Financial news

• Millennials being squeezed out of middle class, says OECD

  10-04-2019 20:56 via theguardian.com
  Thinktank says middle-income group has shrunk across 40 developed countries Millennials in advanced economies around the world are being squeezed out of the ranks of the middle class, including in Britain, as pay growth stalls and house prices skyrocket, according to the OECD.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said that for every every generation since the baby boom of the 1940s, across 40 major countries, the middle-income group had shrunk and its economic influen
  
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• Unloved Stagecoach may have a point on rail franchise pension risks

  10-04-2019 20:53 via theguardian.com
  DfT says company knew the rules and has only itself to blame for three disqualificationsGood riddance to Stagecoach and Virgin Trains? Well, the train operating combo is certainly unloved after last year’s debacle on the East Coast mainline. But Stagecoach’s disqualification from three franchise competitions has nothing to do with that episode.This time the company may have a fair point: how can it bid for a rail franchise if it doesn’t know what long-term pension liabilities i
  
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• Sports Direct issues legal threat to remove Debenhams administrators

  10-04-2019 19:51 via theguardian.com
  Lawyer’s letter says adviser FTI Consulting is conflicted and should be removed The Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley has threatened legal action to remove Debenhams’ administrators after his stake in the department store group was wiped out and the company put into the hands of its lenders.Debenhams’ listed holding company entered pre-pack administration on Tuesday, rendering shareholders’ investments, including Sports Direct’s near-30% stake, worthless. Continue read
  
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• Philip Green's Arcadia empire buys back 25% stake in Topshop chain

  10-04-2019 19:44 via theguardian.com
  Survival plan includes dozens of store closures and cuts to pension fund paymentsSir Philip Green’s Arcadia empire has bought back a 25% stake in its Topshop chain from a US private equity firm, as it paves the way for a survival plan that involves closing stores and cutting payments to its pension fund.Leonard Green & Partners bought the stake in Topshop and Topman for a reported £350m in 2012. But by 2017 it had written the value of the investment down to nil, suggesting Arcadi
  
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• How women can invest more ethically | Letters

  10-04-2019 19:07 via theguardian.com
  We need to think hard about the kind of future our money is going to support through our investments, writes Mary Stevens of Friends of the Earth. Plus a letter from Margaret SquiresYour article on why women need to start investing to exercise more control over their futures (Why finance is a feminist issue, G2, 9 April) contains much sound advice. However, it neglects an important consideration. If, as Emilie Bellet explains, women are “looking more at where we want to be in 10, 20 or 30
  
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• UK car production could halve in no-deal Brexit scenario – study

  10-04-2019 17:45 via theguardian.com
  With investment down 80% in past three years, industry faces ‘death by a thousand cuts’Car production in Britain could collapse by almost half by the mid-2020s in a no-deal Brexit scenario, with plant closures triggering job losses across the country, according to an Oxford University study.Matthias Holweg, an automotive expert at Oxford, said Britain leaving the EU without a deal and trading on World Trade Organization terms would trigger a big fall in output. Continue reading...
  
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• CEO of Chinese phone company says he'll give £750m bonus to charity

  10-04-2019 16:25 via theguardian.com
  Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, is handed 640m shares despite disappointing market floatThe billionaire founder of the Chinese smartphone firm Xiaomi has been handed bonuses worth £750m, but has pledged to hand the windfall to charity.Xiaomi, which recently began selling phones in the UK, gave its founder-chair Lei Jun 639.6m shares despite a disappointing float on the Hong Kong market last July. Continue reading...
  
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• Canada's Garda World considering a bid for outsourcer G4S

  10-04-2019 15:51 via theguardian.com
  Security company confirms it is looking at making cash offer for all or part of UK groupCanada’s Garda World Security has confirmed that it is considering making a cash offer for some or all of the UK outsourcing company G4S.G4S shares jumped 30% on the news,heading for their biggest single-day gain and lifting the company’s market value to about £3.8bn. Continue reading...
  
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• Theo Fennell's jewellery workshop – in pictures

  10-04-2019 14:00 via theguardian.com
  At the height of Cool Britannia, Fennell’s designs adorned a long list of celebrity customers – and jewel-studded pieces are still his trademarkContinue reading...
  
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• Branson: Virgin trains will vanish from UK after Stagecoach ban

  10-04-2019 13:44 via theguardian.com
  Founder hits out after DfT disqualifies partner from bidding for three franchisesSir Richard Branson has said Virgin trains could disappear from Britain’s railways by the end of the year after more than two decades following the government’s decision to block the renewal of its West Coast franchise.The Department for Transport has barred Stagecoach, Virgin’s joint venture partner, from bidding for three new franchises – including West Coast – in a row over rail staf
  
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• Italy risks EU FURY after DEFYING bloc by breaking debt promise and hiking deficit target

  10-04-2019 13:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  ITALY has risked provoking the wrath of the European Union after confirming a hike to its controversial budget deficit and public debt.
  
