Haroon Mazhar

China to push global currency at G8

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:20:00 +0000

The changing city.....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:44:00 +0000

Its been a long time since I wrote something on this blog. Today I am thinking about how the city of London is changing.In fact the whole word is changing to some point.

Just read the article on FT about the job market prospects and recovery and it paints a very gloomy picture "If you are 35 years old, have only ever worked in the City and have lost your job, then the chief executive of Britain’s biggest listed recruitment company has a grim message for you on the prospect of a recovery in financial sector employment: “Those jobs have gone and they’re not coming back any time soon.”"

Looks like the next few years will be rough ride economically.

To balance things back to normal I read another article by Julie Myers (I read her articles often)
Individual capitalism has come of age

that's the day so far .......

The 100 Best Business Finance Posts of All Time

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:36:00 +0000

By Jessica Hupp

In business, nearly everyting revolves around finance, so it’s no wonder that it’s one of the most popular topics in business blogging. From financing to setting the value of your work, it’s essential to get good advice. These posts offer some of the best information that’s out there.

Funding & Earning

The acquisition of money is the lifeblood of any business. Read these posts to find out how you can get money through funding and focusing on earning in your business.

How A Beggar in Grenada Uses Data to Optimize Donations: Check out this post to find out what your business can learn from a beggar.
Open innovation and crowdsourcing: Learn how to finance your project by tapping into large crowds.
Starting A New Business Over 60: Learn how to secure financing if you’re an entrepreneur of a certain age.
The Art of Bootstrapping: Read this post for tips on developing your business without investors.
Can You Make $3,000 in ONE Day?: Think outside the box to earn more money per day.
Need Money? Looking For Another Business Loan? Perhaps There Is Another Option: Consider solving problems before automatically reaching for more money.
Government Grant Money For Small Business: Learn the basics of getting government money in this post.
Truth About Grants: There’s no free lunch–get the lowdown on the reality of grants.
Why Women Entrepreneurs Don’t Get the Financing They Need: Find out why women are “playing small” when it comes to business finance, and what can be done about it.
10 Ways To Fund Your Business: From credit cards to friends and family, check out these alternative ways to get money for your business.
The Fiction of 20%: Find out why it’s really not that important for venture capitalists to own 20% of your company.
My Corporate Valuation Workbook: Get the Cliff’s Notes to financial analysis in this post.
The Top Ten Lies of Venture Capitalists: Do you need funding, but keep getting blown off by VCs? Get to the bottom of what they’re telling you.
How Entrepreneurs Can Find the Financing Help They Need: Take these steps to locate financing for your business in a responsible way.
What are Venture Capitalists looking for?: Find out if you’ve got what VCs want to invest in.
Focus on Your IPAs: Income Producing Activities: Small Biz Survival reminds readers to focus on activities that produce money.

Planning

Financial forecasting and planning is essential to ongoing success. Learn more about research and modeling in these posts.

Financial Models for Underachievers: Two Years of the Real Numbers of a Startup: Redfin’s Glenn Kelman lays down the numbers of a startup.
Please Stop With Your Chinese Math: Don’t let market size deceive you–Chinese math is no good.
Inexpensive Ways to Conduct Marketing Research: Get budget-efficient communications with your clientele using these ideas.
The ABCs of Cash Flow Forecasting: Get the basics of cash flow forecasting in this post.
How to use Inkling Prediction Markets for your business: Harness the knowledge of crowds to predict sales for your business.

Spending

Once you’re earning money, it’s important to use it wisely. Read these posts to consider how to effectively spend money in your business.

25 Gadgets That Actually Save Money: Laptops, power strips, coin sorters and other gadgets can actually pay for themselves in savings. Make an investment with these money-saving gadgets.
Bootstrapping Tip: To rent or not to rent?: Find out if renting office space is right for your business or not.
Even a Small Leak Can Empty Your Money Bucket Quickly: Avoid draining your hard-won earnings by stemming leaks in your business’ spending.
Lease A Car, Don’t Buy It!: If you’ve got fleet vehicles, or just a few executive cars, take these points into consideration when deciding whether you should lease them or make a commitment to buying.
Piggybacking on Your Neighbor’s WiFi: If you’re in a highly populated business area, chances are you have a pretty good chance of tapping into some free WiFi. This post considers the ethical and security implications of doing so.
Discounts Abound for Small-Business Owners: Get these deals that are designed specifically for small business owners.
A Few Ways To Save Money With a Small Business Opportunity: Get started cheaply using these tips.

Customers

Customers are essential to your business, so it’s important that you handle transactions with them properly. Learn how to value your customers and get them to pay their bills in this collection of posts.

Ignore a Customer’s Lifetime Value at Your Own Risk: Don’t forget how much money a single customer means to you, or you could lose more than just their business.
14 Web-Based Invoicing Tools To Make Sure You Get Paid: These invoicing tools make getting money from your clients a breeze.
What Happens if Your Clients Don’t Pay?: Learn how to handle non-paying clients in this post.
Collecting Receivables: Jeff Cornwall encourages readers to wake up and smell the roses–and get customers to pay you what they owe.

