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UK economy

UK economy
UK construction sector mirrors concerns for the UK economy

UK construction sector mirrors concerns for the UK economy

Thursday 2nd September 2010

The unprecedented increase in productivity between April and June, which saw British construction output increase by 8.5%, appears to be cooling with the latest purchasing managers index showing that this relatively high degree of growth has ... Full Story>>

Royal Bank of Scotland cuts headcount by 3500

Royal Bank of Scotland cuts headcount by 3500

Thursday 2nd September 2010

The Royal Bank of Scotland has today confirmed that 3500 jobs will go in the company's technical and back-office division mainly as a consequence of the sale of 318 high street branches to Spanish giant Santander. This is yet another blow for ... Full Story>>

Austerity fears hit the UK manufacturing sector

Austerity fears hit the UK manufacturing sector

Wednesday 1st September 2010

The UK manufacturing sector has seen growth fall to a nine-month low in August with major concerns about the government’s austerity measures coming to the fore. The UK government is literally cutting the public sector budget by billions upon ... Full Story>>

How long will it take to repair the UK PLC balance sheet?

How long will it take to repair the UK PLC balance sheet?

Wednesday 1st September 2010

Over the last few weeks there has been one headline in the financial press and that is public sector spending and the massive cuts already announced by the UK government with more to follow. Many people have also been focusing upon the ever ... Full Story>>

Standard Life announces 500 job losses

Standard Life announces 500 job losses

Wednesday 1st September 2010

Edinburgh-based insurance and pensions giant Standard Life has today announced 600 job cuts over the next 15 months although the company did confirm that an additional 100 new posts would be created. The vast majority of the job losses, around ... Full Story>>

UK manufacturing growth starts to slip

UK manufacturing growth starts to slip

Wednesday 1st September 2010

Growth in the UK manufacturing industry appeared to slip during August with the Markit/CIPS manufacturing purchasing managers index showing a reduction from 56.9 in July to 54.3 in August. While anything over 50 indicates growth in the sector, ... Full Story>>

Euro zone unemployment remains at 10%

Euro zone unemployment remains at 10%

Tuesday 31st August 2010

As the likes of Spain continue to suffer from massive unemployment it was revealed that unemployment in the euro zone as a whole remained at a record 10% for the fifth month in a row. Official statistics confirm that 16 million people remained ... Full Story>>

Consumer confidence improved in August

Consumer confidence improved in August

Tuesday 31st August 2010

The GfK/NOP consumer confidence barometer showed an improvement to -18 in August from -22 in July. This is a slight improvement on analyst’s expectations of a -24 reading for the very useful and often very volatile barometer of consumer ... Full Story>>

British Chamber of Commerce upbeat on UK economy

British Chamber of Commerce upbeat on UK economy

Monday 30th August 2010

The British Chamber of Commerce has today issued a surprising report in which the association has increased its forecast for UK economic growth in 2010 from 1.3% to 1.7%. The forecast for 2011 has also been increased from 2% to 2.2% although ... Full Story>>

Can we really trust economic data?

Can we really trust economic data?

Sunday 29th August 2010

Last week's revelation that the initial 2.4% increase in GDP in the US economy in the second quarter was actually more like 1.6%, after the government revised the figure downwards, further highlights the difficulties and dangers of trusting ... Full Story>>