UK public sector borrowing rises 10% in November to £14.2bn, putting pressure on chancellor’s full year target2.37pm GMTUS markets have made a bright start to trading following the better than expected third quarter GDP figures.The Dow Jones Industrial Average is currently up around 53 points or 0.3%, helping to support European markets which had been tending to drift a little before the US open.2.11pm GMTFollowing the poor UK public finances figures and the reasonable US GDP numbers - which show why the Federal Reserve was happy to raise US rates - the pound has fallen back.Sterling has fallen to an eight month low of $1.4860, down 0.2% on the day. Against a basket of currencies it is down 0.3% to a ten week low.2.09pm GMTGDP revisions look mildly better after excluding net exports and inventories, but slumping corp. profits serve as reminder to hike slowly.2.09pm GMTUS corporate profits fell by 1.6% in the third quarter, compared to a 3.5% rise in the previous three months.1.44pm GMT1.34pm GMTThe US economy continues to grow at a healthy pace, although by slightly less than first expected.The latest revision to the third quarter figures showed GDP growth of 2% on an annual basis, down from the 2.1% previously reported. But this was better than the 1.9% analysts had expected. Strong consumer and business spending offset attempts by business to reduce inventories.1.18pm GMTEuropean shares are drifting after a bright start.The FTSE 100 is currently 0.75% higher despite worse than expected public finance figures, but Germany’s Dax is virtually unchanged while France’s Cac is up just 0.2%.12.32pm GMT#Turkey Lira weakened after central bank left its benchmark rate on hold at 7.50%, vs consensus of a hike to 8.00%. pic.twitter.com/xBA0Ktpfte12.29pm GMTTurkey’s central bank has kept interest rates unchanged, confounding expectations of an increase in borrowing costs.The overnight rate is held at 7.25% despite forecasts of a 25 basis point increase while the repurchase rate is 7.5% compared to expectations of a rise to 8%.11.22am GMTDespite all the concerns about the Spanish economy following the weekend election and the subsequent uncertainty about the country’s future government, the country’s central bank has raised its growth forecasts for this year and next.The Bank of Spain said it expected the country’s economy to grow by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, the same level as in the previous three months, and it lifted its growth forecast for 2015 from 3.1% to 3.2%. For 2016 it is now predicting growth of 2.8%, up from its previous estimate of 2.7%.Internally the main source of uncertainty is associated with the evolution of economic policies, given how much the reform agenda and budget policies in particular affect confidence.10.58am GMTTata Steel is in discussions to sell its struggling UK businesses to investment group Greybull Capital which could safeguard thousands of jobs.The companies have signed a letter of intent and have entered exclusive talks. The deal involves Tata’s Long Products Europe division, including its Scunthorpe steelworks, mills in Teesside and northern France, an engineering workshop in Workington, a design consultancy in York, and associated distribution facilities. It also includes Tata Steel’s Scottish mills in Dalzell and Clydebridge which are currently being mothballed.10.41am GMTGeorge Osborne’s plan to repair Britain’s public finances has received a fresh setback from official figures showing that the budget deficit in November was 10% higher than in the same month in 2014, writes our economics editor Larry Elliott.The Office for National Statistics said the gap between spending and revenues last month was £14.2bn - an increase of £1.3bn on November 2014.Officials said that one reason for the deterioration was that last November had seen the payment of fines by financial institutions totalling £1.1bn, which had not been repeated in November 2015.Related: Latest borrowing figures threaten Osborne's deficit target10.27am GMTEconomist Howard Archer at IHS Global Insight said:If the pattern of the first 8 months of fiscal year 2015/16 continued over the rest of the year, PSNBex would come in at £81.2 billion. This compares with the target of £68.9 billion contained in November’s Autumn Statement.The Chancellor now faces a massive task to meet his fiscal targets for 2015/16 and it is frankly hard to see how he can make it –even allowing for the fact that (1) public finances can be volatile from month to month (partly due to the timing of expenditures) and can be revised significantly; and (2) the OBR argues that there should indeed be a substantial improvement in the public finances over the final months of 2015/16 due to a number of factors. This particularly includes an expected jump in self-assessment tax receipts in January resulting from past policy measures. The OBR also expects spending cuts to have an increasing impact as pressure to meet budget targets mounts on departments subject to Treasury controls10.24am GMTGradual progress but much more needed is the verdict of David Kern, chief economist of the British Chambers of Commerce:Although we saw a minor setback in November, gradual progress is being made with reducing the deficit. The public finances are likely to be better this year than in the previous financial year, but the improvement may not be as large as the OBR suggested in the Autumn Statement.The underlying message remains that our budget deficit is still too high, and greater efforts are needed, through reducing current public spending and generating sufficient tax receipts.10.21am GMTThe UK public finances are not improving as much as hoped, said James Knightly of ING Bank:UK public sector net borrowing (excluding banking groups ) came in at £14.2bn in November versus expectations of £11.8bn. This is actually higher than in November last year (£12.9bn). While we have to acknowledge there does tend to be a lot of volatility in the month to month figures, the cumulative borrowing fiscal year to date suggests that Chancellor Osborne is going to struggle to hit his target. So far, 2015-16 to date borrowing is at £66.9bn, which is only $6.6bn lower than in in the same period of 2014-15. The OBR’s full financial year forecast is £73.5bn [see earlier] but barring a dramatic improvement in the trend, it is looking likely to be missed by possibly more than £5bn.In terms of the breakdown, there have been good improvements in tax revenue with full year to date figures showing a 4.6% increase in income taxes, 4.1% improvement in VAT and a 6.4% increase in corporation tax, which is confirmation of the good growth and employment figures we have seen over the year. Stamp duty collection is disappointing though while fuel, alcohol and vehicle duties have shown little change on the year. Overall, central government receipts are up 3.1% full year to date while government expenditure is up 1.2%. Here, we have seen falling debt interest costs, but net investment is up 8.7%, social benefits are up 1% and department spending is up 1.2%.

