Financial news

• RBS shares on a high as it stays in the black

  27-10-2017 23:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  ROYAL Bank of Scotland shares hit a 21-month high yesterday as it remained in the black for a third straight quarter for only the second time since the financial crisis.
  
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• Tech firms lift US stock markets to record highs

  27-10-2017 19:18 via theguardian.com
  No end in sight for the new dotcom boom as Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft shares soar after results are better than expected US stock markets hit new peaks on Friday after forecast-beating results from the technology companies including Google’s parent company Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft .All three saw their shares soar to record highs in the wake of better than expected quarterly updates, adding billions in revenues and increasing profits compared with the same three-month period in 20
  
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• SPAIN LIVE: Spanish stocks sell off sharply as Catalonia independence rocks Europe

  27-10-2017 18:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  SPAIN is facing its worst financial crisis in decades as its stocks sell off sharply following today’s Catalonia independence parliamentary vote.
  
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• Let’s move to Lincoln: a small city with chutzpah

  27-10-2017 17:30 via theguardian.com
  Lincoln’s used to dusting itself down. That’s the thing about being 2,000 years old: you’ve seen it all beforeWhat’s going for it? For more than 200 years, until 1548, Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest building in the world, the skyscraper of its day. Which tells you all you need to know about this small city in the (mostly) flat lands. It’s got chutzpah. At the time, Lincoln was England’s third city, rich on the cloth trade with Flanders. When its cathed
  
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• 'Shoppertainment': How department stores are becoming 'theatres of dreams'

  27-10-2017 17:24 via theguardian.com
  As high street stores struggle, retailers are turning up the theatrics to tempt customers away from their digital devices“We are the controllers of the funfair, of the rabbit hole ... of the dreams,” cries an eccentrically costumed showman as a three-dimensional kaleidoscope whirls into life.The ride is one of the Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland-themed theatrical “experiences” designed to inject some pizzazz into the opening of Westgate Oxford, the £440m shop
  
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• COST OF Childcare WIPING OUT British workers wages

  27-10-2017 16:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  The cost of childcare is consuming half of UK workers’ salaries while it is ‘impossible’ for single and low paid parents to pay for childcare AND a mortgage.
  
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• Sanlam UK buys Tavistock financial adviser network - International Investment

  27-10-2017 15:13
  International Investment
  Sanlam UK buys Tavistock financial adviser network
  International Investment
  London-headquartered Sanlam UK has completed the acquisition of Cheltenham-based Tavistock Financial's network, following the UK financial regulator's approval of the change of control application. The deal will see Sanlam UK adding to its team – of 60 ...
  
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• Microsoft rakes in £18.6billion in revenue in just three months

  27-10-2017 15:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  MICROSOFT’s revenue rise to more than $24.5 billion in the last quarter, an increase of 12 per cent on the same period last year, the technology giant said.
  
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• The Fed shortlist: who will hold the second most important job? | Jeffrey Frankel

  27-10-2017 14:40 via theguardian.com
  Central bank appointments are usually non-partisan, but in Trump’s America nothing is certain and the president may ditch tradition US President Donald Trump’s administration is expected, by 2 November, to announce its choice, subject to Senate approval, to succeed Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve Board in February 2018. The White House has indicated it is weighing up five potential candidates. Not all of them would be a good choice. The first candidate is Yellen herself.
  
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• Rise in personal debt agreements add to concerns about UK debt

  27-10-2017 14:16 via theguardian.com
  Applications for individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) reach highest level since introduction in 1987British households are increasingly struggling with problem debts, according to alarming official figures, in the starkest indication yet of the UK slipping into the red. Government statistics for England and Wales show applications for individual voluntary arrangements (IVAs) – a means of managing personal debt – reached their highest level since they were introduced in 1987.The s
  
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• Spotify on song as UK revenue rises to £237m

