Category: Business

From festivals in Florida to touring Dracula’s digs in Romania, we round up the best destinations to visit this October. As summer abandons Europe again this October, eke out the last of the rays and raves in Ibiza, where nightclubs will be going out with a bang for the winter break. When the party finally stops head to the island’s north.

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Business

Buying a house is not that difficult, says NatWest chairman Business

House prices bounced back further last month as lower mortgage rates fuelled a revival in the property market.

The average home increased in value by 1.1pc in December compared to November, according to the Halifax house price index.

It was the third monthly gain in a row after six consecutive falls before that.

It means a typical home is worth £287,105, up more than £3,000 on the previous month.

The increase in prices comes as lenders cut mortgage rates amid expectations that the Bank of England will cut interest rates this year, with several major banks starting the year by offering rates below 4pc. 

However, Kim Kinnaird, director at Halifax Mortgages, said: “The growth we have seen is likely being driven by a shortage of properties on the market, rather than the strength of buyer demand. 

“That said, with mortgage rates continuing to ease, we may see an increase in confidence from buyers over the coming months.”

Halifax said that overall property prices increased by 1.7pc in 2023 but predicted prices will fall by between 2pc and 4pc this year.

5 things to start your day 

1) Car market permanently smaller because of WFH and net zero | Industry chiefs do not expect new car sales to ever return to their pre-pandemic peak

2) US warship among vessels attacked in Red Sea | A UK-owned ship was hit by rocket fire, while several other commercial vessels were targeted off the coast of Yemen

3) Crackdown on ‘phantom’ net zero energy projects fails | Queue for grid connection grows even longer after surge in speculative schemes

4) Telegraph can be protected from Abu Dhabi by ‘editorial trust’, claims bidder | Plans to safeguard editorial freedom provide no guarantees, NUJ says

5) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Fed rate cuts come too late to avert a fresh wave of US bank failures | Further stress in commercial property could push another tier of lenders over the edge

What happened overnight 

Asian shares mostly declined, after a mixed finish on Wall Street, although export-related Tokyo stocks got a boost from a weakening yen.

Benchmarks rose in Tokyo but fell in Sydney, Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The yen has weakened amid speculation that the Bank of Japan might go slowly on changing its lax policy stance as it assesses the impact of Monday’s major earthquake in central Japan.

The US dollar rose to 145.23 Japanese yen from 144.63 yen. The euro fell to $1.0930 from $1.0947. It dropped 0.4pc to 184 to the pound.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.3pc to 33,377.42.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.9pc to 16,490.92, while the Shanghai Composite sank 1pc to 2,926.32.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed nearly 0.1pc to 7,489.10. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.4pc to 2,578.08.

American shares are having a tricky start to the year, with the S&P 500 experiencing its worst new year since 2015 with three consecutive days of decline.

The index lost 0.3pc to end at 4,688.68 points on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite index (heavily weighted towards technology companies) lost 0.6pc, closing at 14,510.3. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading US companies was flat at 37,440.34.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds jumped to 4pc in a sharp reversal from last week, when the benchmark note slid to a five-month low of 3.78pc on recent data showing inflation by some measures had declined close to the Fed’s 2pc target.

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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-05 08:53:27

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Business

Mortgages – live: Price war to hit banks as rates fall below 4% Business News

Jeremy Hunt sets March 6 as spring budget date

Mortgage brokers are gearing up for “price wars” among banks vying for competition, as major lenders introduced deals with interest rates of less than 4 per cent.

First Direct is launching two products at 3.99 per cent from Friday, while several of HSBC’s rates are now below 4 per cent for the first time since April, in what brokers have said “could be a sign of things to come”, after the number of first-time buyers with a mortgage hit a 10-year low in 2023.

Despite that grim statistic, NatWest’s chair Sir Howard Davies claimed he doesn’t “ think it is that difficult at the moment” to get on the property ladder.

“You have to save and that is the way it always used to be,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding: “I totally recognise that there are people who are finding it very difficult to start the process, they will have to save more.