The Tories’ failed model and stagnant economy has encouraged an unsustainable rise in household debt. Labour needs to come up with a viable alternativeTis the season to whip out the credit card. As I type, millions of Britons are undoubtedly flooding into shops or splashing out online full of festive panic: set spending habits to Defcon Christmas. So apologies in advance for the Scroogefest, but latest figures confirm Britain’s supposed economic recovery rests on a personal debt timebomb. When it runs out is unclear, but run out it will.Related: Latest borrowing figures threaten Osborne's deficit targetRelated: UK pay rises likely to fade fast, thinktank warns Continue reading...

Finance minister says the budget marks the first step towards Japan’s fiscal plan as it aims for economic revival and a reduction in its debt burdenThe Japanese government is planning nearly £537bn of record spending in the next fiscal year to shore up a fragile economy, with Tokyo also promising to rein in a bulging debt burden in an expansionary budget set to be unveiled this week.Related: Japan 's 'quintuple dip' recession delivers a fresh blow to Abenomics Continue reading...

The Doha round’s promise of better market access for the poorest nations, cuts in farm subsidies and fairer trade rules has come to nothing

Labour accuses George Osborne of ‘risky behaviour’ as Office for Budget Responsibility forecast shows decline from £67bn surplus in 2010Families are expected to run up £40bn of debt this year, sparking fears about Britain’s economic recovery.

Few will have heard of local union leader John Burgess, but he is now confronting the nightmare we will all faceJohn Burgess talks a mile a minute, dresses in any colour as long as it’s black, and refers to other men as “lad” – even if they’re older than him. He’s also one of my heroes of 2015. Unlike most end-of-year gong-winners, Burgess is a name you won’t know. But if heroism is about being brave when it counts – about standing up straight even while others try to make you bend or break – he’s the real deal. And at a time when so much of the organised left is afflicted by loss of nerve, mind, or both, it is a relief to find someone who still has both.For our purposes, Burgess’s story begins in May 2008 – at the point he was hoping to hang up his boots. After a long slog as branch secretary of Unison in Barnet, north London, he planned to return to his life as a local mental-health care worker. Then the Conservative-run council began offloading its key public services to big business – and he was thrust into the biggest battle of his life. Almost eight years later, he’s still defending jobs, campaigning against cuts, pointing out the expensive absurdities of outsourcing. Going back to care work? Nice dream.Related: Outsourced and unaccountable: this is the future of local government | Aditya ChakraborttyRelated: To lose our libraries would be a national disaster – we must act to save them | Desmond Clarke Continue reading...