Money Management

When you’re operating a business, money management gets more complicated. Read these posts for advice about financial managers and to get good ideas for handling money on your own.

Make Sure Your Financial Advisor is Not a Loser: Free Money Finance marvels at the fact that a money “loser” is employed as a financial advisor. Read this post to find out the importance of avoiding hiring hacks like this guy.
The Financial Messiness of the Entrepreneurial Life: Navigate the ups and downs of the financial life of an entrepreneur with these thoughts from Inspired Business Growth.
Building Banking Relationships That Last: Make friends with your bankers, and they can help you in a crunch.
For the love of $$$: Find out how the love of money can present obstacles to launching your venture successfully.
Five Effective Ways to Re-Invest Your Profits: When you make money, what should you do with it? College-Startup answers this important question.
Planners and Fees: Get smart about the financial planner that you hire for your business. Use these four points as a start to your consideration.
Five Tips For Managing Your Finances on the Go: Many entrepreneurs are on the go and don’t have a lot of time to sit down and work on money issues. Use these tips and tools to take care of business without having to stop by the office.

Fairness

Businesses are consumers, too, and you need to know how to fight back when you’ve been wronged by another business. Find out how to deal with common problems in these posts.

How to Complain: Get the basics on this essential first step of the righting process.
Can You Do Simple Math? Good, Then You’ll Soon Realize Why You Need to Resolve My Complaint: Learn how to reason with companies by spelling out what your complaint means to their bottom line.
How To Take a Case To Small Claims Court: If you need to escalate to legal action, this is the place to start.
Negotiate This!: Follow these tips to become a smart negotiator.

Business Development & Transitions

Whether you’re still brainstorming about ideas or or about to sell off your business, money is a big factor to consider. Take a look at these posts to understand more about its impact in development and transitions in business.

Q&A: Selling Out to a Partner: So you’ve decided to go your separate ways–now how do you deal with the money? Learn how in this post from Bplans.
Should You Quit School Because You’re Brilliant?: Business is booming, even though you’re still hitting the books. Is it time to throw in the towel on school?
Show Me The Money: In business, everything has a price: Learn why you shouldn’t automatically turn down offers to buy your business.
Income vs. Cash Flow: Why Growth Can Kill Your Business: Don’t let rapid growth kill your startup: take this advice from Business Pundit.
How to Buy a Business in 10 [not so] Easy Steps: Take these steps when you’re shopping around for a new business venture.
Making Money With the Boom Bust Blitz: Manage your assets and liabilities to your best advantage, and you’ll be successful no matter what stage of business cycle you’re in.
Is starting a business impossible when you are the sole income earner in your family?: Pamela Slim takes on financial responsibility for entrepreneurs.
Sell Your Business in Twelve Steps: Take these 12 steps when you’re ready to let go and cash in on your hard work.
Q&A: The Balance Sheet When Buying a Business: Take these financial tips into consideration when you’re acquiring a new business.

Employees & Outsourcing

Your employees are perhaps your most valuable asset. These posts consider salaries, outsourcing, and watching out for losses.

Does pay for performance pay?: Get more bang for your payroll buck by considering this question.
10 Ways of Overcoming Outsourcing Objections: Find out why outsourcing can work for your business.
Is your business vulnerable to fraud?: Don’t let money slip through your hands by opening yourself up to fraud.
Decide Your Success With Bookkeeping Outsourcing: Get someone else to keep a watchful eye on your accounting to save money and time.
Give Your Employees More Rope, Not Money To Buy It: Learn why throwing more money at employees isn’t always the best idea.
To Outsource or Not to Outsource: Consider whether or not outsourcing is right for your business by reading this post.
Avoid Getting Gypped by Fraudulent Web Designers: Outsourcing web design can be a smart money move, but not if you get burned.
Whistlelower incentives?: Consider whether or not you should financially reward employees that report trouble.

Value

Whether you’re setting your prices or considering how much your time is worth, business is all about value. Learn how to set yours and find strategies to improve it in these posts.

