According to a recent survey, some of the largest companies in the UK are in fear of the financial effects of a hung parliament would have on the economy. The survey which takes in 141 chief financial officers of leading UK companies, among them 40 whose companies are quoted on the FTSE 100, fear that such as situation will have a negative effect on their own businesses. Current opinion polls suggest that, while the Conservatives hold a relatively strong lead, there is a strong chance that no party will win an overall majority in the rapidly approaching elections

Meanwhile a survey recently conducted shows that business confidence has reached its highest level in four years, with output back to levels not seen since before the recession. The report does go on to warn that a "significant increase" in investment in the private sector is needed in order to sustain the recovery, whilst stressing that business optimism could be "short-lived" without the investment.

Increases of y only 0.05 percent in the total value of UK exports have been reported on final quarter of 2009 compared to the same period of 2008 The figures came despite hopes that the weakness of sterling would be beneficial for the exports sector. According to government figures, the total number of companies exporting goods has fallen l by 3.4 percent to just less than fifty thousand. Both the UK government and the Bank of England have previously predicted that exports would help push the recovery.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport union have met with Network Rail in an attempt to avoid strikes planned by thousands of rail workers. The dispute revolves around Network Rail plans to cut 1,500 jobs and alter rosters to allow more work to be carried out at evenings and weekends. The RMT executive is expected to agree to a timetable for fresh ballots after four days of planned strike action were called off last week when Network Rail launched a successful legal challenge.

BAE Systems (BAE) has topped a list of the world’s 100 largest arms manufacturers, marking the first time that the list has been topped by a company outside the U.S. Figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute show that BAE arms sales totaled $32.4 billion in 2008. The record performance was largely down to increased sales at BAE’s U.S. subsidiaries, with sales at the company’s Land and Armaments group in the U.S. rising from $7 billion to $12 billion.

Shares in the Home Retail Group Plc rose to a four-month high in London trading after reports that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Asda may be interested in making an offer for the U.K. company. On the news, Home Retail’s shares gained as much as 5.6 percent and closed up 14.7 pence to 295.1 pence as, valuing the company at £2.59 billion pounds ($4 billion).

Home Retail, owner of the U.K.’s Argos catalog stores, had sales of just less than £6 billion pounds in the year ended Feb. 27. A spokesman for Home Retail, based in Milton Keynes, declined to comment on the report.

Liverpool Football Club’s U.S. owners have appointed Barclays Capital help find a buyer for the Premiership club. Current owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought the club in 2007 for £219 million pounds. Gillett and Hicks have in the past hired Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to attract minority investors and their decision to appoint Barclays indicates they are now stepping up efforts to achieve an outright sale.

A study has suggested that a permanent rise in the price of oil would leave the UK economy in better shape than the other major importers, especially Japan, the U.S. and the Euro zone. Although all big oil-importing economies would suffer from a higher oil price, Japan and the U.S. would be hardest hit, while the UK would withstand the shock relatively well, with a $10 price rise contracting its economy by just 0.4 percent.

The pound continues to make some slow momentum, remaining above the $1.50 level at $1.5374, while falling back in value ever so slightly against the Euro at 1.1308.

The FTSE 100 stuttered on some insecure trading, falling 15.99 points to 5761.66.

The euro has jumped sharply against the dollar and the pound after the Eurozone agreed details of a multi-billion euro loan package to debt-ridden Greece.

The Euro rose by more than 2 cents, against the dollar, to close on $1.3672. While rising to 88.408 pence against the pound.

The rise came after the Eurozone member nations eventually agreed to provide loans of up to €30 billion (£27 billion) in the first year of a three-year package. Greece hopes it will not have to ask for the emergency loans and Instead the implementation of an extensive package of austerity measures will help to cut its debt levels and restore confidence in Greek government debt.

In the US it was announced that the trade deficit has widened to $39.7 billion (£20.8 billion) in February, as import growth continued to outpace exports.

According to figures issued by the US Department of Commerce, the overall trade deficit increased by $2.7 billion from January. It also announced that imports were up 20.5% to $182.9 billion from the same month in 2009 while exports were up only 14.3% to $143.2 billion.