“But that is, I think, inherent in the change in the financial system as a result of the mistakes that were made in the last global financial crisis.”

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Mapped: The highest and lowest average house prices in the UK at the end of 2023

Average house prices in each region of the UK are revealed in a new index that says that the market “beat expectations” in 2023 despite higher taxes, inflation and the wider cost of living squeeze.

Halifax’s House Price Index said property values increased by 1.7 per cent across the board in 2023, although some regions, such as South East England, saw house prices fall significantly.

Meanwhile in other regions, such as Northern Ireland and North West England, the average price of a home increased in a welcome piece of news going into 2024 for those already on the property ladder.

My colleague Matt Mathers reports:

Andy Gregory5 January 2024 11:48

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Tories to promise more help for first-time buyers in bid to turn around polling woes

The Conservatives will seek to cut costs for first-time property buyers in an appeal to younger voters ahead of the general election.

With the cost of mortgages having soared in recent years, housing secretary Michael Gove said the government will “definitely” have a new offer for prospective homeowners in place before the country heads to the polls next year.

Andy Gregory5 January 2024 11:29

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Lenders will come out of blocks in 2024 ready to grab market share, broker says

Riz Malik, of Essex-based R3 Mortgages, said he thought lenders would be “coming out of the blocks ready to grab market share with some very aggressive pricing” once staff return from annual leave.

“Next week is when I’m expecting the rest of the high street banks to really come out and set their stall for where they’re going to be in 2024,” he said.

“They’ll be going after the remortgage market as well, because 2023 was the year of product transfer – a lot of deals were where people stayed with their lender and renegotiated a new deal as there wasn’t a huge appetite for taking on new business because nobody knew where the market was going.

“I think with everything having settled down from there onwards, a lot of lenders will have been reassured that there haven’t been the big drops in property prices that some people anticipated in 2023.”

Mr Malik warned that economic shocks could quickly make deals “a moveable feast”.

“If a lender does come out with something, it might be time to grab it and then if things do improve later on, then obviously reassess your situation closer to the time.”

Andy Gregory5 January 2024 11:10

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Danger in easy access to mortgage credit, says NatWest boss

Here is more from Sir Howard Davies’ claim that it is not “that difficult at the moment” to get onto the property ladder.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we saw in the financial crisis was the risk of having people being able to borrow 100 per cent in order to get onto the property ladder, and then suffering severe falls in the equity value of their houses, and having to leave and having a bad credit record.

“So, there were dangers in very easy access to mortgage credit.

“I totally recognise that there are people who are finding it very difficult to start the process, they will have to save more, but that is, I think, inherent in the change in the financial system as a result of the mistakes that were made in the last global financial crisis.”

Andy Gregory5 January 2024 10:54

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‘Year of the squeezed middle’ as rising mortgages, food costs and taxes cost households thousands of pounds

The Liberal Democrats also pointed to the impact of frozen tax thresholds on the public, describing 2024 as the “year of the squeezed middle”.

Research by the party suggests that the combined impact of taxes, mortgage rises and food inflation could be a more than…

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-05 11:14:31

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Week-long Tube strike could cost London economy £100m a day Business News

London’s economy could be dealt a blow of £100m per day during next week’s crippling Tube strikes, analysis suggests, as business groups claim the industrial action could help tip the UK into recession.

There will be little to no service across the entire London Underground from Monday to Thursday after the strikes begin on Sunday evening, after RMT members voted by over 90 per cent against an “unacceptable” below inflation pay offer of 5 per cent.

While RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has urged Transport for London (TfL) to “enter into meaningful conciliatory talks to avert disruption”, the body insists its pay offer “is the most we can afford while ensuring that we can operate safely, reliably and sustainably”.

The London Underground shutdown will last from Sunday evening until Thursday night

(Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

But business groups urged the RMT and London mayor Sadiq Khan to “find immediate solutions”, expressing fears to The Independent that strikes in the capital will dent the wider UK economy and put further strain on struggling firms.

