Financial news

• Why ECB president is still flooding the system with cheap money

  23-08-2017 22:17
  While the eurozone is looking healthy, inflation remains subdued – and warning signs remain over the global economyThere was little in Mario Draghi’s comments in Germany on Wednesday to indicate that the European Central Bank plans to stop pumping cheap money in to the eurozone anytime soon.Some expected him to use the platform of a speech to a gathering of Nobel economics laureates and students to say that a long period of growth across the 19-member currency bloc warranted a reduct
  
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• Provident Financial in race to fix technical problems and retain staff

  23-08-2017 20:02
  As lender’s debt collectors threaten to join rivals, company’s financial adviser writes down value of home credit business to zeroThe troubled doorstep lender Provident Financial is racing to fix its technical problems in time to stop staff leaving for rival firms, taking its most lucrative customers with them.Concerns of an exodus came as the company’s lead financial adviser, JP Morgan, wrote down its estimated value of Provident’s home credit business to nothing. Contin
  
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• Chanel owners pay themselves $3.4bn dividend – four times company's net profit

  23-08-2017 19:06
  Despite fall in revenues and profits last year, Alain and Gérard Wertheimer took double dividend they received in 2015 The reclusive billionaire brothers who own Chanel paid themselves a $3.4bn dividend last year.Alain and Gérard Wertheimer, who have run the luxury goods company for more than 30 years, took more than four times the company’s net profit and double the dividend they received in 2015. Continue reading...
  
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• Samsung launches Galaxy Note 8 hoping to extinguish Note 7 memories

  23-08-2017 17:00
  South Korean firm adds dual cameras and infinity screen to stylus-equipped big smartphone flagship to make amends for fire-prone predecessorThe new Samsung Galaxy Note 8, the most important big smartphone in the company’s history, is launching in New York today, hoping to right the wrongs of last year’s “exploding” Note 7 and tempt people away from rivals with a new dual-camera system and massive “infinity display”.The Note 8 looks to rekindle Samsung’s
  
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• What are your experiences of the housing market as a BME person?

  23-08-2017 16:33 via theguardian.com
  We’d like to understand the factors affecting you and explore statistics showing people from BME backgrounds are less likely to own their home
  House prices are still going up around the UK, and despite low mortgage rates increasing numbers of people are locked out of the property market.The problem is particularly acute for ethnic minorities, with figures showing those from BME backgrounds are much less likely to be homeowners than white Britons. Continue reading...
  
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• Pound falls to new eight-year low against euro; Draghi defends QE - as it happened

  23-08-2017 14:59
  Pound hit by Brexit fears as data strengthens euroDraghi says QE and forward guidance have been a successEurozone manufacturing sees best performance since 2011Germany shows strong growth in AugustFrench manufacturing beats forecasts but services disappoints 1.59pm BSTOn the economic front, it was all eyes on Europe today.France saw its manufacturing sector move higher in August but services disappoint, while Germany continued to power ahead. 1.28pm BSTHere’s a nice graphic showing the pou
  
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• Big UK firms face 2018 slowdown amid Brexit uncertainty, study finds

  23-08-2017 13:54
  Profit growth at largest companies is expected to decline as some put plans on hold or move operations elsewhere in EUThe long-term effects of the Brexit vote on the economy will become clear next year when profit growth at some of the UK’s largest companies is expected to drop considerably, according to a new study.
  An analysis of forecasts for 2018 gives a grim view on the future for some of the UK’s biggest companies, with expectations that there will be a marked slowdown. Continu
  
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• If we were to dig underneath our house, how far down do we actually own?

  23-08-2017 12:45 via theguardian.com
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific conceptsIf we were to dig down straight underneath our house, how far down do we actually own? And what legal restrictions would there be, irrespective of ownership?Reini Schuehle, Pontefract, West Yorkshire Continue reading...
  
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• Apple puts brakes on self-driving car project, report says

  23-08-2017 12:27
  Company follows Waymo’s lead in pivoting from full ‘Apple car’ to manufacturing tech to automate already existing vehiclesApple is following the road taken by Waymo, the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Google-parent Alphabet, and downshifting on its still-unannounced self-driving car project, according to a report in the New York Times.The company has been working on its automotive technology under the internal code name “Project Titan” since at least 2014, and onc
  
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• Sexual harassment and the sharing economy: the dark side of working for strangers

  23-08-2017 12:00
  Women working for companies like Uber and DoorDash say they have been groped, threatened and harassed by customers. Their stories highlight how technology connects strangers – and opens the door for abuseWhen a male customer grabbed Melissa’s breast, she didn’t bother reporting it to DoorDash, the on-demand food delivery service that hired her as a driver. She didn’t think the company would care. When a different customer had sexually harassed her a month earlier –
  
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• 'Growth is slowing in the UK, but picking up elsewhere' – experts debate Brexit data

  23-08-2017 11:31
  Two former members of Bank of England’s interest rate-setting committee find consumers continuing to face a squeezeProfessor of economics at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, and member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee from June 2006 to May 2009 Continue reading...
  