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• The family that took on Monsanto: 'They should've been with us in the chemo ward'

  10-04-2019 12:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: in his first interview since a jury ruled that Roundup caused his cancer, Edwin Hardeman talks about uncovering Monsanto’s secretsThe words flashed on the screen and changed his life.Edwin Hardeman had struggled through six rounds of chemotherapy in 2015 when he saw a TV report that said exposure to a popular weedkiller could lead to the exact cancer that was destroying his life. For the first time, the Californian had a possible explanation for his disease. Continue reading...
  
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• Pound euro exchange rate: GBP muted despite UK manufacturing hitting decade-high

  10-04-2019 11:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound is up slightly against the euro and the pairing is currently trading at around €1.159.
  
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• Pound US dollar exchange rate: GBP steadies as traders await emergency EU Brexit summit

  10-04-2019 11:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound US dollar exchange rate is steady today and is currently trading around $1.306.
  
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• £4,000 in four days: one mother's battle to pay for her son's funeral – video

  10-04-2019 11:05 via theguardian.com
  One suddenly bereaved mother, already in debt, has to find thousands of pounds to pay for her son's funeral. The funeral business is an unregulated industry, with providers criticised for taking advantage of vulnerable, grieving families, who can then feel obliged to pay large sums of money for an appropriate goodbye.  Across the UK the average funeral cost stands at £4,271, having risen 122% since 2004. The Guardian’s Richard Sprenger reports
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• What Brexit woes? UK economy BEATS forecasts with better-than-expected growth numbers

  10-04-2019 10:50 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE UK economy grew beat expectations by growing faster than forecast in February, according to the Office for National Statistics.
  
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• Pound LIVE: GBP Sterling 'tentatively positive' as May to be offered LONGER Brexit delay

  10-04-2019 09:42 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE pound inched higher this morning as the UK gross domestic product figure came in better than expected, while European leaders appear poised to grant Theresa May a longer Brexit delay.
  
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• Dubrovnik, Game of Thrones and overtourism – in pictures

  10-04-2019 09:00 via theguardian.com
  For Dubrovnik, doubling as King’s Landing in Game of Thrones is a mixed blessing. Stardom has been a boon for business – but has also sparked an inundation of visitors to a city already struggling with overcrowding Continue reading...
  
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• State pension changes: Four ways YOUR state pension is changing

  10-04-2019 08:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  STATE PENSION changes went info force this weekend as the new tax year began. Here are four ways your state pension is changing in the 2019/20 financial year.
  
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• Trump will leave a legacy of selfishness and dishonesty | Joseph Stiglitz

  10-04-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The president’s attack on every pillar of society jeopardises the US’s continued prosperity and ability to function as a democracyKirstjen Nielsen’s forced resignation as US secretary of homeland security is no reason to celebrate. Yes, she presided over the forced separation of families at the US border, notoriously housing young children in wire cages. But Nielsen’s departure is not likely to bring any improvement, as Donald Trump wants to replace her with someone who w
  
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• My son is dead, but how can you grieve when you can’t afford a funeral? | Amanda Johnson

  10-04-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  I was at my lowest ebb, yet I had to implore funeral homes to help me. Low-income families like ours need state supportI was at work. My boss came down and said to me: “The police are coming to see you.” I was like, what have I done? Half an hour later, I was serving a customer when the police came up to me and said: “We need to speak to you. It’s very serious – you need to sit down.” They said: “We’re not here to arrest you. It’s to do with
  
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• Extortionate £800 ‘priority’ visa fee fails to deliver

  10-04-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  With the Super Priority Service the implication is you’d receive a visa straight away – it took 38 daysI am a Canadian who has been living in the UK since 2009. I attended an appointment with UK Visa and Citizen Application Services (UKVCAS) in Croydon to renew my visa. I paid £600 extra (on top of the over £2,000 for the actual visa) for a same-day decision because I’m a teacher and had a school trip abroad the following month. A letter arrived four days later info
  
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• Labour considers house price inflation target for Bank of England

  10-04-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Housing spokesman looks at giving Bank power to curtail availability of mortgages The Bank of England could be set a target for house price inflation under plans being explored by the Labour party, with tougher powers to restrict mortgage lending to close the gap between property prices and average incomes.The shadow housing secretary, John Healey, is considering whether, under a Labour government, the Bank should be set an explicit target following a decade of runaway growth in the property mar
  
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