“At a time when our economy is flatlining, these reckless strikes could tip us into recession,” said BusinessLDN chief executive John Dicki. “They will hit sectors such as hospitality and retail that rely on footfall especially hard. All sides should put ending these disruptive strikes at the top of their New Year’s resolutions.”

Urging a “swift and fair agreement that prioritises jobs and businesses”, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s interim chief executive Karim Fatehi said: “We cannot afford to let these damaging strikes hit London’s SMEs, which have already been hard hit by Covid and global events.

“London is the engine of the UK economy, contributing over 20 per cent of our national GDP. If London slows down because of this strike, the entire country will suffer.”

Warning that the four-day Tube shutdown will “have a major impact on London businesses just as small firms are trying to make a bright start to a new year”, the Federation of Small Business said: “We want to showcase London to the world, but the signal sent by out-of-action transport systems isn’t helpful.

Analysis from investment bank Panmure Gordon suggests strikes could cost London’s economy £100m a day

(Leon Neal/Getty Images)

“London needs to show it is open for business, and we hope that all parties involved in the dispute are able to reach an agreement as soon as possible.”

The British Retail Consortium added: “Next week’s tube strikes will be detrimental to retailers, as they will hinder commuter, leisure, and tourist traffic. After an underwhelming festive shopping season, these strikes will impact already-vulnerable businesses in the capital.”

Simon French, managing director of investment bank Panmure Gordon, said his modelling from March – based on commuter volumes, displacement costs and average salaries – found that Tube strikes cost London’s economy £90m per day.

“Whilst overall consumer prices have gone up by about 4 per cent over the period – and there has been a further rebound in commuter volumes – you could argue it [is] closer to £100m/day,” Mr French suggested.

However, this is higher than previous estimates, with the Centre for Economics and Business Research finding the cost to be closer to £24m during Tube strikes in June 2022.

While resolutions have finally been reached in many of the national disputes which fuelled the most intensive period of industrial action in the UK since the 1980s, the first week of 2024 was marked by junior doctors staging the longest single strike in NHS history, with more fresh action on the horizon in other sectors.

Civil servants secured a 4.5 per cent pay rise and £1,500 cost of living payment with mass strikes in 2023

(AFP via Getty Images)

The Public and Commercial Services Union said it was preparing for the possibility of a nationwide ballot for industrial action over civil service pay, following a campaign in 2023 which saw the government agree to a £1,500 lump sum payment and raise of 4.5 per cent, after more than 100,000 civil servants walked out.

The union’s general secretary Mark Serwotka told The Independent: “Although we remain in positive talks with the Cabinet Office on several pay issues, we are not optimistic that they will produce enough in members pockets for 2024. As a result, PCS members and reps across the civil service are now preparing for the possibility of a UK-wide statutory industrial action ballot.”

Supermarket Asda will also face its first ever strikes this month when at least 100 staff walkout over 15 days, while employees at the newly opened flagship Amazon fulfilment centre in Birmingham have also voted to join the strikes which saw more than 1,000 Amazon staff in Coventry down tools in November for…

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-04 19:47:18

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Mortgage market ‘heating up’ but homeowners still face ‘painful’ cost increase despite falling rates Business News

Britain’s mortgage market is “heating up” but some homeowners still face a painful rise in their monthly costs when deals expire this year, experts have said

Moneyfacts, the financial information service, said the average cost of a two-year deal had fallen from 5.92 per cent to 5.87 per cent – the lowest level for nearly seven years.

It comes amid optimism in the City that the Bank of England will start cutting interest rates in the spring as inflation continues to fall, making it cheaper to borrow money.

In December, inflation eased back to its lowest level for more than two years, with falling petrol prices helping drive a bigger-than-expected drop. The Office for National Statistics said the rate of Consumer Prices Index inflation fell to 3.9 per cent in November, down from 4.6 per cent in October, and the lowest level since September 2021.

Most economists had been expecting inflation to fall to 4.3 per cent.