A 3% growth rate, the low oil price, a weak euro and no party advocating a eurozone exit meant markets had no cause to panic at the dramatic resultSpain’s dramatic election result – a hung parliament and a roughly equal split between left and rightwing parties – was followed by only modest drama in financial markets. The Ibex-35 index of leading companies lost 3.6% and the yield on 10-year Spanish bonds rose eight basis points to 1.78%, but these are not big moves in the face of what is being billed as a momentous shift in the political landscape of a large eurozone country.Complacency on the part of investors, or a rational assessment that political uncertainty probably won’t derail an economy forecast to grow by about 3% this year? On balance, the latter.Related: Spanish elections: what happens next after the unprecedented result? Continue reading...

Owen Jones acompaña a Podemos en Valencia y en Madrid durante la última semana de campaña electoral del partido, antes de las eleciones generales españolas del domingo. El Secretario General del partido, Pablo Iglesias, habla sobre la subida de la izquierda en Europa. Podemos se fundó hace escasamente dos años, a pesar de eso ha conseguido 69 escaños y obtenido un 21% de los votos

The Federal Reserve last week raised interest rates, giving hope to Britain’s beleaguered saversSavers fearful of locking into pitiful interest rates may be enticed by a slew of accounts that guarantee returns from any future rate rises.The move last week by the Federal Reserve in the US to raise interest rates for the first time since 2006 gave some hope of better returns on the horizon. Typically, the Bank of England has tended to follow US rates quite closely, but when it decides to follow suit remains a matter of speculation. Continue reading...

CBI survey shows employers plan to keep hiring staff but will limit pay rises because of the new national living wage and apprenticeship levyBritish employers expect to keep hiring permanent staff in 2016 but are cautious about offering meaningful pay rises, according to a survey from employers’ group CBI.In its annual employment outlook, the lobby group said some companies are also contemplating price hikes or recruitment freezes to offset higher labour costs from both the introduction of the “national living wage” in April and a new apprenticeship levy.Related: National living wage is a gamble, says CBI boss Continue reading...

Resolution Foundation research shows it can now take almost a quarter of a century for UK households to accumulate a big enough depositHomebuyers now have to save for up to 24 years to set aside a deposit large enough to buy them a foot on Britain’s housing ladder, according to new research.The Resolution Foundation thinktank has used the Bank of England’s latest survey of household finances to show that with house prices rising sharply, it would now take almost a quarter of a century for low- and middle-income households to accumulate a deposit on average, if they set aside 5% of their disposable income each year. Continue reading...

We need to brace ourselves for at least four more interest hikes next year and more opportunities for lenders to make all forms of consumer debt more costlyThe Fed has spoken. For the first time in nearly a decade, policymakers this week boosted key short-term interest rates. Now that the deal is done it is time for you to start looking at your interest rate policy too.Banks, having read the signals, were quick to respond. Within hours, Wells Fargo became the first in a steady parade of financial institutions to boost their own prime lending rates, with those increases taking effect Thursday. The best customers at banks like JPMorgan Chase, KeyCorp, SunTrust, PNC, Citibank, Wells Fargo and many others now will pay a base rate of 3.5% for their consumer loans, instead of the 3.25% that has been in effect for the past seven years. Continue reading...

Even the bleakest Christmases past held a silver lining and Christmas 2015 could have been far worse. But only the ghost of Christmas future knows what happens nextIt is December 1843 in London. Queen Victoria has been on the throne for six years, Sir Robert Peel is prime minister, and Charles Dickens is about to publish a seasonal novella.A Christmas Carol is the story of how the embittered miser Ebenezer Scrooge becomes generous and cuddly following visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future.Related: The Guardian view on Britain’s jobs market: Osborne could use Scrooge’s caution | Editorial Continue reading...

It’s a sign of how Doha failed that leftwing protestors no longer target it as a symbol of capitalism. But some good things will fade with itOver the past few days, trade ministers from scores of countries have spent hours flogging the long-dead horse that is the Doha round of global trade talks in Nairobi – and hardly anyone noticed. The World Trade Organisation, which convened last week’s conference, was once regularly targeted by protesters as the secretive, all-powerful puppet master of global capitalism.Back in 1999, in the innocent days before the sub-prime crisis laid bare the sinister power of international finance, WTO talks in Seattle broke down amid clouds of tear gas, as anti-capitalist protesters expressed their fury at the rigged rules of the global marketplace, which, as they saw it, entrenched the wealth of the rich and excluded the poor. Yet last week’s gathering, attended by Britain’s Lord (Francis) Maude, barely registered with the world’s angry young radicals, who have turned their attention to bashing bankers – through the Occupy movement, for example. Continue reading...

