The votes have been cast, Mitt Romney has phoned President Obama to concede and the victor has graciously accepted the challenge of guiding the faltering US economy through the next four years. But what does Obama’s re-election mean for world stock markets – and more particularly, for your savings and investments? At first glance, the […]

Two separate surveys have reported in October 2012 improvements in household finances, bolstering optimism that the recession is coming to an end. Deloitte’s latest Consumer Tracker survey suggests that consumer confidence is at its highest level since the third quarter of 2011. The survey reported that the level of disposable income eased from 43% in […]

We’ve all heard the term ‘quantitative easing.’ With the global economy seemingly in a state of crisis for the last five years it’s been hard not to. But what is quantitative easing? How does it work? Why do the central banks use it – and what does it mean for you? Clearly, many of the […]

Whatever else happened in October, Hurricane Sandy happened. Or Superstorm Sandy or ‘Frankenstorm.’ Take your pick. A week before America was due to go the polls, the storm hit the North Eastern seaboard with tragic consequences. President Obama broke off the campaign to help and Mitt Romney wisely decided that addressing a tanned group of […]

On average women live longer than men. It’s one of the facts that virtually everyone knows and although advances in medicine mean that the life expectancy of men is increasing that fact still holds good today. According to figures quoted by the BBC in September last year, life expectancy in the UK has reached its […]

The Office of National Statistics (ONS), in its latest statistical report on the UK economy, says that the annual consumer price inflation, recorded as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) fell to 2.2 per cent in September 2012, from 2.5 per cent in August, and has more than halved from the 5.2 per cent rate seen […]

The Government recently published draft legislation to implement key elements of the Independent Commission on Banking (IBC) recommendations, marking the latest milestone in the Government’s reforms of the banking system. The draft will now be scrutinised by the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standard (PCBS). The Government should then receive and consider the report ahead of […]