Financial news

• Own goal? Robbie Fowler doesn't appear at his own property academy

  08-12-2017 20:04 via theguardian.com
  Wannabe investors on taster session hear plenty of buzzwords – but few secrets from the Liverpool legend himself Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It is playing as we file into the Stephenson suite in the basement of the Hilton London Euston. Thirteen of us have come here to learn the secrets of investing from the former Liverpool and England footballer and – we’re told - “property magnate” Robbie Fowler.
  Adverts for the Robbie Fowler Property Academy picture Fowler and promi
  
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• Last orders: Christmas shopping cut-off dates and opening hours

  08-12-2017 19:59
  Guide to online deadlines for guaranteed deliveries – and word of warning for those hitting the high street on Christmas EveHave you done your Christmas shopping yet? There is still plenty of time to hit the high street but deadlines are rapidly approaching for online purchases. Here is a roundup of retailers’ last order dates for guaranteed delivery before Christmas and, for those who really like to leave things to the last minute, a guide to opening hours on Christmas Eve.Continue
  
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• Housebuilder Berkeley Group posts 36% jump in half-year profits

  08-12-2017 19:59 via theguardian.com
  London-centric builder of upmarket homes ups its long-term forecast after reporting profits of £533m and revenues of £1.6bnHousebuilder Berkeley Group has posted a 36% leap in half-year profits and raised its profit expectations, despite warning of Brexit uncertainty.
  Berkeley, which specialises in building upmarket homes in and around London with average sale price of more than £700,000, reported profits of £533m for six months to 31 October. Revenues were up nearly 14%
  
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• Five reasons the US job market is not as rosy as it looks | Dominic Rushe

  08-12-2017 19:58 via theguardian.com
  On the face of it, the US job market appears in rude health, with unemployment at a 17-year-low. But look beyond the headlines, and it’s not all milk and honeyUnemployment in the US is now at a 17-year low, having grown for 86 months in a row since the Great Recession. Hiring did grind to a halt in September after hurricanes Harvey and Irma tore through Florida and Texas, disrupting some of the country’s most economically important areas.But on Friday, the economy appeared to have sh
  
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• Wealthy Londoners call in Christmas decorators for up to £80,000

  08-12-2017 18:02 via theguardian.com
  Professional events companies have been asked to create winter wonderland displays, even including live reindeerFor many families, coming together to decorate the Christmas tree is the official start of the festive season, but for a growing number of very wealthy people it is just another task to be outsourced to professional help for as much £80,000.
  Calling in a Knightsbridge florist to hang a wreath on your front door and install and decorate a fir tree costs a minimum of £1,500.
  
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• UK financial watchdog explains reports of legal threat over RBS report - Financial Times

  08-12-2017 17:30
  Daily Mail
  UK financial watchdog explains reports of legal threat over RBS report
  Financial Times
  The UK financial watchdog has taken the unusual step of issuing a five-paragraph explanation over allegations made earlier this week that it chose not to publish a contentious independent report into how Royal Bank of Scotland treated small-business ...
  UK's Financial Conduct Authority Statement On RBS GRG Report ...Exchange News Directalle 6 nieuwsartikelen »
  
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• Let’s move to Kelso, Roxburghshire: this is a mighty fine town

  08-12-2017 17:30
  Every street is an architectural delightWhat’s going for it? I’m a sucker for a bit of Romanesque architecture. Even the prospect of a half-ruined tower and a crumbled jamb is enough to drag me several score miles off my beaten track. I’m easily distracted. And so I come to Kelso. Like those in its neighbouring border market towns, Kelso’s abbey is a shadow of its 12th-century self, when it was the richest, mightiest monastery in the region. But even the fragments left be
  
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• Will you be able to afford a flat if you stop buying avocado toast?

  08-12-2017 16:00
  Weighing up your spending isn’t simple: should you invest in making your future better or enjoying life right now?Back in the 1990s, the American personal finance guru David Bach coined the term “the Latte Factor” (these days, it’s a registered trademark) and a money myth was born. You could retire a millionaire, Bach promised, just by forgoing your daily trip to Starbucks and investing the money instead!The only problem is, you can’t. In her 2012 book Pound Fo
  
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• US jobs report: employment shakes off hurricanes, adding 228,000 jobs

  08-12-2017 15:07 via theguardian.com
  Hurricanes Harvey and Irma produced huge swings in job creationFederal Reserve likely to raise interest rates next weekFive reasons the job market is not as rosy as it looks
  The US job market appears to have bounced back from the devastating storms that struck Florida and Texas in the autumn, adding 228,000 jobs in November as the unemployment rate remained at a 17-year low of 4.1%.Hurricanes Harvey and Irma set off huge swings in job-creation numbers, released each month by the labor department
  
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• Car makers drive longest period of manufacturing growth in UK since 1994