Bank admits wrongdoing, an unusual move in such cases, for charges of failing to disclose conflicts of interest when promoting investments to wealthy clientsJP Morgan Chase agreed to pay $307m on Friday to settle charges that two of its wealth management units failed to disclose conflicts of interest when promoting investments to its wealthy clients.Regulators said that JP Morgan Securities and its nationally chartered bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, steered retail investors towards the firm’s own investment products without properly disclosing that preference. Continue reading...

Kiev’s rejection of payment proposal could hinder Ukrainian efforts to restructure country’s growing debt with international creditorsUkraine has refused to repay Russia a $3bn (£2.01bn) loan after a bitter row that could put on hold Kiev’s plans to restructure its growing debt with international creditors.The Ukrainian government rejected a Kremlin proposal for repayments in three tranches of $1bn, putting the entire amount on the path to default.

Latest ONS survey covers 2012-14 and highlights gulf between country’s richest and poorest groupsBritain’s richest households have pulled further ahead of the rest of the population as house prices have accelerated, with the top 10% now owning almost half of the country’s £11.1tn total private wealth.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the average household was worth £225,100 in 2012-14, when it carried out its latest survey of the country’s assets. Continue reading...

There is a 50/50 probability that this hike will have to be reversed and the worry is that this might mean rates going negativeGood retail sales numbers made a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve almost certain. The rise that finally did take place on Wednesday was well signalled to markets that cheered the rise, with Dow, Nasdaq and the S&P all climbing on the day by more than 1%. Thursday, however, the market was down.Related: Federal Reserve announces first rise in US interest rates since 2006Related: The Guardian view on the US interest rate rise: risky and premature | Editorial Continue reading...

Historically low interest rates over the past seven years have fueled tech investments, but now investors may be spending their money more cautiouslyThe decision to raise US interest rates for the first time in seven years could have negative effects on established startup businesses, investors have said, marking the start a new era of more cautious investment.“The historically low interest rates over the past few years have fueled asset growth in the public markets and real estate, as well as strong consumer and business spending,” says Kyle Lui, principal at DCM Ventures, a Menlo Park-based venture firm that specialises in early stage tech investments including BitTorrent, YikYak and Tiebaobei. “We could see companies across the board – from startups to large companies, start to feel the impact on normalized interest rates.”Related: Raised interest rates may end biggest merger boom the world has ever seen Continue reading...

Number-crunching of UK product sales shows seasonal items including Christmas decorations, poultry and winter knits are losing appealMany families look set to spend the festive season feasting on smoked salmon and gin while they play with a toy train set, judging by the latest official figures on popular winter spending.A bowl of soup, followed by a whisky over a jigsaw puzzle, on the other hand, appears to have fallen out of fashion. Continue reading...

Dow slips back but markets rally in Asia and Europe, the dollar strengthens, and commodities fall, after US rate rise

Christine Lagarde accused of negligence over €400m payout to businessman Bernard Tapie, who supported Nicolas Sarkozy in 2007 presidential raceChristine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, is to stand trial in France over a multimillion-euro government payment to a controversial tycoon who supported former president Nicolas Sarkozy.Lagarde has been accused of “negligence by a person in a position of public authority” over the award of more than €400m to Bernard Tapie. Continue reading...

Growth is the philosopher’s stone that offers to turn all things into gold. But, like all belief in magic – ie the belief in a free lunch – it points to a fallPerhaps, as never before, we look to the future to deal with the problems of the present. We anticipate future successes, then price them into the challenges of today. Take the recent Paris climate summit, a commitment to reducing global warning to “well below 2C”. As Richard Martin writes in the MIT Technology Review, this figure relies on emerging technologies that are barely proven. Indeed, “barring a major technological advance that is not currently foreseeable, those targets are unreachable”. Even so, we have already anticipated them in cheering the 2C figure. We have placed our faith in something called progress, in the untestable belief that things will always get better.Related: There is a new form of climate denialism to look out for – so don't celebrate yet | Naomi Oreskes Continue reading...

Buoyant data confounds business group warnings but analysts fear November sales rise may come at the expense of the traditional Christmas splurgeBlack Friday discounts helped drive a surprise jump in UK retail sales last month, as shoppers splashed out online and in department stores.Official figures showed retail sales volumes were up 1.7% from the month before, beating forecasts for growth of 0.5% in a Reuters poll of economists. On the year, sales volumes were up 5%, defying the 3% growth forecast.Related: Black Friday: five lessons for UK retailers Continue reading...

