Day trader's news snapshot

A second bail out for Greece was this morning finally agreed by European finance ministers following all-night talks in Brussels...

Advisers are feeling more confident about the UK economy but unemployment and Government spending cuts are of growing concern, according to Skandia's latest Adviser Confidence Barometer...

'Bedroom tax plan needs urgent rethink'

Gross mortgage lending declined to an estimated £10.5billion in January. Lending fell by 14% from £12...

The Chartered Institute of Housing wants the Government to agree concessions on its proposed "bedroom tax" before the Welfare Reform Bill is returned to the House of Commons...

UK businesses will see international trade growth accelerate from 2014 as the global economy ends a period of growth contraction, according to HSBC...

Meta description: Buying student property to rent out may not be as easy as it first sounds. Building a portfolio of student properties has become one of the most popular investments in the UK in recent years, as a steady rise in the number of young people heading to university has assured the market remains buoyant...

Rochford in Essex and South Lakeland are the only two local authority districts in the UK where house prices are currently higher than they were in 2007, according to the latest research from Halifax...

Consumers are suffering at the hands of the rising cost of essentials and weak income growth, leaving discretionary spending power squeezed further despite the latest falls in inflation, according to this month’s Lloyds TSB Spending Power Report...

Nearly half of Britons (47%) have stopped or reduced the amount they save in the last year, research by MoneySupermarket has revealed...

House prices fall again in February

A combination of cooling measures in Asia and the threat of a double-dip global recession has led to a slowdown in many housing markets in "new world" economies, according to international real estate adviser, Savills...

House price declines continued in February, according to the latest Knight Frank/Markit’s February House Price Sentiment Index...

Buying travel insurance is a necessity, particularly if you’re planning to do adventure sports with an element of risk such as skiing, hiking or scuba diving...

The cost of renting a home in England and Wales increased in January, according to a survey by LSL Property Services...

Research reveals that the UK’s lowest income homes are being forced to spend a disproportionate amount of their weekly expenditure on food shopping...

Consumer confidence has risen in 2012 to a five month high, according to the nationwide Buildings Society’s Consumer Confidence Index...

EDF Energy has announced an 8.5% increase in profits on its UK operations in 2011. EDF - which stands for Electricite de France and is the French state-controlled utilities group - also announced an 8% drop in energy sales in the UK in 2011, as a consequence of the mild winter and a fall in business-to-business sales...

In the final three months of 2011, house building in England was up 6% compared with the three months to September 2011, according to new data from Communities and Local Government...

Sat Navs have caused over £203 million of damage to drivers on UK roads, through accidents caused by misleading directions, reveals new research from car insurance expert Confused...

Parents of extended families that include step and adopted children are almost twice as likely as those with natural children to put off drawing up a will or revising its contents, according to a new study...

January 2012 saw the highest ever number of homeowners renting out rooms, swelling the UK’s lodger population to record levels, according to figures compiled by flat and house share website, Spareroom...

Europe's first person-to-person service for sending and receiving money using mobile phone numbers has been launched by Barclays...

In an undercover investigation at shopping centres and supermarkets, Which? has uncovered sales tactics used by large energy companies which could leave consumers who switch tariff in-store worse off by hundreds of pounds...

Over 11 million households (43%) are missing out on savings of up to £530 a year by not being energy efficient, according to new research by independent price comparison and switching service, uSwitch...

Despite a fall in the inflation, it continues to be the over 75 year old households that face the highest rate of inflation, according to research by Alliance Trust...

1 in 10 will delay retirement in 2012

First time buyers have saved an estimated £319 million as a result of the stamp duty holiday which came into play in March 2010, according to new analysis from Santander Mortgages...

More than ten per cent of people who had planned to retire during 2012 are making alternative arrangements and putting off drawing their pension for the time being, according to the latest results from Prudential's Class of 2012 research...

Consumer credit spending ‘flat’ in 2011

Despite the latest CPI inflation rate falling to 3.6%, UK households collectively still need to find an extra £33 billion to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed 12 months ago, according to MGM Advantage...

New consumer credit spending in 2011 remained at 2010 levels, according to the latest figures from the Finance & Leasing Association (FLA)...

House sales edged up slightly during January as an increased number of first time buyers looked to beat the stamp duty holiday, which expires in March, according to the latest RICS UK Housing Market survey...