Whether or not to publish your prices: Find out whether or not you should make your pricing publicly available.
Four tasks to increase values or prices in business transactions: Maximize your financial returns using these four strategies.
Selling Yourself On The Value Of Your Time: It can be easy to forget to charge for your time, but it’s essential that you do so. Read this post to find out why and how.
How Much Money Is Integrity Worth?: Increase your value by improving your integrity and reducing the risk of working with you.
6 Simple Steps for Sales Success: Follow these tips for sales and you’ll earn more from your clients.
How Much Should You Charge For Your Web App?: The Instigator Blog answers this essential question.
Will Work for MONEY: Are you tired of getting offers that ask you to trade your service for “experience?” Mind Petals is, too–read all about it here.
Such a Thing As Too High of An Hourly Rate?: Learn why it’s all relative when it comes to rates.
Be Proud of Your Prices: Learn how to stay strong in the face of clients who don’t want to pay what you require.
Are You Short Changing Your Business?: Get down to the emotional root of why you don’t want to raise your rates in this post.
Top Ten Signs You May Be Charging Too Little: This humorous post takes a look at pricing situations you should avoid.
New Price Structure for 2007?: Base your prices on what value you offer, not what everyone else is charging.
Business Ethics: Why Doing the Right Thing Pays Dividends: Learn why trust builds value in business.
Dollars & Sense: Setting the Perfect Rates: Determine the perfect rate for your business using the guidelines from this post.
Flip this product: Adding Value to an Existing Product by Dressing It Up: Sell profitable products using this strategy.
Nine Factors to Consider When Determining Your Price: You’ll need to think about things like market demand and your audience when setting the value of your product or service.
20 Ways to Add Value to Your Products and Services: Increase your prices and customer satisfaction with these 20 ideas.
Avoiding the horror of the sliding scale: This post asserts that you shouldn’t do sliding scale payments unless you’re in the business of helping people with money.
Should the “Free” In Freelance Refer To the Price?: Watch out for “opportunities to build your portfolio.” Success From The Nest says they’re bad news.

Ideas

Although you can’t make money on an idea alone, they’re still vital to sparking a successful business venture. Take a look at these money-making ideas to consider how yours stacks up.

Bottled Water Experiment: Neville proves that his idea to make money with no money actually works.
Top 20 Dumbest Business Ideas That Made Millions…Or Not!: 10 of these dumb ideas made money, 10 of them didn’t. Consider whether or not your idea is on the million dollar side of the fence.
It’s The Economics, Stupid–Why A New Idea Isn’t The Key To Entrepreneurship: Find out why money is more important than ideas in entrepreneurship.
Top Ten Franchise Opportunities for $20,000: Take on these low cost franchise opportunities for easy entrepreneurship.
Why Didn’t I Think of That Billionaires: Check out these billion dollar ideas that came from creating something their originators could be passionate about.
Selling Notes: Neville experiments with selling class notes.

Advertising

Advertising is often expensive, but there are ways to make your dollars stretch in this category. Check out these posts for strategies that will help you get more out of your advertising purchases.

The Secrets to Free Advertising: Find out how you can create free advertising in this article.
Getting Started with Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing: Get the basics on launching a successful PPC campaign in this post.
6 Tips to Recovering From a Typo in Your Printed Sales Letter or Brochure: Oops! You just made a costly mistake. Here’s how to fix it without going broke.
Spending Those Hard Earned Dollars On Advertising: Get the most bang for your advertising buck by considering the ideas in this post.
5 Steps To Turn More Leads Into Cash: Get more concrete responses from your ads using these strategies.

Taxes

Taxes are a headache for anyone, but they’re even worse for business owners. Learn about important tax issues in these posts.

The Right Way to Write-Off Business Expenses: Get the lowdown on writing off expenses like travel and vehicle usage.
Tax Write Offs When Self Employed: Use these resources to get tax tips you can actually use.
Planning a Business Trip: Make your business trip a tax deduction rather than a liability.

Other

These posts cover even more great topics in business finance.

7 Practical Ways to Earn More By Working Less: Get more money out of your work time with these 7 tips.
30 Essential Pieces of Free (and Open) Software for Windows: Find free software that can help you run your business in this post.
Online Rival to Quickbooks: Check out this finance software alternative to save money.
Here is a picture of my 10 million dollar yacht: Don’t fall for these money wasting schemes that prey on wannabe entrepreneurs.
Five Credit Card Fees You Can Avoid: Save money by giving these credit card fees the slip.
Managing Time For Maximum Profit: Work smarter, not harder, and you’ll maximize profit.
Does a CEO Have Any Business Posting on the Yahoo! Message Boards?: Consider the implications of publicly discussing your business finances by reading this post.

UK unemployment fell in September; Bank of England minutes show that support for keeping key interest rate unchanged at 5.75% was on a 8-1 vote

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 10:40:00 +0000

UK unemployment fell to a 2 1/2-year low in September as accelerating economic growth led companies to add workers, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Meanwhile, minutes of the rate setting meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee show that members considered a cut in the key interest rate earlier this month and then voted 8-1 for no change, with only David Blanchflower supporting a reduction to counter a rise in corporate credit costs.
More here

How to buy shares and other securities

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:40:00 +0000

Successful investing is not just a matter of picking the right investments at the right time but finding the best, and most cost effective way of buying them.

Buying shares
Trading in overseas stocks
Buying funds
Buying bonds
Buying other investments

Details here

Oil sprints towards $88

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:16:00 +0000

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil thundered towards $88 a barrel on Tuesday, hitting a new record and extending a rally that has added eight dollars in a week on tight supplies, strong demand and tension in northern Iraq.