  27-10-2017 14:15 via theguardian.com
  Music streaming service continues to boom ahead of expected IPO, as subscription income rises by 26% Revenues at Spotify’s UK business soared to almost £240m last year, as the popularity of the music streaming service continues to boom ahead of the expected stock market listing of the Stockholm-based company.Total UK revenues at Spotify, which is expected to go public later this year or early in 2018 with a valuation of as much as $20bn (£15bn), rose by 27% to £237m last
  
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• Tracking Ethereum: UK Financial Firm Launches Pension Crypto Investment ... - CryptoCoinsNews

  27-10-2017 14:05
  CryptoCoinsNews
  Tracking Ethereum: UK Financial Firm Launches Pension Crypto Investment ...
  CryptoCoinsNews
  U.K. financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown has launched its own pensions investment portfolio that can track the price of ethereum. The move is to help investors boost their retirement pots. Based in Bristol, the tracker functions on a ...
  
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• JD Wetherspoon denies poppy ban after Twitter hoax causes uproar

  27-10-2017 13:10 via theguardian.com
  Pub chain responds after ‘parody’ account’s post blaming multiculturalism prompts boycott threatsThe pub chain JD Wetherspoon have clarified that it has not banned staff from wearing Remembrance Day poppies, after a spoof Twitter account claimed it had.We do support the Poppy Appeal in all of our pubs. Please ignore spoof sites.- Wetherspoon Official pic.twitter.com/pvmApxvCIN Continue reading...
  
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• We’re starting to fix London’s housing crisis. But the government has to help | Sadiq Khan

  27-10-2017 13:08 via theguardian.com
  A problem of this magnitude cannot be tackled by City Hall and councils aloneLondoners know better than anyone that our city is in the grip of a major housing crisis – they live with the consequences every day. It’s a serious economic issue – the biggest factor in the shocking cost of living in our city and a huge block to improving productivity and increasing growth. And it’s also a massive social issue – causing poverty, health problems, growing intergenerational
  
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• BT to cut £7 off landline rental after Ofcom review

  27-10-2017 13:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  BT is to slash charges for up to a million landline-only customers after the communications regulator claimed the service was poor value for money.
  
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• Confidence in UK housing market falls to five-year low

  27-10-2017 12:52 via theguardian.com
  Halifax survey sounds new warning over health of UK economy with 1 in 5 thinking prices will drop amid rising inflation and looming interest rate hike Confidence in the UK housing market has slipped to its lowest level in five years, sounding renewed warnings over the health of the economy.One in five British adults surveyed by the Halifax bank expect house prices will fall in the next year, in the weakest reading for consumer expectations since October 2012. Young people under the age of 25 and
  
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• Harvey Weinstein sues own company for access to emails that 'will exonerate him'

  27-10-2017 12:39 via theguardian.com
  Producer alleges Weinstein Company has refused to allow him access to his personal files, and says he will pursue legal action for wrongful terminationHarvey Weinstein is suing the company he founded in order to get access to emails he says will exonerate him over claims of sexual abuse.The producer, who has been accused of either sexual assault or harassment by more than 50 women, filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Company in Delaware chancery court on Thursday. According to documents upload
  
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• Uber unveils former banker as new UK chairwoman

  27-10-2017 12:06 via theguardian.com
  Former Bank of England adviser and ex-M&S executive Laurel Powers-Freeling named as new chair of embattled taxi appUber has unveiled former Bank of England adviser Laurel Powers-Freeling as the new chair of its UK operations, as it battles to stave off a ban on operating in London.Powers-Freeling, who was born in the US but took British citizenship in 2003, will oversee operations at the ride-hailing app at a crucial juncture for the business that claims to have 5 million customers in the UK
  
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• RBS heads for full 10 years without a profit

  27-10-2017 11:32 via theguardian.com
  After three consecutive quarters of profits, UK taxpayer-owned bank braces for multibillion-pound US fine over mis-selling Royal Bank of Scotland has reported three consecutive quarters of profits but says it is on track to report its 10th consecutive full-year loss as a result of a US penalty over toxic bond mis-selling that dates back to before the banking crisis.The yet-to-be-quantified settlement with the US Department of Justice over the way mortgage bonds were packaged and sold to investor
  
