Financial news

• Puerto Rico to hold firm on condom prices to fight Zika virus

  24-02-2016 21:02
  
  Retailers forbidden to price gouge on items including mosquito repellant, window screens and hand sanitizers The price of condoms in Puerto Rico must remain low so that the island can protect itself from the Zika virus, Nery Adames Soto, Puerto Rico’s secretary of the consumer affairs, has said.
  “Every local store, gas station or business that sells these items must know that [the department of consumer affairs] will be knocking on your doors and closely monitoring this, allowing the
  
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• London luxury homebuilder warns of 'challenging' market conditions

  24-02-2016 20:30
  
  Capco, which is redeveloping the site of Earls Court exhibition centre, sees shares fall amid concerns over a supply glutA developer behind a luxury London housing project has warned of challenging conditions in the capital’s property market, amid growing concerns of a supply glut in prime homes.Capital & Counties (Capco), which is leading the regeneration of the Earls Court exhibition centre in west London, has reported a slowdown in sales of luxury flats on the site. It blamed the we
  
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• EU elites wrongly believe they have perfected government, so we should leave

  24-02-2016 20:16 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Brussels believes in top-down management by the few. As we face unprecedented global problems, that model is proving dangerously misguided
  
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• Buyer of south London basement will have to dig deep

  24-02-2016 14:36
  
  Leasehold for basement space sells for £27,000 at auction, but new owner will need to do the spadework
  It’s well known that you have to dig deep to enter London’s property market, but this lot that sold at auction on Tuesday demands actual spadework.Marketed as “a vacant front basement suitable for redevelopment”, this was one for investors willing to take a risk on getting the right planning consents. Prospective buyers were told, “There will be no internal v
  
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• Corporate partnerships: reaping the rewards without selling out

  24-02-2016 13:23
  
  Age UK’s controversial deal with energy company E.ON has put corporate charity partnerships under scrutiny, but they have benefits as well as risksAge UK’s controversial deal with energy company E.ON that appears to have left many of its customers short-changed has again raised the thorny issue of how charities manage their relationships with business.
  The arrangement, which last year raised more than £6m, is now being investigated by the Charity Commission as well as Ofgem and
  
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• Mortgage approvals 'boosted by stamp duty change'

  24-02-2016 12:15
  
  High street banks report rise in loans for both purchases and remortgages in England and Wales ahead of higher tax on second homes
  High street banks have reported a strong start to the year in the mortgage market, saying buy-to-let investors may be driving some of the growth as they try to complete ahead of higher stamp duty rates in April.The number of mortgages approved by high street banks was up by a third year-on-year in January, with strong increases in both remortgaging and house purchasi
  
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• Global political risks push investors to bulk up cash defences

  24-02-2016 12:15
  
  HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - With the threat of a UK exit from the European Union no longer just a distant prospect, already battered investors are shoring up defensive positions against a host of intensifying geopolitical risks, including a "Brexit".
  
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• Barratt Homes profits rise 40%

  24-02-2016 11:23
  
  Almost a third of sales were made under the government’s help-to-buy programmeBarratt Homes predicted continuing demand for its houses as it announced soaring first-half profits, fuelled by a shortage of homes and the government’s help-to-buy scheme.Pre-tax profits at Britain’s biggest housebuilder rose 40% to £295m in the six months to the end of December as revenues rose 19% to £1.88bn. The dividend was increased by 25% to 6p a share. Continue reading...
  
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• How do you answer Facebook's hiring question about your very best day at work?

  24-02-2016 10:45
  
  ‘On your very best day at work – the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world – what did you do that day?’ social network asks prospective employeesTechnology companies are notorious for favouring impossible job interviews. Google’s questions range from logic puzzles (“how would you weigh an elephant without using a scale”?) to puzzles of a different sort altogether: it asks would-be music curators to put together a playlist that wo
  
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• Rising costs hit hedge fund Man Group's profit

  24-02-2016 10:39
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - British hedge fund firm Man Group said on Wednesday that rising staff costs weighed on its full-year pretax profit, rattling its shares.
  
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• I live in real poverty, and it's not what you think – video

  24-02-2016 08:00
  
  Kathleen Kerridge’s family food budget is £40 per week – to feed five people. She says there is a big gap between the public perception of poverty and what it means for people like her. We should stop talking about poverty, she argues, until we know what being poor in this country really means Continue reading...
  
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• Homes that cost around £350,000 – in pictures

  24-02-2016 08:00
  
  From a Dorset cottage to an Irish island, these properties are great value Continue reading...
  
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• Automation will mark the end of our work-obsessed society

  24-02-2016 08:00
  
  We live in a profoundly work-centred world; if automation is to benefit us we need to ask big critical questions about the purpose and value of our jobs Join us online this Thursday, 1-2pm GMT to debate: Will automation make us happier? At the beginning of The Lego Movie, we meet an average Joe called Emmet. When he’s not working, Emmet spends most of his time sitting on the sofa, listening to the pop song Everything is Awesome (a sort of Lego-world equivalent of Happy by Pharrell Williams
  
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• Why a 'leave' vote will not harm your personal finances

  24-02-2016 01:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  THE Brexit referendum looks set to trigger months of financial turmoil as markets wait to see which way the nation votes.
  
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• EU referendum: Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland want to stay, as Priti Patel says Brexit will cut car insurance for women

  24-02-2016 01:01 via telegraph.feedsportal.com
  
  Priti Patel, a Work and Pensions minister, will say that leaving the European Union will cut 'the cost of car insurance, especially for women' and the price of food
  
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