Despite the improving economic outlook the Bank of England, which was criticised in some quarters for not tackling runaway inflation more quickly, voted to hold interest rates at a 15-year high of 5.25 per cent for a third time in a row. The Bank’s monetary policy committee is scheduled to meet again on 1 February to make another decision on interest rates.

City analysts expect the Bank to start slashing rates in the spring, with some economists predicting they could fall as low as 3 per cent by the end of 2024, driving optimism in the market.

But while mortgage rates have started to come down they remain much higher than people have been used to in recent years, with more than a million homeowners set for a rise in their monthly payments when deals expire this year.

“The mortgage market may be heating up, but this won’t fully ease the pain for the roughly 1.6 million existing borrowers with cheap fixed rate deals expiring this year,”  Alice Haine, personal finance analyst from Bestinvest, explained.

City analysts expect the Bank to start slashing rates in the spring

(PA Wire)

“They still face a heavy jump in interest payments when they switch onto a new product, with the only comfort that the situation could have been much worse,” she added.

Lenders have priced in that the Bank will start cutting interest rates this year and have been for months reducing their prices ahead of an expected price war as the economic outlook improves further this year.

Workers have also recently been boosted by the government’s decision to cut national insurance contributions after raising the tax burden to the highest level in decades.

First Direct has announced rate cuts across its fixed-rate repayment mortgage range, with deals below 4 per cent set to be available from Friday. The announcement was made following rate cuts from other lenders this week, including HSBC UK and Halifax.

HSBC’s new rates were effective from Thursday and included a five-year rate of 3.94 per cent for remortgage customers borrowing up to 60 per cent of the property value.

Halifax kickstarted 2024 by cutting its fixed mortgage rates by nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday.

Slashing its rates across its two-year, five-year and 10-year fixed deals by up to 0.83 per cent, the building society also cut rates by up to 0.92 per cent for its existing customers.

As part of its revamp, First Direct is launching two products at 3.99 per cent from Friday.

Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates in the spring

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

They include a 10-year fixed mortgage for people with a 40 per cent deposit, with a rate of 3.99 per cent, reduced by 0.98 percentage points from 4.97 per cent previously.

Also for people with a 40 per cent deposit, First Direct will offer a five-year fixed mortgage priced at 3.99 per cent – a rate which is being reduced by 0.65 percentage points.

The rates will be available to new and existing customers.

Among its two and three-year fixed rates, First Direct said fixed standard mortgages for people with at least a 15 per cent deposit will be priced at under 5 per cent, with the range beginning at 4.54 per cent for new customers and 4.49 per cent for switchers.

For people with a 10 per cent deposit, deals will start at 4.69 per cent on First Direct’s five-year fixed standard mortgage.

Analysts expected rates to fall further later in the year. Polly Gilbert, chief marketing officer at Tembo mortgage brokers, said that a mortgage price was “likely” on the horizon as inflation and interest rates fell.

“How good to see interest rates finally moving in the right direction,” she told Sky News. “We’re seeing some frenzy beginning to build, it’s positive this time.”

Separate figures published by the Bank on Thursday showed that mortgage approvals in the UK picked up in November, while credit card borrowing doubled to £1bn.

Mortgage approvals for house purchases – an indicator of…

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-04 17:37:48

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Chinese wages plunge as economy faces growing crisis Business

Thanks for joining me. British executives have urged the Bank of England to cut interest rates as soon as possible to boost the economy as “depressed” confidence sank to a four-year low.

The Institute of Directors’ (IoD) latest economic confidence index, which measures bosses’ optimism about the UK economy over the year ahead, sank to its lowest level since August in December.

The reading of minus 28, down from minus 21 in November, was close to the 2023 low point of minus 30 recorded in June.

It showed bosses ended 2023 in a “relatively depressed place,” according to IoD director of policy Roger Barker.

He said: “In the coming months, the Bank of England will be considering its next step in term of interest rates. 

“Based on the evidence of this survey, an early cut in interest rates would be justified in terms of helping to kick-start business confidence.”