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• Brexit economy: outlook positive but rocky negotiations could bring instability

  23-08-2017 11:31
  The latest monthly Guardian analysis finds better news after a volatile start to the year, but potential hazards in the EU exit talksMinisters are preparing for crucial Brexit talks this autumn against a backdrop of better news on jobs, inflation and the public finances as the UK economy displays signs of stability after a volatile start to the year, a Guardian analysis shows. The Guardian’s monthly tracker of economic news shows inflation coming close to its peak and the lowest levels of
  
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• What You Must Know About Safestyle Uk plc's (AIM:SFE) Financial Health - Simply Wall St

  23-08-2017 10:34
  Simply Wall St
  What You Must Know About Safestyle Uk plc's (AIM:SFE) Financial Health
  Simply Wall St
  The direct benefit for Safestyle Uk plc (AIM:SFE), which sports a zero-debt capital structure, to include debt in its capital structure is the reduced cost of capital. However, the trade-off is SFE will have to adhere to stricter debt covenants and ...en meer »
  
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• WPP faces worst year in a decade as advertisers cut spending

  23-08-2017 09:48
  Shares in Sir Martin Sorrell’s advertising group fall by more than 10% as it slashes growth forecasts for second time this yearSir Martin Sorrell has warned of a global economic slowdown as WPP slashed its growth forecast for the second time, leaving the world’s largest advertising group facing its worst year in a decade.Sorrell said the election results in the UK and US, combined with erratic economic conditions in faster-growth economies such as China, had affected the global adver
  
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• Former Lloyds boss Eric Daniels sues bank for withheld bonuses

  23-08-2017 09:41
  Chief executive during £20bn taxpayer bailout is believed to be seeking up to £500,000 in performance-related pay Eric Daniels, the chief executive of Lloyds Bank when it was bailed out with £20bn of taxpayer money during the 2008 financial crisis, is suing the bank for hundreds of thousands of pounds in disputed bonuses.Daniels, who was heavily criticised by politicians during his tenure at Lloyds, has filed a legal claim to try to collect some of his bonus payments that were
  
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• Going underground: number of Britons digging basements soars

  23-08-2017 08:04 via theguardian.com
  Halifax says loft conversions are also booming as homeowners seek to extend properties rather than moveBritain has seen a 183% increase in planning applications for basement extensions, as homeowners barred from climbing the housing ladder by high prices decide to burrow down instead.The number of loft conversions has also risen dramatically, according to mortgage lender Halifax, in a bid to circumvent a soaring property market. However, it is basements that have seen the most rapid growth, with
  
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• Identity fraud reaching epidemic levels, new figures show

  23-08-2017 08:03 via theguardian.com
  Fraud prevention service Cifas says there were a record 89,000 cases of identity theft in the first half of this yearIdentity theft has reached epidemic levels in the UK, with incidents of this type of fraud running at almost 500 a day, according to the latest figures.During the first six months of this year there were a record 89,000 cases of identity fraud, which typically involves criminals pretending to be an individual in order to steal their money, buy items or take out a loan or car insur
  
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• Tempted to start a business while still in a full time job? Here's how

  23-08-2017 08:00
  Finding time and budget to start watch brand Freedom to Exist has been difficult but co-founder Paul Tanner says the benefits outweigh the challengesMy wife Kirsty and I were out shopping one weekend when we had the idea for a business. Kirsty had her heart set on a new watch and we really struggled to find something she liked, at the right price, that would fit her wrist. Another customer in the shop was having the same issues and we wondered if this was the business we had been looking for. St
  
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• Properties near airports – in pictures

  23-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Get yourself connected ... to the rest of the world with these flight-friendly gaffs, from Faygate in Sussex to France Continue reading...
  
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• Our holiday was derailed after InterRail tickets were a no-show

  23-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We ended up having to buy new passes, which left us hundreds of pounds out of pocketWe bought two InterRail global passes for £446.43, and paid an extra £7.90 for guaranteed delivery to our temporary Berlin address by 30 May. We planned to begin our trip from Barcelona a week later. But the tickets didn’t arrive and we had to take our pre-booked flights to Barcelona without them. Unable to find an InterRail customer service helpline, we sent five messages across various online
  
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• Thousands still unable to claim free childcare after HMRC site problems

  23-08-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Nicky Morgan, Treasury select committee chair, to quiz HMRC boss after technical difficulties leave parents unable to access new schemesThousands are still unable to apply to claim free childcare because of technical difficulties with HMRC’s website, a letter to the Treasury select committee chair, Nicky Morgan, has revealed.Morgan said she would quiz the department at the committee’s hearing in the autumn, after the HMRC chief executive, Jon Thompson, wrote to her admitting that 2,6
  
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