Oil is closing in on the inflation-adjusted high of $90.46 seen in 1980, the year after the Iranian revolution and at the start of the Iran-Iraq war. Prices this year have averaged $67.

At 12:08 p.m., U.S. crude was up $1.33 at $87.46, off a high of $87.97. London Brent was up $1.22 at $83.97.

Oil has set a series of records over the past three days.

Investors have cited rising tensions between Turkey and Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, sturdy world energy demand growth, tight inventories in consumer nations heading into winter and unprecedented weakness in the U.S. dollar.

"There's a lot of risk there and that is being reflected in the price," said fund manager David Dugdale of MFC Global Investment Management.

"It is difficult to find any bearish factors now. There's the Iraq-Turkey issue, a weak dollar, and inventory levels for U.S. heating oil are much lower than a year ago," said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager at Japan's Astmax Futures Co. Ltd.

The Turkish cabinet asked parliament on Monday for permission to launch an attack on the separatists.

More Here

Oil surges near $88 a barrel

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:15:00 +0000

Oil prices rose to fresh records on Tuesday, with US crude surging near $88 a barrel, and pushing gold to a new 28-year high as investors feared a spike in inflation.

The threat of a Turkish military operation against Kurdish militia in northern Iraq contributed to the oil price increase, but traders said the main factor of the rally was low US inventories, strong demand and a timid production increase from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

Francisco Blanch, chief commodities strategist at Merrill Lynch, added that an early winter cold snap or a serious geopolitical problem in the Middle East “could drive oil prices even to $100 a barrel.”

Doug Leggate, of Citigroup in New York, added: “A run to $90 is now seen as reasonable.”

Nymex November West Texas Intermediate rose to a high of $87.97 a barrel and later was trading $1.57 higher to $87.70 a barrel. ICE November Brent rose to an all-time high of $84.26 a barrel.

more here

Inflation steady at 1.8%

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:13:00 +0000

Inflation remained steady at 1.8% last month on the consumer prices index measure, official data showed today, defying City expectations that it would move up to 1.9%.

The news marks the third month running that CPI inflation has remained below the Bank of England's government-set target of 2% and analysts said this would make it easier for the Bank to cut interest rates in the coming months in response to the global credit squeeze and growing evidence that the economy is weakening.

"UK inflation risks remain benign and the Bank of England should have a free hand to cut rates by a quarter-point at the November monetary policy meeting," said David Brown, chief European economist at Bear Stearns in London.

Inflation is now still the lowest in over a year and a long way below the 3.1% peak it hit in March as last year's surge in oil prices fed through into higher electricity and gas bills.

But the MPC will be conscious of a fresh inflationary threat coming from oil prices which this morning set a fresh record of $86.79 a barrel. The market remained worried about tight winter oil supplies and continued tension between Turkey and Iraq.

Food had the biggest upward effect on inflation in September as the price of dairy products surged 6.3% on the month. Milk prices going up 4p a pint were the main culprit. Overall, food added 0.1 percentage points to the annual CPI rate despite an offsetting downward impact from vegetable prices.

Falling gas and electricity bills made a downward contribution to inflation, as did clothing and footwear, which rose by less than last year.

The RPI measure of inflation was also weaker than expected, falling to 3.9% from 4.1% in August. The RPIX measure, which excludes mortgage interest payments, dipped to 2.7% from 2.8% in August.

The ONS also published its Rossi index on which increases in state benefits are based. This was up 2.3% on the year in September compared with a 3.0% rise in September 2006.

Shortly before the data was published, the pound fell to a 2-1/2 year low against the euro of 69.6p. Sterling also dropped to $2.0353, from $2.0430 yesterday.

from here

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 21:48:00 +0000

7 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Failure

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:00:00 +0000

October 3rd, 2007 by John Wesley

The fear of failure is perhaps the strongest force holding people below their potential. In a world full of uncertainty, a delicate economy, and countless misfortunes that could happen to anyone, it’s easy to see why most people are inclined to play it safe.

But playing it safe has risk as well. If you never dare to fail your success will have a low ceiling. Most people underestimate their merit and ability to recover from failure, leading them to pass up valuable opportunities. The ability to fail big and fail often has been a mark of the spectacularly successful throughout history.

The following strategies will help you put risk and reward in perspective so you can overcome the fear of failure.

1. Consider the cost of missed opportunities - The biggest risk that people fail to consider is the benefit they lose by avoiding high risk/high reward opportunities. In his guide to career planning, Netscape founder Marc Andreesen compares a well managed career to a diversified portfolio. The ideal career contains a wide range of job opportunities (some risky, some safe) that combine to form a relatively safe career with a high potential for growth. Taking high risk opportunities is essential because they offer the greatest reward:

The issue is that without taking risk, you can’t exploit any opportunities. You can live a quiet and reasonably happy life, but you are unlikely to create something new, and you are unlikely to make your mark on the world.

