UK Financial Bulletin 20 Feb – from Neil Gubbins, St James Place Wealth Management

Please download the Market Bulletin 20 February 2012 which contains the following points:

Global equities resumed their upward path last week as investors put to one side the worries over Greece and took heart from further signs of a brightening outlook for the US economy.
The relative strength of recent market performance masked another week of twists and turns in the ongoing Greek saga, which saw the prospect of a ‘disorderly’ default by Athens increasing in the minds of many.
The price of Brent crude, the benchmark for oil prices in Europe, has been steadily rising over the past few weeks as investors grow increasingly worried about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, with the US, UK and Europe all imposing sanctions to restrict Iran’s ability to sell oil.
The official measure of inflation, the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) fell sharply last month to a 14-month low of 3.6% from 4.2% in December, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Regards

Neil

Neil Gubbins

www.sjpp.co.uk/neilgubbins

ST. JAMES’S PLACE WEALTH MANAGEMENT

11 Hamilton Place
Mayfair
London W1J 7DA

T: 020 7495 1771
M: 07739 263334

Finance Update 14/11/2011

Please find attached this week’s Bulletin Market Bulletin 14 11 2011which contains the following points:

Italy took centre stage in the markets as the issue of their rising sovereign debt yields came to the fore. French bond yields also came under fire following a mistaken downgrade by Standard & Poor’s rating agency. However, a new government for both Greece and Italy and ECB intervention in the bond markets pushed the FTSE 100 up 0.3% in the week to close at 5545.38.

The yield on Italy’s 2-year and 10-year bonds crossed the psychologically important 7% mark last week which was the point as which Portugal, Ireland and Greece had to be bailed-out. Thankfully ECB intervention caused the yields to fall back and Italy managed to raise €5 billion in an auction of one-year securities paying an average rate of 6.09%.

Data from China showed that inflation is falling and growth is strong so where is the eurozone aid that was suggested some weeks ago? According to independent sources in the Chinese government it is tied up in a political deadlock after Europe spurned all of Beijing’s demands.

EU leaders have many routes to take, none of which are easy but the sudden change in Italy’s fortunes, considering just how big it is, may just force EU leaders to take decisive action and implement policy that could bring Europe out of its debt crisis.

Finally, with European sovereign debt in the press we take a look at the UK Gilt market, exploring why yields are so low compared to Europe and Ian McVeigh, UK Equities Team Director at Jupiter Asset Management, gives his view.

Regards

Neil

Neil Gubbins

ST. JAMES’S PLACE
WEALTH MANAGEMENT
11 Hamilton Place
Mayfair
London W1J 7DA

T: 020 7495 1771
M: 07739 263334
www.sjpp.co.uk/neilgubbins

Market Bulletin

Please find the latest Market Bulletin 30 08 2011 which contains the following points:

Equity markets rebound on better than expected US consumer data and hopes for further stimulus packages in the US.
Global banks remain in the spotlight as data sends conflicting messages on their ability to raise capital – a strong banking system is crucial to economic expansion.
The price of gold falls $200 as investors move back into equity markets.

Kind regards.

Neil

Neil Gubbins
ST. JAMES’S PLACE
WEALTH MANAGEMENT
11 Hamilton Place
Mayfair
London W1J 7DA

T: 020 7495 1771
M: 07739 263334

www.sjpp.co.uk/neilgubbins

If you wish to view the St. James’s Place Partnership email disclaimer, please click here

UK Budget Update

Just received this – thought it might be of interest:-

This afternoon I delivered my second Budget. I wanted to write to you immediately to explain our plans and set out some of the key measures.

Last year’s Emergency Budget was about rescuing the nation’s finances and paying for Labour’s mistakes. Today’s Budget sticks to the plan, and focuses on reforming the economy to ensure jobs and growth for the future. I am also doing what I can help to families with the cost of living – including an immediate cut to fuel duty.