Analysts say Christmas has come early for stock markets after Fed chair Janet Yellen’s vow to raise interest rates only graduallyGlobal stock markets cheered the US Federal Reserve’s decision to increase interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.In London, the FTSE 100 index jumped nearly 100 points in the first minute of trading, rising 1.6% to 6,158, with all stocks making gains. It is still down 6% this year, however, and down 3% this month.Related: Fed interest rate hike: shares surge as markets celebrate - business live Continue reading...

The first US rate rise since 2006 has stoked confidence in world markets despite concerns about the longer term impact of a strong US dollarGovernments and central bankers across Asia Pacific have breathed a collective sigh of relief after stock markets rallied rather than recoiled at the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates.Related: Federal Reserve ends Hamlet-like indecision over interest rates Continue reading...

Businesses and consumers will pay heavy price if UK forced to trade by WTO rules and not free trade agreement, says Lord RoseBritain would be landed with £11bn in new tariffs if it left the EU and did not get a free trade agreement, according to the leader of the group campaigning to stay in. Lord Rose, who heads Britain Stronger in Europe, published research suggesting that the UK would have to begin trading with the EU using World Trade Organisation rules, which would cost businesses and consumers more.Speaking as David Cameron heads to Brussels for two days of talks on Britain’s future in the EU, the businessman said that the campaigns arguing that Britain should leave the EU are proposing a specific deal: ending all budget contributions, ending free movement and repatriating economic regulations while retaining full access to the single market.Related: David Cameron faces compromise over plans for EU migrants' welfare access Continue reading...

The Federal Reserve has increased interest rates by 0.25%, a historic moment after years of record lows

Interested parties form queue after bank’s £1.5bn attempt to form separate entity and float on stock market stallsWhat a carry on. Half a decade ago, Santander was set to buy the 307 branches that Royal Bank of Scotland must sell to comply with the EU-imposed terms of its taxpayer-funded 2008 bailout. By 2012, the Spanish bank thought the process was taking too long and pulled out.The following year, RBS cooked up a complicated plan to bring in private equity partners, plus an investment wing of the Church of England, to speed up the branches’ progress towards a stock market flotation. The chancellor, George Osborne, spoke fondly of how this new “challenger” bank, to be rebadged as Williams & Glyn, would give a leg-up to competition and diversity in UK banking. Continue reading...

Quarter-point increase in borrowing costs signals gradual end to zero interest rate policy that has been in force for past seven yearsIt has been a long time coming – more than nine years in fact. The last time the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, Tony Blair was prime minister of Britain, George Bush was US president and the iPhone was still a year away from hitting the shops.The quarter-point increase in borrowing costs could hardly be called a spur of the moment decision. On the contrary, the Fed has shown Hamlet-like indecision this year as it has weighed up the pros and cons of abandoning the zero interest rate policy that has been in force for the past seven years.Related: Federal Reserve announces first rise in US interest rates since 2006Related: Interest rates rise: what does the Fed decision mean for you? Continue reading...

US central bank signals end to seven years of a monetary policy that began amid the worst financial crisis since the Great DepressionThe Federal Reserve raised interest rates on Wednesday, ending an extraordinary period of government intervention in the financial markets that started at the height of the recession.After holding its benchmark federal-funds rate near zero for seven years, the Fed increased rates a quarter-percentage point. The move signals the end of a monetary policy that began amid the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.Related: Federal Reserve hikes interest rates seven years after financial crisis – business liveRelated: Interest rates rise: what does the Fed decision mean for you? Continue reading...

Chair of Commons Treasury select committee has written to George Osborne to ask for assurance on £13bn sale of Northern Rock loansConcerns that 125,000 former Northern Rock borrowers might be adversely affected by the sale of their loans to a US private equity group have prompted an influential parliamentarian to seek assurances from the Treasury.Andrew Tyrie, a Conservative MP and the chair of the Commons Treasury select committee, has written a letter in relation to George Osborne’s announcement of the £13bn sale of mortgages and unsecured loans to Cerberus, the largest ever financial asset sale by a European government.Related: Northern Rock mortgages worth £13bn sold to US private equity firm Continue reading...

