There has been wide industry comment that a ‘flat rate’ of pension tax relief may be announced by the Chancellor in the Budget on 16th March this year. Currently the rebate people receive is based on their income tax rate,…
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At the end of the Chinese New Year holiday week, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), made a rare appearance in public, when he gave an interview to Beijing-based media outlet Caixin. The interview, represents Zhou’s…
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Money is still pouring out of China. In January, the Peoples Bank of China (PBC) spent US$100bn of its foreign exchange reserves trying to prop up the Renminbi following December’s outflows of US$108bn. Investors rattled by the economic slowdown are…
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While the American economy may have lost some of its momentum just recently, consumption which accounts for 70% of GDP remains robust. Household confidence remains high and labour markets strong with 151,000 new jobs created in January. However this was…
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Last week the Japanese ¥ became the lightening rod of financial stress that threatened to push the country back into deflation. The currency had grown by 9% against the US$ since the Bank of Japan (BoJ) cut interest rates at…
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The price of equities should be determined by investors trading; instead they are currently driven by announcements from the Fed and the oil price. We are now witnessing the remarkable link between equity prices and oil prices. The correlation between…
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Markets panicked again last week with UK and European stocks falling to their lowest levels since 2012 and 2013 respectively. Japans Nikkei 225 index fell 5% on Monday its worst daily showing in three years as the ¥ jumped to…
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From April 2016 HMRC is introducing a tax free personal savings allowance of £1,000 (£500 for higher rate tax payers) for savings income or interest. This means that most people will no longer pay tax on their savings interest.
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On 6th April 2015 a new marriage allowance came into force. This means that up to 10% of a spouse’s or civil partner’s unused personal allowance can be transferred, effectively reducing their tax bill by up to £212. You can…
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