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NHS likely to face a major financial shortfall in coming years

June 10th, 2009 by admin | Filed under Daily News, Employment, Recession, Retail, UK Bank Accounts, UK Banks.

money infoAll that money that went to prop up the UK banking system had to come from somewhere and it looks like public will be paying for it through a severely disabled health service. A recent report from the NHS Confederation predicts that health service will face the most severe and sustained financial shortfall in its history beginning in 2011
The report, to be published today will warn that limited government funding increases are likely be increasingly outstripped by rising costs within the health service, leaving the NHS to cope with budget reductions running between eight to ten billion pounds between 2011 and 2014. Something to look forward to! Confidence is returning to the domestic and commercial property markets, according to recent reports stating that the collapse in commercial property which began in mid 2007 has bottomed out and 2009 has already witnessed an increase in transactions as well as renewed investor interest.

On the domestic front, figures from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors revealed that house prices fell in May at the slowest annual pace since November 2007, adding strength to other indicators that the UK housing market might be stabilising

On the business front, the UK’s second largest travel agency Thomas Cook, looks live they will be themselves seeking a safe haven together with Rewe, its main competitor based in Germany. The move came after the collapse of the Thomas Cook’s largest shareholder on Tuesday. The shareholder, Arcandor, who own 53% of Thomas Cook stock, filed for insolvency, in one of Europe’s largest corporate failures outwith the banking sector.

Lloyds Banking Group announced their plan to close up to 400 bank branches in England. The closures will likely include the 164 Cheltenham & Gloucester outlets which will disappear from the high streets in November. As a result of the closures, designed to improve efficiency and profitability, Lloyds will also cut 1,660 jobs before the end of the year. The FTSE liked the idea and the Lloyds’ shares rose by 3.1 percent to 63 pence.

Also on the up was Barclays Plc whose shares rose by 2.2 percent to 290 pence on speculation that US based investment banker BlackRock Inc. has valued Barclays’ fund business at $13 billion, and are on the verge of making a cash/stock offer.

On the day, FTSE 100 dropped less than a point to close on 4,404.79 while the FTSE 250 rose a conservative four points to close on 7,691.65
The pound advanced yesterday as UK housing data provided a further sign that the worst of the economic slowdown might be over.

Pound/US dollar 1.6344
Pound/Euro 1.1606
Pound/Japanese Yen 159.9017
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.7609

In the US, ten of the largest US banks made a firm declaration that they are ready and willing to repay some $68 billion of the government bail-out money they have received indicating a significant indication of how rapidly the financial crisis is easing.
Whilst welcoming the move, President Barack Obama suggested restraint stating that it shouldn’t be taken for granted that “our financial troubles are over”.

On the news the Dow Jones remained constant falling only 1.43 points to 8763.09, while the NASDAQ climbed 17.73 points to close on 1860.13

The Chrysler saga seems to be finally over after the US Supreme Court rejected a plea to block the sale of assets of the bankrupt company to Italian giant Fiat. The US government strongly in favour of the sale issued a statement applauding the decision.

On a more sinister note, crude oil for July continued their steady increase, rising by 1.9 percent to close on $69.40 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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