Financial news

• Alarm over RISKS taken in rush to cash in gold-plate pension schemes

  04-01-2018 23:40 via feedproxy.google.com
  MORE baby boomers are set to cash in their gold-plated pension plans this year in an attempt to take advantage of new pension freedoms.
  
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• Trump administration plans to allow oil and gas drilling off nearly all US coast

  04-01-2018 23:17 via theguardian.com
  Ryan Zinke unveils plan to offer leases in Pacific, Arctic and AtlanticEnvironmental groups and some Republicans lead outcry The Trump administration has unveiled a plan that would open almost all US offshore territory to oil and gas drilling, including previously protected areas of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans.
  Ryan Zinke, the secretary of the interior, said a new oil and gas leasing programme, which would run from 2019 to 2024, would make more than 90% of the outer continental shelf
  
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• Dow and FTSE hit record highs as global stock market surges continue

  04-01-2018 20:30 via theguardian.com
  US jobs report boosts Wall Street, services lift UK shares and Japan’s Nikkei rises to 26-year high as as equity markets rally around the worldThe Dow Jones Industrial Average has gone above the 25,000 mark for the first time, on another day of surging share prices on stock markets across the US, Europe and Asia.In the UK the FTSE 100 closed at a record high on Thursday, tracking gains for equity markets around the world on a day when Japanese shares hit the highest level in 26 years.Conti
  
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• 'Melt-up' coinage could signal last hurrah for US stock market

  04-01-2018 20:27 via theguardian.com
  Jeremy Grantham, who dodged the dotcom bubble and US housing crash, now predicts a euphoric ‘melt-up’ before inevitable thud Welcome to the world of “melt-up”, a phrase we could be hearing a lot in coming months. It describes the idea that the US stock market, despite currently looking absurdly expensive by traditional yardsticks, could be set for one last euphoric hurrah before the inevitable crash happens.There are a couple of reasons why the “melt-up” theor
  
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• Unilever to close 160-year-old Colman's Mustard factory in Norwich

  04-01-2018 19:52 via theguardian.com
  Production of iconic brand to be relocated to a new site in the area to retain historical links as Anglo-Dutch company announces shutdown in 2019The factory that has been making Colman’s Mustard in Norwich for nearly 160 years is to close, with the loss of local jobs.Parent company Unilever said the Carrow Works site, where Colman’s has been made since 1858, would shut by the end of 2019. Continue reading...
  
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• UK services grow faster than forecast despite growing Brexit concern

  04-01-2018 16:13 via theguardian.com
  Forecast slowdown in sector not as bad as feared with business growing more confident but British firms say growth remains sluggishBritain’s services sector, including hotels and banks, grew at a faster rate than expected last month, setting the economy on course for its strongest quarter in 2017 despite mounting fears over the challenges ahead from Brexit. A hard Brexit would take Britain out of the EU’s single market and customs union and ends its obligations to respect the four fr
  
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• How to save money and energy in buildings? There's an app for that

  04-01-2018 13:24 via theguardian.com
  Incorporating energy efficiency measures in buildings can increase their value by 9-11%. Now, a new tool helps owners understand what steps to take Imagine you lease over 175 buildings in the Netherlands, including 18th century properties and want to improve their energy efficiency. How do you identify the upgrades that will have the most impact? And what finance is available for making the improvements?“We knew exactly where to invest and what made the biggest differences in energy saving
  
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• Aldi gives pay rise after UK sales exceed £10bn for first time

  04-01-2018 13:14 via theguardian.com
  Salaries to increase by up to 4.6% at German grocer after Christmas sales surgeAldi is increasing pay for store staff after it enjoyed a bumper Christmas with sales up 15% in December.The German grocer said its sales in the UK and Ireland would exceed £10bn for the first time in 2017, after it opened a further 76 stores, taking its total to 762. Continue reading...
  
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• Miniature houses for sale – in pictures

  04-01-2018 13:03 via theguardian.com
  They may be small in scale, but these tiny properties are packed with features – though sadly the prices aren’t also squeezed Continue reading...
  
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• Cost of living squeeze dents UK house price growth

  04-01-2018 10:47 via theguardian.com
  Low mortgage rates and property shortage prevents bigger slowdown, as London prices fall for first time in eight yearsUK house prices increased just 2.6% in 2017 while prices in London fell for the first time in eight years, according to the leading mortgage lender Nationwide.This followed an increase of 4.5% in 2016 and was the slowest rate of annual growth since 2012, as households constrained by falling real pay grew increasingly reluctant to commit to major spending decisions.Continue readin
  
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• Liam Fox’s Pacific plan is toxic. Post-Brexit trade policies need proper scrutiny | Nick Dearden

  04-01-2018 09:59 via theguardian.com
  Joining the dysfunctional Trans-Pacific Partnership would help only big business. There must be transparency and accountability over tradeBrexit can truly work miracles. Now it is suggested that it could even turn us into a Pacific nation. The outlandish suggestion from the Department for International Trade is that Britain could join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a sister deal to the now infamous TTIP between the US and EU.We can leave aside that Britain is nowhere near the Pacific, and
  
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• Poor Christmas at Debenhams prompts surprise profit warning

  04-01-2018 09:07 via theguardian.com
  Department store chain shares plunge after disappointing Christmas sales with plan to bring forward job cuts as part of turnaround planDebenhams shares have plunged 20% after the store chain issued an unexpected profits warning after poor festive sales and a failure to entice shoppers to its post-Christmas sale.The department store struck a gloomy tone as it brought forward its Christmas trading update by a week. It also warned that the current UK trading environment was “volatile and high
  
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• 'Fat Cat Thursday': top bosses earn workers' annual salary by lunchtime

  04-01-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Independent study of pay gap finds FTSE 100 bosses earning more in three days than typical worker will receive in entire yearBosses of top British companies will have made more money by lunchtime on Thursday than the average UK worker will earn in the entire year, according to an independent analysis of the vast gap in pay between chief executives and everyone else.The chief executives of FTSE 100 companies are paid a median average of £3.45m a year, which works out at 120 times the £
  
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