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• How about getting multinationals to pay their tax, as well as Gary Barlow? | Stefan Stern

  27-10-2017 11:32 via theguardian.com
  The HMRC scored a win by closing down the ‘Liberty’ tax avoidance scheme favoured by celebrities, but it’s corporations who really need the crackdownAggressive tax avoidance. The clue is in the name. It’s not something most of us would attempt to pull off. Tax is the entry fee to a civilised society. Tax revenue allows the state to provide things for all of us that we could not possibly afford on our own. It is efficient, and it is fair.So we should allow HM Revenue and C
  
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• Pound v US dollar: GBP exchange rate tumbles on BoE rate hike speculation

  27-10-2017 11:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound is plummeting against the US dollar again this morning as markets remain cautious ahead of the Bank of England’s policy meeting next week.
  
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• Pound V euro: GBP slips as markets grow jittery over likelihood of November rate hike

  27-10-2017 11:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  GLOOM continues to weigh on the pound today, following yesterday’s poor retail sales data.
  
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• Competition watchdog probes high-pressure tactics of hotel booking sites

  27-10-2017 09:07 via theguardian.com
  Authority turns spotlight on potentially misleading information and investigates if sites are pushing certain hotels on commission basisBritain’s competition watchdog is to investigate hotel booking sites over concerns that consumers are being misled, pressured, and prevented from finding the best deals.The Competition and Markets Authority said it would look into whether sites were using pressure tactics to rush customers into booking rooms, and whether they were pushing hotels based on t
  
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• Government housing benefit climbdown won't help private renters | Dawn Foster

  27-10-2017 08:23 via theguardian.com
  A welcome U-turn on the housing benefit cap for supported housing still leaves private tenants to face crippling rents and being turfed out on the streets Being a Conservative MP must be one of the most thankless, if well-remunerated, jobs currently going in Britain. You spend years working on policy, hammer it into the manifesto, sometimes force it through parliament, then, inevitably, junk it in a cataclysmically embarrassing U-turn.Related: Theresa May performs major U-turn on plans to cap ho
  
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• Sadiq Khan: London needs to build 66,000 new homes a year, up from 29,000

  27-10-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Mayor says developers must stop focusing on luxury penthouses and that 65% of new homes in the capital should be affordableThe mayor of London has accused property developers of constructing “too many luxury penthouses that only the very wealthiest investors can afford” and insisted the rate of affordable house building has to significantly increase.In a new assessment of housing need, Sadiq Khan said the pace of construction should increase from 29,000 homes a year to 66,
  
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• Publicly owned energy minnows take on big six in troubled UK market

  27-10-2017 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Need for new revenue streams and fuel poverty only part of picture behind wave of councils setting up energy firmsA wave of new publicly owned companies is taking on the big six energy suppliers, as local authorities search out new revenue and seek to restore faith in public services and tackle fuel poverty.Islington council last week launched a not-for-profit energy firm, London’s first municipal operator in more than a century, while Doncaster’s energy company will start early next
  
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• Financial regulator and insurers told to seize Brexit opportunities - Belfast Telegraph

  27-10-2017 01:10
  Belfast Telegraph
  Financial regulator and insurers told to seize Brexit opportunities
  Belfast Telegraph
  The PRA has been urged to settle its differences with the sector over the enforcement of the European Union's Solvency II rules. Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury Select Committee (PA). 1 1 Nicky Morgan, chair of the Treasury Select Committee (PA).en meer »
  
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• Debenhams to open gyms and beauty bars in stores to combat sharp drop in annual profits

  27-10-2017 01:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  DEBENHAMS is to open gyms and beauty bars in its stores to boost sales after a sharp drop in annual profits.
  
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