Money markets are betting that the first interest rate cut by the Bank of England will happen by May.

5 things to start your day 

1) Marks & Spencer crowned ‘Christmas winner’ by investors | Retailer’s shares hit five-year high as turnaround efforts pay off

2) Part-time work hits the City as flood of deals slows to a trickle | Overstaffed firms seek to cut costs amid slowing revenue growth and declining profits

3) ‘Lazy’ broadband engineers blamed for exposing hospitals and banks to cyber attacks | Rush to roll out full-fibre sparks fears that security measures are being overlooked

4) Britain faces fresh inflation headache as Maersk suspends shipments | Disruption risks driving oil prices and shipping costs higher in wake of Houthi attacks

5) Jeremy Warner: The Eurozone isn’t about to collapse – it’s worse than that | A once acute, life-threatening illness has given way to a chronic, long-term condition

What happened overnight 

Asian shares dropped after Wall Street and the City of London started 2024 with a slump.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1pc to 16,618.50, influenced by a 2pc drop in technology shares, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.1pc to 2,966.13.

Prices of Chinese gaming companies rose, with Tencent Holdings and Netease both adding over 1pc following local reports that a senior official responsible for overseeing China’s gaming industry had been dismissed after the release of draft regulations last month spurred a meltdown in gaming stocks just days before Christmas.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.4pc to 7,523.20. South Korea’s benchmark slumped 2.3pc to 2,607.31 after hovering around a 19-month high Tuesday amid the short-selling ban.

Bangkok’s SET lost less than 0.1pc and India’s Sensex was down 0.4pc.

Japanese markets remained closed for the New Year holiday.

The S&P 500 index of American shares fell 0.6pc yesterday to 4,742.83. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading US companies rose 0.1pc to 37,715.04 and the Nasdaq Composite index, heavily weighted towards technology shares, fell 1.6pc to 14,765.94.

The dollar rose against major currencies as the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds rose rose 7.3 basis points to 3.933pc – an indication that the markets were a little less confident yesterday of interest rate cuts in 2024.

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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-03 11:39:47

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Mortgage lenders kick off new year by slashing rates as property market struggles Business News

Homeowners bracing for their two-year fixed mortgage deals to end could be spared thousands of pounds in higher interest repayments after major lenders kicked off the new year by slashing rates.

Rapid rises in the Bank of England’s base rate over the past two years from historically low rates to their current 15-year high of 5.25 per cent have fuelled anxiety for tens of thousands of homeowners whose time to renegotiate expiring fixed-rate deals is approaching this year.

But with competition among lenders growing fiercer in a slow market eyeing multiple cuts to the Bank of England’s base rate this year, Britain’s biggest lender Halifax kickstarted 2024 by cutting its fixed mortgage rates by nearly 1 per cent on Tuesday.

Slashing its rates across its two-year, five-year and 10-year fixed deals by up to 0.83 per cent, Halifax also cut rates by up to 0.92 per cent for its existing customers.

Halifax’s cheapest two-year deal for customers with at least 40 per cent equity in their home is now 4.68 per cent, with a £999 fee – compared with an average of 5.93 per cent for two-year fixed deals across the wider market, according to Moneyfacts.

The building society’s 0.83 per cent cut on two-year fixed deals – from 5.64 to 4.81 per cent – would see monthly repayments on a 25-year mortgage for a £250,000 property fall by £122 a month from £1,556 to £1,434, saving homeowners £1,464 a year.

Leeds Building Society also cut rates on its mortgage deals by up to 0.49 per cent, with its cheapest two-year fixed now sitting at a rate of 4.6 per cent.

It comes after inflation fell back to 3.9 per cent in November, increasing pressure on the Bank of England to start cutting interest rates as both the economy and housing market slowed.

