Economy

Employers 'more confident' about hiring

Douglas McWilliams, Chief Executive, Centre for Economics and Business Research, offers his views on what happens next with the euro zone...

The latest official jobless figures show a 45,000 fall in the number of people unemployed in the UK...

Most employers in the UK could be wasting the money they spend on salaries and benefits by leaving employees in the dark about the true value of the total package...

UK commercial property performance improved in April with a marginal increase in headline total returns, as capital value declines slowed allowing All Property total returns to increase to 0...

UK entrepreneurs have grown sales by 20% year on year and created a major boost to demonstrate their key role in rejuvenating the UK economy, according to new figures compiled by Ernst & Young...

Mounting concern about Greece's seemingly inevitable exit from the euro zone has plunged markets into further turmoil...

Unemployment down by 45,000

The Bank of England today cut its growth forecast for this year to 0.8% from 1.2%. Problems in the euro zone were identified as the key reason - with the crisis seen as the main threat to the UK's recovery...

UK unemployment has recorded a surprise fall at a time when many analysts had expected the jobless rate to remain unchanged...

The true situation regarding retirement Britain is laid bare in the latest LV= State of Retirement Report...

The number of men doing part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work has more than doubled over the last four years, according to TUC analysis of official figures...

Fears rise over health of euro zone

Here, Chris Towner, director of FX advisory services at currency specialist HiFX, considers the impact of Greece's potential exit from the euro zone...

Political upheaval is ushering in a change of focus for the euro zone, according to Paul Brain, manager of the Newton Global Dynamic Bond Fund...

AIM miners in lacklustre performance

April saw a reversal of the English regional growth upturn seen in the previous month, according to the latest Lloyds TSB regional Purchasing Managers' Index...

Aim’s junior miners had a subdued start to the year, with strengthening metals prices contributing to only a 5% gain in Ernst & Young’s Mining Eye index from the previous quarter, underperforming the rest of the market...

Consumers will face increasing challenges as the fall-out from the financial crisis and economic pressures continue...

Stock markets across Europe have this morning fallen heavily amid renewed concerns over Greece. Political turmoil in the debt-hit country is fuelling the latest frenzied bout of selling which has seen most major bourses down by around 2%...

Here, John Ventre, Portfolio Manager, Spectrum and multi asset funds, Skandia Investment Group, considers the state of the precious metals market...

Economic repercussions from natural disasters and the weather are significant and can be long-lived, complicating both policy making and understanding the business cycle, according to global investment manager Standard Life Investments...

UK consumer confidence fell back in April, according to the latest data from Nationwide. Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist, said: "The main Consumer Confidence Index has see-sawed in recent months, with alternating rises and falls since September last year...

House prices double by seaside

New buy-to-let lending in the first quarter of this year totalled £3.7billion (32,300 loans), according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders...

Final tax warning for online sellers

House prices have more than doubled since 2002 in half of the seaside towns surveyed in England and Wales, according to latest research from Halifax...

People trading on the internet who have not paid all the tax they owe have just one month left to take part in an opportunity offered by HMRC to get their tax affairs in order on the best terms available...

The Government claims its commitment to tackling the record deficit is keeping interest rates at a record low and a secure roof over the heads of millions of hard-working homeowners...

Here, Stuart Parks, Head of Asian Equities at Invesco Perpetual considers the future prospects for China...

Dire warning on spread of UK poverty

There are major changes ahead in the real estate sector, according to PwC real estate partner John Forbes...

Mixed performance for jobs market

Poverty in the UK is likely to get worse not better over the next decade. Changes in the labour market, combined with changes to the tax and benefit system, are likely to increase relative poverty rates across the UK, according to the latest research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation...

Fragility and uncertainty are key themes revealed in the latest assessment of the UK jobs market. Permanent staff placements increased in April, continuing the trend seen since the start of 2012, according to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG Report on Jobs...

Here, Schroders' European Economist, Azad Zangana, comments on the recent elections in France and Greece, and the rising tide against austerity...

The staggering amount of rent paid by UK residential tenants is laid bare in a new study. Households are spending an average 38% of their take-home income on rent, with those in London spending 71%, according to figures from FindaProperty...