2. Research the alternatives - The unknown is a major source of fear. When you don’t know what you’re dealing with, potential consequences seem far worse than they actually are. Take the power out fear by understanding it. Research all the potential outcomes (both good and bad) so you genuinely understand the risk of failure and benefits of success. Analyzing these outcomes will help you see through the fear of failure and make a logical decision.

3. Put the worst-case scenario in perspective - One of the most powerful questions posed by Tim Ferriss in the 4-Hour Workweek is: If you chase your dreams and fall flat on your face, worst-case scenario, how long will it take you to recover? The answer is probably less than you expect. How hard would it really be to find another job? Chances are you could recover completely in a few months. Is the fear of a few rough months strong enough to keep you in a mediocre situation indefinitely?

4. Understand the benefits of failure - As Emerson said, life is a series of experiments, the more you make the better. Each failure is a trial in an experiment and an opportunity for growth. Even if a failure costs you financially, the educational benefits can far outweigh the loss. Working for a startup instead of a big company is considered risky, but according Paul Graham, “Managers at big companies prefer to hire someone who’d tried to start a startup and failed over someone who’d spent the same time working at a big company.” Maybe that experience at a big company isn’t as safe or as valuable as you think?

5. Make a contingency plan - Another way to overcome the fear of failure is to reduce the downside. Hedge your risk by creating a contingency plan. Even if your first option fails, you can maintain the status quo with a solid backup plan. Daring to fail doesn’t mean you have to risk losing it all. If you manage risk intelligently, you can capture the benefits of high risk opportunities while leaving yourself a safety net.

6. Take action - The best way to reduce fear and build confidence is taking action. As soon as you do, you’ll begin accumulating experience and knowledge. Everything is hardest the first time. It’s like jumping off a cliff into a lake — after you do it once, you see that the water is safe and each time afterwards is easy. Start off with small steps and build up your confidence until the fear of failure is manageable.

7. Burn the boats - When ancient Greek armies traveled across the sea to do battle, the first thing they would do after landing was to burn the boats, leaving them stranded. With no way to make it home besides victory, the resolve of the soldiers was strengthened. When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to follow through.

If you have a goal, but are afraid to commit, force yourself into action by burning the boats. Register for an exam in advance if you want to go back to school. Set a deadline to move to a new city without signing a lease. Fear of failure disappears when you realize it can’t save you

London best European city for business; Dublin gets 11th ranking and top for climate governments create

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:44:00 +0000

1	1	London
2	2	Paris
3	3	Frankfurt
4	4	Barcelona
5	6	Amsterdam
6	5	Brussels
7	7	Madrid
8	8	Berlin
9	9	Munich
10	12	Milan
11	11	Dublin
12	20	Geneva
13	10	Zurich
14	13	Prague
15	15	Lisbon
16	14	Düsseldorf
17	24	Lyon
18	21	Manchester
19	18	Warsaw
20	16	Hamburg
21	19	Birmingham
22	17	Stockholm
23	22	Budapest
24	23	Vienna
25	27	Copenhagen
26	25	Glasgow
27	26	Rome
28	29	Bucharest
29	30	Helsinki
30	28	Leeds
31	31	Moscow
32	33	Oslo
33	32	Athens

Changes in Top 20

Up eight places – Geneva

Up seven places - Lyon

Up three places – Manchester

Up two places – Milan

Up one – Amsterdam

Down one – Brussels, Prague, Warsaw

Down two – Düsseldorf

Down three – Zurich

Easy access to markets London

Qualified staff London

External transport links London

Telecommunications London

*Cost of staff Bucharest

Climate governments create Dublin

Value for money of office space Warsaw

*Availability of office space Berlin

Languages spoken London

Internal transport London

Quality of life Barcelona

Freedom from pollution Stockholm

More Here

The main points from Chancellor Alistair Darling's pre-Budget report and Comprehensive Spending Review statement:

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:23:00 +0000

Main points: Darling statement

TAXES

The inheritance tax threshold for couples will rise to £600,000 and then to £700,000 by 2010.

The main rate of corporation tax will be cut by 2p in the pound to 28% by next year.

Mr Darling promised to reform the capital gains tax system, ensuring those working in private equity pay a "fairer share". There will be a single rate of 18%.

A number of "loopholes" for non-domiciled tax payers will be examined. Mr Darling said Tory plans to charge a flat rate of £25,000 to such people, would mean only 15,000 paying. This would mean revenue of £650m a year, rather than £3.5bn that the Tories had estimated, he added.

HEALTH

Over the next three years the NHS will increase its funding by an average of 4% above the rate of inflation.

NHS funding in England to rise from £90bn this year to £110bn by 2010.

EDUCATION AND SCIENCE

The education and skills budget will rise to £74bn by 2010.

Investment on science and technology to rise to £6bn in three years' time.

THE ECONOMY

Mr Darling said it was a time of "increased economic uncertainty" with "turbulence in America, Asia and Europe" .

There would be "no risks with unaffordable promises that put the public finances at risk".