The number of new first-time homeowners with a mortgage fell from a 20-year high in 2021 to a 10-year low in 2023, according to the Yorkshire Building Society

(Getty Images)

This larger-than-expected slowing of price rises – well below prime minister Rishi Sunak’s target to halve inflation from 10 to 5 per cent by the end of 2023 – and Threadneedle Street’s decision to keep its base rate at 5.25 for a third consecutive month had both served to fuel anticipation of further falls in the mortgage market.

“We’re expecting lenders to come out of the blocks in January fighting because they’ll be desperate to grab market share to make up for the lacklustre year they’ve had in 2023,” Riz Malik, of R3 Mortgages, told The Independent at the time.

New estimates from Yorkshire Building Society suggest this week that the number of first-time buyers with a mortgage fell from a 20-year high of more than 400,000 in 2021 to a 10-year-low of just 290,000 just two years later – shrinking by a fifth.

“Come January there will be more of a smash and grab for business, and these guys will be a lot more competitive,” Mr Malik said, adding: “It might take the first quarter for people to start getting going, but we’re already seeing the green shoots – more enquiries from first time buyers, especially where rents have gone up quite dramatically over the year.”

But leading economists also warned last month that mortgage owners coming off fixed rate deals agreed two years ago would still face “a very different world”, while Britain’s slowing economy and higher mortgage costs mean living standards will “remain pretty desperate”.

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-03 11:11:19

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E2E Profit 100 partner Go Live Data on GDPR and B2B marketing Business News

In today’s digital landscape, where data is a valuable currency, businesses must navigate the complex regulatory framework designed to protect individuals’ privacy rights. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) enacted by the European Union (EU) has brought significant changes to how businesses handle personal data. While much of the focus has been on GDPR’s impact on consumer data, it is equally crucial for business owners engaging in Business-to-Business (B2B) direct marketing to understand their rights and responsibilities. This article explores the implications of GDPR on B2B direct marketing and provides insights into the obligations and opportunities it presents for business owners.

Understanding GDPR and B2B Direct Marketing

GDPR represents a comprehensive framework designed to safeguard personal data and enhance individuals’ control over their information. While it primarily applies to the processing of personal data of individuals, it also encompasses business contacts within the B2B context. The GDPR defines personal data broadly as any information that can directly or indirectly identify a natural person, such as a name, email address, or job title.

Rights of Individuals in B2B Direct Marketing

Under GDPR, individuals within B2B relationships possess several fundamental rights that businesses must respect when engaging in direct marketing activities. These rights include:

  1. Right to Access: Individuals have the right to request information about the personal data held by businesses, including the purposes of processing, the categories of data being processed, and the recipients of such data.
  2. Right to Rectification: Individuals can request the correction or completion of their personal data if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
  3. Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): Individuals have the right to request the deletion of their personal data if it is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, if consent is withdrawn, or if it is processed unlawfully.
  4. Right to Object: Individuals can object to the processing of their personal data for direct marketing purposes. Upon receiving such an objection, businesses must cease processing the data unless they can demonstrate legitimate grounds that override the individual’s interests, rights, and freedoms.

Responsibilities of Business Owners in B2B Direct Marketing

While GDPR grants certain rights to individuals, it also imposes significant responsibilities on businesses engaging in B2B direct marketing. As a business owner, it is essential to be aware of and fulfil these obligations. Key responsibilities include:

  1. Lawful Basis for Processing: Businesses must extablish a lawful basis for processing personal data. In the context of B2B direct marketing, legitimage interests may serve as the lawful basis, provided they do not outweigh the rights and freedoms of the individual. Conducting a legitimate interest’s assessment (LIA) is advisable to evaluate the impact on the individuals’ privacy rights.
  2. Data Minimisation and Purpose Limitation: Businesses should only collect and process personal data that is necessary for the specific purposes of direct marketing. Data should be adequate, relevant, and limited to what is necessary for achieving those purposes.
  3. Transparency: Business ownders must provid individuals with clear and concise information about the processing of their personal data. This includes informing them about the purposes of processing, the categories of data involved, the retention period and their rights.
  4. Security Measures: Businesses must implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. Encryption, psudonymization, and access controls are examples of security measures that can be implemented.
  5. Data Subject Requests: Businesses must establish processes to handle data subject requests promptly and effectively. This involves providing individuals with access to their data, addrssing rectification or erasure requests, and handling objections to processing.