  08-12-2017 12:37 via theguardian.com
  Auto exports and pharma output soar, but mining, energy and construction drag down total industrial production, says ONSBritain’s car factories are helping drive the country’s manufacturing production to its longest period of growth in more than 20 years, according to government figures.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said cars made for export and a bumper month for pharmaceutical firms helped output grow for the sixth month in a row in October – the longest unbroken p
  
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• The social enterprise turning plastic waste into currency, for a cleaner ocean

  08-12-2017 12:33 via theguardian.com
  Plastic Bank offers Haiti residents cash or vouchers in exchange for the waste they collect, which then goes on to be recycled into products
  Millions of viewers of the BBC’s Blue Planet II will have seen footage of a turtle trapped in a plastic sack and a pilot whale nursing its dead calf. It’s likely to have died from drinking its mother’s plastic-contaminated milk.The episode prompted environment secretary Michael Gove to tweet: “Still haunted by last night’s #Blu
  
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• The Snowdonian furniture store where all the pieces are falling into place

  08-12-2017 11:27 via theguardian.com
  A pretty coastal town in a remote part of Wales may not be the most obvious location for an interior design shop. Yet, thanks to Facebook and some clever marketing, Pieces for Places is really connecting with its customersBlessed with a pristine beach, a charming high street, and the vast expanses of the Snowdonia national park as its back garden, Barmouth in north Wales is a beautiful part of the world.But, with a permanent population of just over 2,500 and a two-hour drive to the nearest city,
  
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• POUND LIVE: Sterling to USD and euro struggles after Brexit deal but businesses confident

  08-12-2017 09:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  STERLING struggled for direction this morning as traders began to digest the full implications of news of a Brexit breakthrough in Brussels.
  
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• ‘Death spiral’: half of Europe’s coal plants are losing money

  08-12-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  Air pollution and climate change policies are pushing coal-fired electricity stations to the brink, says a new report. Closing them would avoid €22bn in losses by 2030More than half of the European Union’s 619 coal-fired power stations are losing money, according to a new report. As a result, the industry’s slow plans for shutdowns will lead to €22bn in losses by 2030 if the EU fulfils its pledge to tackle climate change, the report warns.
  Stricter air pollution rules and h
  
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• Italian former winery – in pictures

  08-12-2017 08:00
  Toast the good life in this unusual property with stone walls, vaulted ceilings – and a wine press in the kitchen Continue reading...
  
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• GVC and Ladbrokes Coral: David gambles on Goliath | Nils Pratley

  08-12-2017 07:50 via theguardian.com
  Last year’s merger with Coral gave Ladbrokes greater size, but only increased the appeal for the acquisitive GVCLadbrokes Coral’s bosses will try to sound cheerful about the prospect of being taken over by GVC Holdings, the company behind Sportingbet and Foxy Bingo. But, on the long view, this deal would be a corporate humiliation.Ladbrokes is one of the oldest names in British bookmaking and still collects the largest revenues. It traces its roots to 1886 and, under chairman Cyril S
  
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• Four in 10 right-to-buy homes are now owned by private landlords

  08-12-2017 07:01
  Tenants living in homes sold under Margaret Thatcher’s scheme now pay twice the rents charges by local authoritiesFour out of 10 council homes sold under Margaret Thatcher’s flagship right-to-buy policy are now in the hands of private landlords, with their tenants paying more than twice the rent levels charged by local authorities.Freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to 111 English local authorities by Inside Housing magazine reveal that 40.2% of housing stock sold by councils
  
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• Airbnb, Uber, eBay: in this intangible world workers must adapt to survive | John Harris

  08-12-2017 07:00
  As the old forms of physical production fall away, the future looks bright for those who reinvent themselves – and ominous for those who can’tAs descriptions of capitalism go, it’s surely one of the best ever written: poetic, urgent, and as much to do with metaphysics as economics. According to the Communist Manifesto: “Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeoi
  
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• Sports Direct and its staffing agencies paid workers £1m too little

  08-12-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Retailer, Best Connection and Transline named and shamed by government after having to repay £946,000 in totalSports Direct and its employment agencies Best Connection and Transline have been named and shamed by the government for paying workers less than the legal minimum wage, underpaying them by nearly £1m.The companies make up three of the top four underpayers in the latest list published by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Continue reading...
  
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• Jeremy Corbyn to take aim at tax avoidance in speech at UN

  08-12-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Labour leader to promise action on tax havens and attack ‘global scandal’ of wealthy few controlling 90% of resourcesJeremy Corbyn will describe “grotesque” levels of inequality and mass tax avoidance as among the most pressing challenges faced by the world, in a speech at the UN in Geneva.The Labour leader will highlight four main threats faced by humanity: the concentration of wealth and power in a small group, exacerbated by tax avoidance; climate change; the refugee c
  
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• Retirement boost: Pensioners given new lease of life as health and relationships improve

  08-12-2017 01:00 via feedproxy.google.com
  PENSIONERS gain a new lease of life in retirement as their health and relationships with family improve, a new study has found.
  
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