Financial news

• Is US capitalism really abandoning the 'greed is good' mantra? | Larry Elliott

  19-08-2019 19:00
  The US roundtablers’ pledge is woolly. So it’s baby steps for now to stop Capitol Hill forcing more drastic changesMilton Friedman will be spinning in his grave at the heresy perpetrated by the US Business Roundtable. For the thick end of five decades US capitalism has been run along Friedmanite lines – namely that businesses are there to make money for their shareholders. No charitable giving, no diversity awareness. No green audits. Just making money. Period.Now some of the h
  
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• ‘He locked me out of my own home’: readers’ tales of nightmare letting agents

  19-08-2019 18:05
  As Stath Lets Flats returns to Channel 4, Guardian readers share their own stories of inept agents and dodgy practicesInappropriate jokes, damp walls, poky dimensions and pests – all for an extortionate price per calendar month. The second series of the Channel 4 comedy Stath Lets Flats returns on Monday night, highlighting the nonsense, half-truths and dodgy tactics that can be peddled by that often despised figure – the lettings agent. To mark the occasion, we asked Guardian reader
  
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• Households cut back on big-ticket spending amid recession fears

  19-08-2019 17:57
  Purchases on holidays and cars fall, with UK consumer confidence at lowest ebb in three monthsUK households have cut back on big purchases such as holidays as fears of a possible recession continue to loom, a survey suggests.Confidence among UK households has fallen to its lowest in three months, according to the latest IHS Markit household finance index, dropping to 43.7 in August from 44.3 the previous month. Continue reading...
  
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• I want to sell my UK home; can I avoid capital gains tax?

  19-08-2019 14:15
  I’m a Jersey resident and hear that if I live in my UK house for a year, I don’t have to payQ I live in Jersey in the Channel Islands and am looking at selling a house in the UK that I have been renting out for more than 15 years. I have been told that if I were to live in my house in the UK for a year and then sell it, I would not be liable to capital gains tax. Or is it not that simple?
  RWA It’s not that simple. And even if you did move in – and you made it genuinely yo
  
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• 5G battle hots up as EE lodges complaint over Three UK advert

  19-08-2019 12:29
  Advertising Standards Authority to investigate whether claims breach codeThe first hostilities have broken out among telecoms rivals over who offers the best 5G to customers, with EE seeking an advertising ban against claims by Three UK that it offers the only “real” next-generation service.BT-owned EE is understood to have lodged a complaint with the advertising watchdog over an ad campaign by Three UK implying that 5G services offered by rivals are inferior. Continue reading...
  
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• Call for cut in stock market trading hours to aid working parents

  19-08-2019 11:36
  Proposal by City lobby groups could make the industry more accessible to womenCity lobby groups are proposing cutting stock market trading hours to help make banking and asset management more accessible to women and working parents.The Investment Association, which represents City firms with £7.7tn in assets under management, and the banking lobby group the Association for Financial Markets in Europe, plan to consult members on options that include reducing trading hours from 8.5 to 6.5 ho
  
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• Tell us about your worst experiences of letting agents and property viewings

  19-08-2019 11:10
  Were there bugs crawling on the walls? Did the estate agent just lie to you? Share your experiences with usHit sitcom Stath Lets Flats, about an incompetent London lettings agent, returns to UK screens tonight. The show features some truly cringe-inducing attempts to lure would-be renters into dodgy flats – but is the reality just as bad? We want to hear about your worst experiences of letting agents and property viewings.Continue reading...
  
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• Whirlpool has left me using one of its ‘at risk’ tumble dryers for four years

  19-08-2019 07:59
  After the alert, I checked my Indesit was safe and it said it was; four years on I’ve checked and it isn’tWhen the Whirlpool tumble dryer alert relating to machines at risk of bursting into flames was first announced about four years ago, I followed its advice to check the model and serial number on the company’s website. It was an Indesit, purchased in 2012, (model number IDCE 845 UK). The response was “no further action needed”. Since then I have used the dryer as
  
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• Britons indulge in surprise pre-Brexit house buying spree

  19-08-2019 01:01
  Buyers looking to complete deals before 31 October, says property site RightmoveBritish house hunters have launched a surprise August buying spree before the scheduled Brexit date, with new data showing sales reached their highest point since 2015 during the usually sleepy summer period.The number of agreed sales rose by 6.1% year on year in the month to 10 August, according to property website Rightmove, which claims to track nine in 10 UK house purchases. Continue reading...
  
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