Opportunities and Benefits for Business Owners

While GDPR imposes several obligations, it also presents opportunities for business owners engaged in B2B direct marketing. By complying with GDPR, businesses can build trust with their B2B contacts, enhance their reputation, and differentiate themselves from competitors. Respect for individuals’ privacy rights can lead to stronger business relationships, increased customer loyalty, and improved brand perception.

Additionally, GDPR compliance fosters good data management practices, leading to improved data quality and accuracy. This, in turn, enables businesses to better target their marketing efforts, tailor messages to specific needs, and improve campaign effectiveness. By adopting transparent and ethical data practices, businesses can also gain a competitive advantage in an era where data privacy and protection are more…

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-02 17:46:31

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China stocks suffer worst day in four years as ‘fragile’ recovery exposed Business

Oil prices have moved higher after Iran sent a warship into the Red Sea in response to the sinking of three ships by the US Navy.

Iran despatched its Alborz destroyer on Monday after the sinking of three Houthi boats over the weekend in the vital trade route, which is being avoided by shipping companies after a series of attacks.

5 things to start your day 

1) Hedge funds stockpile uranium as price of nuclear fuel surges | Up to 50 firms are believed to have bought ‘yellowcake’ amid huge global supply deficit

2) Britain cracks down on semiconductor sales to China | Western countries continue to restrict Beijing’s access to advanced microchips

3) Investors lose £7bn on British banks despite rising interest rates | Barclays, NatWest, Virgin Money and Metro shares all failed to make gains since January

4) Falling food inflation at risk from looming cost pressures | ‘Obstacles on the road’ threaten to stoke price rises in 2024, warn retail bosses

5) Defence company founded by Oculus creator plans to double UK presence | Anduril bets on a boom in Britain’s aerospace technology

What happened overnight 

Asian markets slipped as traders returned from the New Year break. 

Wall Street had ticked lower on the last trading day of 2023 and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong began 2024 by sinking 1.5pc to 16,800.73.

The Shanghai Composite index dropped 0.2pc to 2,968.81. Japan’s markets were closed for a holiday.

Investors were selling property developers like debt-laden China Evergrande, which fell 6pc, and LongFor Group Holding, which lost 5.7pc.

The December survey of the official purchasing managers index, or PMI, in China fell to 49 for the third consecutive month, signalling weak demand and underscoring the challenging economic conditions in the world’s second-largest economy.

That contrasted private-sector survey, by financial publication Caixin, which registered a slight improvement in the manufacturing PMI to 50.8, driven by increased output and new orders. However, it showed that business confidence for 2024 remained subdued.

South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.2pc to 2,651.34 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.5pc to 7,625.60.

Bangkok’s SET rose 0.2pc and the Sensex in Mumbai climbed less than 0.1pc.

Stocks fell Friday on Wall Street from their near all-time high amid easing inflation, a resilient economy and the prospect of lower interest rates which buoyed investors.

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Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
This notice was published: 2024-01-02 09:12:39

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Ex-chancellor Norman Lamont says Sunak must ignore calls to ditch inheritance tax Business News

Former Conservative chancellor Norman Lamont has urged Rishi Sunak to ignore calls from his own MPs to ditch inheritance tax.

The Tory grandee said he does not “buy” the argument that the tax on inherited wealth is widely hated – telling the PM to focus on cutting income tax instead.

Mr Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are under pressure to deliver tax cuts at the 6 March, with the PM and his chancellor said to be considering moves to scrap or cut inheritance tax.

Sir Ian Duncan Smith, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and other senior Tories have urged him to get rid of inheritance tax in a bid boost the party’s polling fortunes ahead of the general election.