UK economic growth is expected to be between 2% and 2.5% next year, the chancellor said. And for 2009/2010 it is 2.5% to 3%.

Mr Darling said he expected to make a statement on Northern Rock later this week.

PUBLIC FINANCES

The government will keep net debt at a sustainable level during the next economic cycle, Mr Darling said.

Net borrowing was forecast to fall from £38bn this year to £23bn in 2012.

Government departments will save a further £30bn by 2010, on top of £20bn of savings already achieved, the chancellor said.

DEFENCE/TERROR/CRIME

Mr Darling allocated an extra £400m for military operations abroad this year.

He announced a new single budget for the police, security services and other agencies to deal with terrorism, to rise by £1bn a year to £3.5bn in three years' time.

Spending on the Home Office is to rise to £20bn by 2010.

ENVIRONMENT, TRANSPORT AND OVERSEAS AID

Mr Darling said aviation duty would be paid on flights, rather than individual passengers.

An extra £200m for free pensioner bus travel next year.

By 2010, the transport budget will rise to £14.5bn a year, including projects to widen the M1 and M6.

Mr Darling said the UK was the only country to have met its Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions targets.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs budget will rise to £4bn in three years' time, including £800m by 2010 for flood defences.

The overseas aid budget will rise to £9bn by 2010.

BENEFITS AND PENSIONS

The amount of child maintenance a family can receive without it affecting their benefits will double from £20 a week to £40 a week by 2010.

Pension credits will rise £5 a week from next April for single people and £7.65 for couples.

HOUSING

The government will spend more than £4bn over the next three years to help people in poor-quality housing make renovations.

CULTURE

There would be an inflation increase for arts and culture spending, Mr darling said. The budget for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will rise to £2.2bn in three years.

UK Pre Budget - Spending Review

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:03:00 +0000

See below for the key points, with the newest line at the top.

4.03pm: This will fund more than 20 new hospitals and 100 new GP practices.

4.02pm: Health funding rises from £90bn to £110bn by 2010

4.01pm: NHS funding will be 4% above inflation

4.00pm: Futher £0.25bn fund for education

3.59pm: Inheritance tax threshold will rise by the rate of inflation in future years.

3.57pm: Inheritance tax threshold up to £600,000

3.57pm: Budget for culture media and sport up to £2.2bn by 2010

3.56pm: Wants more fixed-rate mortgages for ten years or longer.

3.55pm: £4bn over three years to renovate homes

3.54pm: Extra £200m to fund free National bus travel for pensioners

3.53pm: Child tax credit increasing by £175 per year from next year.

3.50pm: Air flight levy on planes, not passengers.

3.49pm: £800m a year for flood defences by 2010

3.49pm Defra £4bn in three years time to tackle climate change.

3.48pm: Tory non-domicile plans would have £2bn shortfall

3.47pm: There are 115,000 Non-domicile taxpayers - not 155,00

3.47pm: Private equity loopholes to be closed

3.46pm: Capital gains tax taper relief to be 18%

3.45pm: Main rate of corporation tax to be cut by 2p to 28p next year

3.44pm: Doubling money spent on upgrading rail network

3.44pm: £14.5bn investment in transport by 2010

3.43pm: Health research fund to be £1.7bn by 2010

3.42pm: Home Office and Ministry of Justice to get £20bn by 2010

3.41pm: Anti-terror budget to be £3.5bn a year by 2010

3.40pm: Single budget for anti-terror work

3.40pm: We will increase the Foreign Office budget

3.39pm: Extra £400m for arms forces operations

3.37pm: Forecast inflation will be on target next year and the year after.

3.33pm: Growth this year 3%

3.31pm: Chancellor begins his first pre Budget report, 15 minutes earlier than expected.

Buying VS Renting

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 11:37:00 +0000

Comparison can be done here

Britain's goods trade gap narrows

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 10:10:00 +0000

The strongest export performance for a year helped narrow Britain's global goods trade gap in August, official data showed today. The Office for National Statistics said the goods trade gap reduced to £6.85bn. The new figure was broadly in line with analysts' expectations. But July's deficit was revised up to a record high of £7.4bn

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2008 GROWTH PREDICTIONS (UK Economy)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 08:46:00 +0000

Government forecast 2.5-3.0%

Lehman Brothers 1.7% (2.3%)

HSBC 1.8% ( 2.1%)

Barclays 2.5% ( 2.7%)

NIESR 2.2% (2.6%)

Lombard Street 1.5% (1.5%)

Previous forecast in brackets

Property price falls end Irish party

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 19:29:00 +0000

reland has already seen its religious orders selling off land. Now it is the members of some of the country’s exclusive golf clubs who are voting to cash in their greens and fairways to make way for new housing.

Some clubs have pulled off attractive deals with developers, but others may be too late to the party amid signs the Irish property boom has come to an end. Gerard McDonnell of Pembroke McDonnell estate agents believes the reality is rather worse. “Prices are down 10 per cent and that’s if you get it,” he says.