The trade figures confirm the trend of resurgent imports outpacing the rebound in exports as the US economy recovers from recession.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average continued to rise, crossing the 11,000 point barrier at 11.0032.46 while the NASDAQ Composite was 21 points higher at 2,4664.86

US chip maker Intel has announced net record incomes for the first quarter of $2.44 billion (£1.59 billion) compared with $629 million reported for the first quarter in 2009, making for almost a quadruple increase. Intel’s turnover was up 44% to $10.3 billion showing recovery from the global recession is well under way in the computer hardware department.

The social networking site Twitter has announced their plans to allow advertising on their site; a spokesperson for Twitter said that for the first time.

Advertisers would be able to buy "Promoted Tweets" that will appear on Twitter’s search results pages, whilst going on to point out that "Promoted Tweets" will differ from traditional adverts. Instead these Tweets must "resonate with users" and delivered in a conversational tone.

Twitter have reportedly already signed up number of big name organisations such as Sony Pictures, coffee chain Starbucks and US retailer Best Buy to tweet.

financial

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Tags: Argos, ASDA, BAE Systems, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays Capital, Best Buy, British Economy, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, Eurozone, Financial News, FTSE, Home Retail, Home Retail Group Plc, hung parliament, Liverpool Football Club, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Network Rail, Promoted Tweets, Recession, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Stocks and shares, twitter, UK Banks, UK business, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, US Department of Commerce, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

On the day that Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, exchanged words with that pillion of global finance, the American coffee bar chain, Starbucks over the comments made by the chain’s CEO Howard Schultz that the British economy had slid into an unstoppable spiral of decline, statistics were being released showing that to be a city wizard is becoming increasingly financial challenging. Jobs are scarce, pays rises are a thing of the past, getting to work is becoming increasingly more expensive as it is uncomfortable and the coffee tastes like Starbucks.

It will as no surprise to anyone that the number of job vacancies in the City of London has fallen by 64 per cent in the last twelve months, with competition for the few vacancies now available also down by almost half. In other words, the number of people who actually want to work in the city is diminishing at a considerable rate.

And who can blame them, with salaries also falling by six percent from last year, and hiring activity in the City slowing almost to a dead stop as the credit crunch continues to strangle the financial services sector of the UK economy, increasingly more city traders are seeking to earn their daily bread elsewhere. Expectations are that 62,000 city jobs will disappear in 2009, a fall of more than 17 per cent from year.

And that’s not all. The fat pay packets of even a year ago appear to be history, with the average salaries, while still pretty high, is under pressure. With average City salary of around £50,000 meaning a fall of six percent annually to its lowest levels since 2004, it would appear that while that bastion of all that was good in the UK economy has been put on ice for a very long time.

And not only that, those poor souls that still have to learn their living in the financial services industry in Central London, are finding it increasingly expensive as well as uncomfortable to get there! A report issued yesterday by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reported that the UK transport network is so unreliable and congested, that it is having a direct effect on business efficiency and competitiveness.

A report said roads were the worst part of the network, rated as poor and getting more unreliable and crowded. In comparison travelling by train travel was rated barely satisfactory, and only in terms of its reliability which was considered to be “improving”, and capacity levels rated as being on the rise.

The report did hasten to point out however that rail fares in Britain are fifty per cent higher than the rest of Europe, whilst the annual season ticket, a favourite of city commuters, almost double the price of the next most expensive country, which is France. In Italy the price of an annual season ticket for commuters travelling the same distances as their UK counterparts is 25% of the price.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, who carried out the study, was reported as saying that “British fares were astonishingly expensive, especially for tickets that you buy on the day and especially for commuters in London and the south-east”. “Passenger satisfaction with the rail network had risen but people felt they failed to receive value for money.” He did hasten to point out.

The Department for Transport said it would cost an extra £500m a year to bring UK commuter fares in line with those heavily subsidised European countries. “Since 1997 regulated fares have fallen sharply relative to earnings, raising less than a quarter as much as disposable income,” it said.

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Tags: Credit, Credit Crunch, Economics, Financial News, Global Credit Crisis, Recession, Starbucks