With workers cheap and easy to obtain, unemployment can come continue to come down without pay inflation picking upThere are more people in work than ever before. The jobless rate is at its lowest since 2006 – the last boom year before the financial markets went haywire. Clearly, the Bank of England should be gearing up to join the Federal Reserve in a coordinated increase in interest rates.Related: UK jobs data: pay growth slows to 2% Continue reading...

Pay rises have remained low, despite the unemployment rate falling to 5.2%, the lowest since 2006Wage growth across the economy has slowed to 2% despite continued strength in job creation, underlining the financial challenges facing Britain’s workers in the run-up to Christmas.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that average wages grew at an annual rate of 2% in the three months to October.Related: Why hasn't pay kept pace with rising employment? Continue reading...

Asian entrepreneurs pushing numbers up to 145, but still outnumbered by the 1,202 male billionairesThe number of female billionaires worldwide has increased nearly sevenfold in the past 20 years to 145 – and it is Asian entrepreneurs who are driving this growth, according to a study.The report found that women have outpaced men when it comes to membership of the billionaires’ club, with their ranks and wealth growing at faster rates. The number compares with only 22 in 1995. Continue reading...

Britain’s consumer prices index crept above zero last month to 0.1%, despite cheaper petrol and food

Guardian identifies further £472m of capital projects funded through Scottish Futures Trust that will add to debt repayments already costing £1.5bn a yearCouncils in Scotland have borrowed record amounts to fund capital projects and are exposing themselves to even greater, long-term debts through private financing contracts organised through the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT).

New roads, hospitals and public buildings are being built now, but latest Treasury data shows government repayments will peak in 10 years’ timeTravelling around Scotland, the country feels dynamic. Motorways are being extended, new schools built and modern hospitals are springing up. But these projects are also the largest source of new public sector debt in Scotland and the biggest financial headache for Scottish National party ministers.

Smaller drops in transport costs, including petrol, than in November 2014 contributed to 0.1% rise in UK inflationMarkets on both sides of the Atlantic have bounced back as Federal Reserve policymakers prepared to raise US interest rates for the first time since 2006.

Inflation is one of the most important concepts in economics. It’s also one of the simplest. It’s just the average rate that prices are rising. A small amount of inflation is healthy for an economy - but how is it calculated and what happens when it gets out of control? Continue reading...

Official figures set to show inflation edged up to 0.1% last month after comparatively moderate falls in petrol and alcohol pricesThe UK’s brief period of negative inflation is expected to have come to an end in November but the recent tumble in oil prices should keep price pressures low for some months yet, economists predict.Official figures due out at 9.30am on Tuesday are expected to show inflation to have edged up to 0.1% in November from -0.1% in October on the consumer prices index (CPI) measure, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

WTO meetings in Seattle, Qatar, Cancun, Hong Kong, Potsdam, Davos - but still no agreement on the Doha roundJanuary 1995: The World Trade Organisation is formed after the Uruguay round trade negotiations spanning 1986-94 were completed.

Trade ministers have their work cut out to solve the 14-year impasse between the developed and the developing world in the Doha round of talksFourteen years of tortuous global trade talks will end in failure this week unless there is a sudden and unexpected end to the impasse between developed and developing countries that has bedevilled negotiations.Hopes are low of a breakthrough at the World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting that begins in Nairobi on Tuesday, with the US openly calling for time to be called on the Doha round of talks that began in the Qatari capital in November 2001.Related: World Trade Organisation: 20 years of talks and deadlock Continue reading...

Resolution Foundation says expected inflation rise will quickly see off any real terms pay growth unless productivity increases significantlyBritain’s long-awaited pay recovery this year will quickly evaporate in 2016 unless productivity significantly improves, a leading thinktank has warned.The Resolution Foundation said real-terms pay growth could slow to less than 1% by the end of next year, from around 2.5% at present. That would be its worst-case scenario with productivity growth failing to pick up and inflation taking off more than expected.Related: UK inflation expected to turn positive Continue reading...

Expected interest rate rise in US weighs heavy on investors as oil price nudges a new 11-year lowThe FTSE 100 has fallen to a three-year low as global markets dropped sharply again, with investors unnerved by a further plunge in oil prices and the prospect of a US interest rate rise this week.In volatile trading, London’s leading index lost 78.72 points or 1.32% to 5874.06 on Monday, its lowest closing level since early December 2012 and its eighth successive daily decline. Continue reading...