industry buckles under pressure from cheap Chinese imports
  
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