The debate now is whether the country can engineer a soft landing – as most local commentators believe – or be plunged into an economic recession which some outside analysts think will be hard to avoid.

The general economic backdrop is certainly worsening for Ireland, one of the best performing European economies of recent years. Gross domestic product contracted by 1.4 per cent in the second quarter, giving a year-on-year growth rate of 5.4 per cent, compared with 8.1 per cent in the year to June 2006, according to the Central Statistics Office.

Any slowdown in the US economy would have a big impact in Ireland, which relies on the US for 18.5 per cent of its exports, even more than the UK at 17.4 per cent.

Construction activity has been a big part of the growth rate in recent years, and the industry accounts for quarter of those in work.

Figures out last week from the Permanent TSB bank and the Economic and Social Research Institute suggested house prices had fallen 3.3 per cent since the start of the year.

House builders are starting to react, with the pace of completions slowing. The Construction Industry Federation says that while in the medium term the economy requires 65,000 houses, negative sentiment means as few as 25,000 homes will actually be built in the first half of next year. “It is imperative therefore that confidence be restored sooner rather than later so that a serious shortfall in housing completion numbers does not arise,” says Hank Fogarty, president of the federation, which wants cuts in stamp duty in the December budget.

Any listed company with an exposure to the property market has seen shares fall. McInerney, the house builder, is down. Fears about a housing slowdown, and the effect that will have on mortgage business, has resulted in volatility in Irish bank shares.

The central bank last week cut its forecast for economic growth for next year from 4 per cent to 3.25 per cent, in part due to the slowdown in construction.

But Tom O’Connell, assistant director-general at the bank, broadly welcomed the changes and said house price growth was now at more sustainable levels, and also pointed out the strong 12 per cent growth in rents.

“Rents had fallen for several years. With the fall in house prices, and the rise in interest rates, first-time buyers are probably holding back a little bit, and going into rental accommodation. But it does confirm there is a reasonably strong underlying demand reflected in the rental market,” he says.

Melanie Averall, analyst with Moody’s, the credit rating agency, in London, says: “With the important housing market showing signs of cooling one can also anticipate household spending taking a knock.”

In other markets such as the UK, during times of booming house prices consumers have used equity release – using rising house prices to increase the size of their mortgages – to finance credit-driven spending. Now house prices are falling, one might expect consumer spending to fall in line.

But Vincent Hogan and Pat O’Sullivan in a report for the ESRI published last week, say that “if households have not used household wealth for personal consumption purposes to date then personal consumption would remain unaffected by a fall in house prices. This would imply that the recessionary effects of a decline in house prices would not be as severe as might otherwise be expected”.

One direct impact of slower house sales however is that the government will collect less tax. Figures last week from the department of finance show that tax revenues fell in the first nine months by €490m ($692m, £339m), the bulk of which is explained by the fall in stamp duty on houses.

Brian Cowen, the finance minister, is predicting a small budget deficit of up to €1bn for the year, against a forecast surplus of €500m

Eurobarometer: More than half of young Europeans keen to start their own business; EU citizens are significantly less risk oriented than Americans

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 15:07:00 +0000

According to the latest Flash Eurobarometer on entrepreneurial mindset, the EU is still lagging behind the US, but over half of the EU’s young people find it desirable to become entrepreneurs within the next five years
The aim of the survey is to have a better understanding of entrepreneurship, to identify what is fuelling entrepreneurial mindsets, what encourages people to become entrepreneurs and which obstacles exist. The results of the 2007 survey of 20,000 people, will help the Commission in the shaping of its policy-making.

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Irish Consumer Sentiment improved in September

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:22:00 +0000

The overall IIB Bank/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 74.3 in September. This compares to a figure of 72.0 in August.

Commenting on the results David Duffy, ESRI, said:

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Eurozone unemployment stable at 6.9% in August; Lowest rates in Denmark and the Netherlands - both 3.3%; Unemployment in Ireland up from 4.4% to 4.7%

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 11:17:00 +0000

The Eurozone¹ (EA13) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate² stood at 6.9% in August 2007, unchanged compared to July³. It was 7.8% in August 2006. The EU27¹ unemployment rate was 6.7% in August 2007, compared with 6.8% in July³. It was 7.8% in August 2006.

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Up to 300 new Irish jobs to be created in call centre and banking projects; Deloitte says it is creating 230 graduate positions - up 25% on 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 09:26:00 +0000

Up to 300 new Irish jobs are to be created in projects in Waterford, Dundalk and Dublin in financial services and customer support services. In addition, Big 4 accounting firm Deloitte announced plans to create 230 graduate positions,

an increase of over 25% on last year.