But Lord Lamont, chancellor under John Major between 1990 and 1993, said cutting it only benefits “a small number of people”, adding: “I don’t really buy the argument that it’s much hated by everyone.”

“The largest number of people should benefit from whatever is possible,” the Tory peer told The Telegraph. “My priority would be [raising] income tax thresholds. They affect the most people.”

Lord Lamont added: “I think you want to give some relief to people who have paid the price and have had to pay for some of the measures that were introduced during the [Covid] pandemic. I think the average person would like to see a little light at the end of the tunnel.”

Norman Lamont was Tory chancellor under John Major

(Getty)

Despite calls from the Tory right to scrap the “hated” inheritance tax, fewer than 4 per cent of estates in the UK pay the levy on inherited property, money and shares.

The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies says the wealthiest 1 per cent of people in Britain would receive 47 per cent of the benefit of scrapping it. Inheritance tax is forecast to provide almost £10bn a year for the public coffers by 2028-29.

A plan to abolish inheritance tax is being pondered as part of a “gear change” on tax, according to The Telegraph. But No 10 and Treasury sources have played down reports as speculation.

Some red-wall Tory MPs have also urged Mr Sunak to bring in tax cuts for people on lower incomes – rather than cut inheritance tax for the wealthiest – in March.

“We should concentrate on incomes and thresholds rather than inheritance tax. That produces more benefit for a greater number of people,” John Stevenson MP, head of the Northern Research Group, told the Daily Mail.

Former minister Neil O’Brien, Tory MP for Harborough, said Mr Hunt should offer “tax cuts for those at the bottom end to help with the cost of living, and tax cuts that boost productivity”.

However, many senior Tories are still pushing for the PM and chancellor to act on inheritance tax. Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said inheritance tax was “a pernicious and bad tax, which ought to be scrapped”.

Former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: “I would scrap it altogether. The political impact would be enormous.”

And Ranil Jayawardena, chair of Liz Truss’ group of allies, the Conservative Growth Group, said: “Time is running out and the government needs to be bold: it’s time to scrap inheritance tax.”

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2023-12-30 10:07:29

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Business

House prices end year 1.8% lower as East Anglia faced biggest drop in UK Business News

Massive hikes in mortgage rates failed to give UK house prices a boost or fall at the end of 2023, Nationwide has said.

The average price of a home was £257,443 in December, according to the lender, which showed no change from the previous month.

This means house prices in the UK end the year 1.8 per cent cheaper than they had been at the end of 2022, and 4.5 per cent below the all-time peak in the summer of 2022.

England saw the biggest drop in prices, down 2.9 per cent compared to a year ago.

Prices fell the most rapidly in East Anglia, down 5.2 per cent year-on-year. Prices generally fell faster in the south of England than in the north, according to the forecasts.

But despite the fall in England and Wales – where house prices dropped 1.9 per cent – house prices rose by 4.5 per cent in Northern Ireland and in Scotland they were up 0.5 per cent.

The housing market has been more subdued in 2023 than it was last year when it hit all-time highs

(PA)

“Housing market activity was weak throughout 2023,” Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner, said.

“The total number of transactions has been running at (about) 10 per cent below pre-pandemic levels over the past six months, with those involving a mortgage down even more (about 20 per cent), reflecting the impact of higher borrowing costs.

“On the flip side, the volume of cash transactions has continued to run above pre-Covid levels.”

It comes as the cost of borrowing has increased dramatically over the last two years, with the Bank of England’s base interest rate increasing from 0.1 per cent in December 2021 to 5.25 per cent today.

Mr Gardner said: “A rapid rebound in activity or house prices in 2024 appears unlikely.

“While cost of living pressures are easing, with the rate of inflation now running below the rate of average wage growth, consumer confidence remains weak and surveyors continue to report subdued levels of new buyer inquiries.

“Moreover, while markets are projecting that the next bank rate move will be down, there are still upward risks to interest rates. Inflation is declining, but measures of domestic price pressures remain far too high.”

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Source: www.independent.co.uk
This notice was published: 2023-12-29 13:46:29