January 30, 2009
Mortgage approvals stay close to record low
Story link: Mortgage approvals stay close to record low
So while the news may seem some what positive, it does still mean that the figures produced which show a 4,000 increase in mortgage approvals are still close to a record low, so we are definitely not out of the dark yet.
Mortgage approvals stay close to record low
U.K. mortgage approvals stayed close to the lowest level since at least 1999 in December as banks rationed lending, deepening the property market slump.
Banks granted 31,000 loans for house purchase, compared with 27,000 in November, the least since the series began a decade ago, the Bank of England said today in London. Economists predicted a drop to 26,000, according to the median of 23 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.
Unions on Crisis
Story link: Unions on Crisis
The World Economic Forum is a very important aspect of the Worldwide economy, with thousands of business executives and government workers participating every year, each bringing along their own knowledge and opinions.
This year the Forum perhaps got slightly out of hand regarding the current crisis!
The gloom surrounding this year’s World Economic Forum descended into confrontation yesterday as international labour leaders launched a withering attack on the 1,400 business executives and 41 heads of government at Davos over what the labour leaders alleged was their failure to respond effectively to a deepening crisis of their own creation.
Guy Ryder, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said that the current financial turmoil had triggered a social timebomb that would lead to deepening civil unrest and soaring crime.
Gordon Brown Council House Plan
Story link: Gordon Brown Council House Plan
There will be two major upsides to this development program.
The first of course will be the fact that it will be generating lots of contracts within the construction industry.
The second will be the fact that there will be plenty of council houses available on a nationwide basis for people in need.
Gordon Brown Council House Plan
The biggest council house building programme for decades was ordered by Gordon Brown yesterday as he urged town halls to rescue the construction industry and help to kick-start the economy.
Treasury rules that have stopped local authorities from building social housing should be relaxed to allow councils to borrow more money and to keep the proceeds from rents and sales, the Prime Minister said.
US output drops
Story link: US output drops
The dollar and the pound have seen a huge devaluation over the last few months, which makes travellers from many countries slightly more wary about what used to be bargain purchases.
Instead of coming to the UK for manufacturing, companies are venturing out in China, while the US has seen a sudden drop in exports to the UK.
US economic output fell 3.8% in the last three months of 2008, the worst quarterly contraction in more than 26 years, official figures have shown.
Much steeper than the 0.5% fall between August and October, it is also the first time the US has seen consecutive quarterly economic declines since 1991.
Strikes increase
Story link: Strikes increase
The greater the pressure on the UK economy, the greater the pressure will also be regarding employment.
Workers are facing long term insecurity so it is only natural we will be seeing hundreds more strikes over the next few months, and not just at oil based companies.
Strikes have been breaking out across the UK in support of a mass walkout by energy workers in Lincolnshire angry at the use of foreign workers.
Hundreds gathered for the third day of the original strike at Lindsey Oil Refinery after owner Total gave a £200m contract to an Italian firm.
Tax bills to rise for decades
Story link: Tax bills to rise for decades
It’s the circle of life as far as the government and finances are concerned, they lend extra money, they need extra money, they get extra money from the taxpayers.
At the moment we are being led into a false sense of security, with cuts on bills for instance with the VAT now at 15%, but we will pay in the long run.
Forget the economic slump. The only real problem with Britain today is that people like you don’t understand what’s going on. At least, that’s the theory in some parts of the Labour party, it seems.
The Independent reported this week it had been told by a “senior ally” of Gordon Brown that the Prime Minister “needs to use simpler language to explain the measures we are taking.” Apparently phrases like ‘global recession’ are “too much jargon” for the electorate to grasp.
Confidence will beat the global recession
Story link: Confidence will beat the global recession
Gordon Brown and the world wide governments need to understand the affect confidence can have. Confidence needs to be converted into bold decisions, not rash decisions, the later is all we have seen so far.
Confidence will beat the global recession
World leaders must have the “confidence to act” to tackle the global recession, Gordon Brown has said.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the prime minister said 2009 had to be the year when the world “came together” to tackle the economic slump.
January 28, 2009
High street madness
Story link: High street madness
Well, the UK economy is set to decrease around 3% this year, and the UK high street retailers have already posted disappointing figures for the December/January period, which is usually the best period for revenue figures, so I’d say its looking like a bleak 2009.
With Britain now officially in recession, how are traders on a typical High Street faring? We returned to Southampton’s Shirley High Street to ask our team of shopkeepers a key question about confidence: are you more or less optimistic about your business than you were 12 months ago?
Despite some of stalwart shop names disappearing from High Streets up and down the country in recent weeks, our panel overall remain defiantly optimistic about business prospects for 2009.
ASDA increasing employment
Story link: ASDA increasing employment
ASDA will be in their prime throughout the year, gathering customers from failing and premium stores such as Marks & Spencers and Sainsbury’s.
Maybe that is exactly what they are anticipating, hence why they have increased employment in their outfit by around 7,000.
We are living through one of the greatest financial crises in history – possibly the greatest. The contraction in credit has forced selling in everything.
Supermarket chain Asda will create 7,000 new jobs this year, a spokesman said.
More than half them will be created by the opening of 14 new stores and the planned expansion of 15 existing sites.
Gold to break the $1,000 barrier
Story link: Gold to break the $1,000 barrier
There are two questions, will Gold break through the $1,000 barrier and if so, when?
Gold and Oil have represented some of the best investments over the last 12 months, although the sharp spike upwards in July for oil, and then even sharper down ward trend would have definitely caught a few people out.
Gold to break the $1,000 barrier
Today, I want to look at precious metals in general. Not just gold, but silver, platinum, palladium and even some of the lesser-known platinum-group metals, such as rhodium and indium.