More here

City bonuses and jobs to fall as effects of credit crunch begin to bite

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:49:00 +0000

City bonuses will fall by about 16% and the financial services sector will shed thousands of jobs next year as a result of the global credit crunch, according to a leading economic forecasting group.Bonuses for this year, which will be paid at the start of 2008, will drop by 16% to £7.4bn, compared to the record 2006 payout of £8.8bn, a study by the centre for economics and business research (CEBR) has calculated

Meanwhile, 6,500 jobs are likely to be lost in the City next year, from private equity, mergers and acquisitions teams and structured funds. The expected downturn follows a rise of 11,000 in City jobs this year, taking employment in the square mile to a record 349,000.

The CEBR has revised down its forecasts for bonuses and jobs as City firms bear the brunt of defaulting mortgages in the US sub-prime crisis and the drying up of credit that has followed. Banks have been extremely wary of lending to each other. Libor interest rates - the rate at which banks lend to each other - jumped to 6.6% in mid-September, 85 basis points above the Bank of England's base rate of 5.75%.

"City firms are now in a mood to cut costs, and the easiest way to do this is by making smaller bonus payouts," the CEBR said. It added that hedge funds and investment banking operations will see the biggest cuts in bonuses, while traditional financial services such as securities trading will remain largely untouched.

But the extent of bonus cuts will be tempered by the firms' desire to retain their best staff and the ongoing strength of the commodity markets will help to keep activity in the City buoyant. Emerging markets such as China and India are effective in feeding business to London, the report says.

The CEBR warns that a slowdown in China's economic growth is expected after the Beijing Olympics next year and combined with weaker UK growth, bonuses will tumble by a further 16% in 2008 taking them to £6.2bn, the lowest since 2003.

"The outlook for the City suggests that its 350,000 employees will need to get used to smaller payouts over the next two years," says Sarah Bloomfield, economist at CEBR. "However, by any measure, it will still be a large bonus cheque."

CEBR added that lower bonus payouts would help cool the frothy London housing market, which has seen double-digit annual growth rates recently, and also weaken demand for high-value retail goods.

The expected fall in bonuses comes as growth in the London economy, which is primarily driven by the City, is set to be markedly subdued next year.

The report forecasts economic growth in the capital will slow to 1.4% in 2008 from 3.6% this year. If this is the case, it will be the first time in six years that London will fail to expand at a faster pace than the nation as a whole.

It adds that this pause in rapid economic growth is likely to last only for a year as recovery in the global economy and investment from the London Olympic games helps to boost activity.

The figures

£7.4bn

2007 bonuses down from £8.8bn

1.4%

London economic growth in 2008

6,500

Job cuts on cards at New York banks

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:46:00 +0000

Tens of thousands of New York bankers are braced for a crippling round of job cuts as the aftershocks of the credit-market collapse reverberate the length and breadth of Wall Street.

A handful of big investment banks have already begun to swing the axe, with UBS cutting 1,500 from its fixed income division after taking more than $4bn of write-downs.

Last week Morgan Stanley sacked 600 from its mortgage unit - 500 in the Big Apple and about 100 in London. Credit Suisse, too, fired another 170 people from its mortgage division, having just let 150 or so go, taking the total so far above 300. Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns have also been trimming away some dead wood.

But there are much larger reductions on the horizon, most analysts believe, as Wall Street banks are expecting this year's profits to be billions of dollars lower than those made in 2006.

'This is a variable-cost business,' said David Wyss, the chief economist at Standard & Poor's in New York. 'That means when revenues go down, you cut jobs to account for it.'

Wyss believes that Wall Street could be on course to cut as many jobs as were lost after the terrorist attacks of 2001. He also thinks cuts won't be restricted to New York, as banks are likely to want to shed jobs in all the world's big financial centres, including London.

The loss of such highly paid jobs will have a knock-on effect on the wider economy, as high-net-worth spending on items such as houses and cars is likely to decrease, while income tax revenues will also fall.

'The effect on the broader economy will be outsized in places like New York and London,' Wyss added. 'Financial services employees are a sizeable portion of the workforce in such locations.'

Analysts estimate that 40,000 jobs could be lost in New York alone.

In Britain, the Centre for Economics and Business Research published research last night forecasting that City bonuses will fall by 16 per cent relative to the record payout of £8.8bn in 2006. Investment banks and hedge funds will lead the cuts

OECD Composite Leading Indicators signal a weakening outlook for most major global economies

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:05:00 +0000

The latest composite leading indicators (CLIs) suggest that a moderation in economic expansion lies ahead in the OECD area. August 2007 data show weakening performance in the CLI’s six month rate of change in all the major seven economies. The latest data for major OECD non-member economies point to moderating expansion in China, India and Brazil, but an improved outlook for Russia.

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Job fears hit City of London morale

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 12:00:00 +0000

The wine bars in the City of London are still packed with traders and bankers, but their conversation is muted.

In just eight weeks the mood in the Square Mile has gone from an exuberant high fuelled by four years of unprecedented deal activity to a dispirited low following the US subprime crisis.

The collapse of private equity deals, the shutdown of the debt markets, the crisis surrounding Northern Rock and a string of bad third-quarter investment banking results have left traders and bankers fearing for their jobs.

More here