Letter to Editor
30 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 54 views]
With average UK house prices nearly double US prices and, I suspect, house sizes approximately half those in the US, we are looking at prices per sq ft in the UK 3 to 4 times the US level. With some 90% of the UK still not built on, how long will it be before pressure [...]
Oil goes up again
30 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 51 views]
The weather folk said the US was in for a mild winter, but they are not so positive about the next few weeks. The US weather centre is expecting a cold snap in early December, and that means the heating will go up. As a result oil had risen all the way back up to [...]
Mortgage lending sets three year high
30 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 55 views]
What next for the UK property market? If data on mortgage lending is anything to go by, the answer is up. According to the latest research from the Bank of England, lending on secured dwellings rose to £9.8 billion last month, that’s the biggest monthly rise since September 2003. If net lending gives an indication [...]
Uncle Sam smiles on GDP but consumers raise a frown
30 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 58 views]
It’s been a bit of a mixed bag this week in the US. Yesterday official data was released to show Uncle Sam performed a lot better in the third quarter of this year than we previously thought. A few weeks ago, the official compiler of stats state side had annualised GDP in the third quarter [...]
Scottish smoking ban: sales in foodie pubs rise
30 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 42 views]
Maybe fears that a smoking ban will damage the pub business have gone up in flames. Earlier this month JD Wetherspoon revealed a 5.2 percent rise in like for like sales in Scottish pubs where smoking is banned. But, perhaps an even more telling statistic announced by the company is this: Sales in the pubs [...]
Hybrid cars: GM makes move as Toyota sees dip
30 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 53 views]
That old ad slogan that the car in front is a Toyota could never be more apt when applied to hybrid cars. Okay, Honda might have a thing or two to say about that statement, but when you compare Japan’s number one automobile maker with the big three US car makers, you will see what [...]
EMI under offer
29 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 44 views]
When Sony and Bertelsmann agreed to merge their music arms, it was thought that a new wave of mergers was about to begin. The music industry is dominated by the big four: Sony BMG, Warner Music, Universal Music and EMI, and the most obvious candidates for a merger are EMI and Warner, or so it [...]
The falling dollar: Crisis, what crisis?
29 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 59 views]
Do you remember Nigel Lawson? The UK’s chancellor under Mrs T’s boom then bust period, had one big weapon for fighting inflation. He believed the secret to low inflation was a stable currency, and even before the UK joined the ERM, adopted a policy of shadowing the DeutschMark . He managed this by using the [...]
US house prices see biggest ever recorded fall
29 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 53 views]
Maybe then, the SS US economy, the unsinkable economy has just hit that iceberg. According to The National Association of Realtors (NAR), the median price of existing US homes fell by 3.5 percent in the year to October, taking the average price to $221,000. It was the biggest fall ever recorded. The previous record was [...]
Apple says to Beatles:
28 Nov 2006 [0 Comments | 61 views]
If there is one feather Apple wants in its iPod cap, more than anything else, it’s to sign up the Beatles. The Fab Four are not currently available online – legally, and considering the company that owns their music rights is called Apple Corp, it was felt that if they did agree an online deal, [...]