I know times aren’t easy for families at the moment, so this Budget announced help, including:

• An immediate cut in fuel duty by 1 pence per litre and a delay of April’s inflation rise in duty to next January. This means fuel duty is 6 pence lower than it would be under Labour. We are paying for this by putting up taxes on the oil companies while the oil price is high to create a Fair Fuel Stabiliser.
• An increase in the personal allowance from £6,500 to £8,100 over the next two years. This will mean £326 extra for working people and it will lift over a million low paid people out of tax altogether.
• £250 million to help 10,000 first time buyers get on the housing ladder.
• A freeze in Air Passenger Duty this year.
• Money for councils so virtually every council in England will freeze council tax next month.
• A new scheme to allow Gift Aid to be claimed on the contents of charities’ collecting tins and street buckets, and support for largest donations with radical reforms to Inheritance Tax – if you leave 10 per cent or more of your estate to charity, then the Government will take 10 per cent off your inheritance tax bill.

As well as helping in the short term we need to reform our economy to create growth and jobs in the future. The hard truth is that Britain has lost ground in the world economy.

Under Labour manufacturing halved, and growth depended on unsustainable public spending, debt and financial services. We need a new model of growth based on investment, manufacturing and exports – a Britain that makes things again. This Budget started that process, with measures that include:

• An additional 1p cut in corporation tax. In April this year corporation tax will fall from 28% to 26%. It will continue to fall by 1% in each of the following three years reaching 23%. Britain will be competitive again.
• Doubling Entrepreneurs Relief to £10m and sweeping changes to the generosity, simplicity and reach of the Enterprise Investment Scheme, with an increase in the income tax relief available from 20% to 30%.
• An extension of the small business rate relief holiday for another year.
• An additional £100m for new science facilities and more generous tax credits for small business research and development.
• 21 new Enterprise Zones with business rate cuts and new broadband to promote growth across the country.
• A review of the revenue raised by the temporary 50p rate of income tax.
• 50,000 additional apprenticeships and 100,000 work placements for young people.
• £3bn for a Green Investment Bank, which will generate an additional £15 billion in private sector investment in green projects and low carbon energy.

The Confederation of British Industry has already endorsed our approach saying: “This Budget will help businesses grow and create jobs.”

So this is our plan – reforming the economy to create jobs and supporting families. This Budget will put fuel back in the tank of Britain’s economy.

George Osborne
Chancellor of the Exchequer

Pensions – Don’t Come a CROPPER

DON’T COME A CROPPER!

With the continually shifting sands of State pension regulations, both in the UK and Spain, it is no wonder that many individuals find it difficult to know what they will be entitled to as retirement looms.

To provide as much advice and information as possible to expatriates, the British Consulate is attempting to disseminate the facts via its department based at the Consulate in Alicante. In their efforts to support British nationals here in Spain, the Pensions, Benefits and Healthcare Team members are passing on information via talks to interested organisations, leaflets and the internet.

Their key message is contained in a new slogan ‘Don’t come a cropper’ which Laura Leman from the Consulate explained in a visit to the Marina Alta Business Club (MABC) in Javea.

Basic, but very important advice is held within their mnemonic –

C – Call us – don’t leave it too late

R – Rights and Entitlements – find out

O – Official sources – use them

P – Plan and prepare for the future

P – Padron – register

E - Engage and integrate with Spanish people

R - Responsibility – inform authorities if circumstances change

As members and guests of MABC were provided with a very informative and interesting talk, there were many surprises in store as Laura set out the facts for claiming pensions, unemployment benefit and accessing healthcare.

For example, Laura informed her audience that contributions paid in any EU country can be added together to increase entitlement, and that applications for pension must be made in writing to the country where the employee last worked.

The Pension Reform Act in the UK, as well as changes in Spain, have resulted in an increase in pensionable age and with the UK also reducing the number of qualifying years for a full pension, it is difficult for individuals to know exactly where they stand.

Further information about accessing healthcare, applying for unemployment and other benefits, is available by contacting the Pensions, Benefits and Healthcare Team at the British Consulate in Alicante via the website www.ukinspain.fco.gov.uk. Laura can be contacted by email at laura-leeman@fco.gov.uk and there are lots of other websites available providing relevant information on these topics, some of which are listed below.

www.ukinspain.fco.gov.uk – very informative website on many subjects

www.seg-social.es – Social Services website available in English for Spanish pension and benefit entitlement

www.direct.gov.uk – all UK public services

www.dwp.gov.uk – International Pension Centre and UK Pension and Benefit enquiries

www.hmrc.gov.uk – Pension forecast; Voluntary Contributions

www.dh.gov.uk – Overseas Healthcare Team

www.redtrabaja.es – (in Spanish only) – provides information on all unemployment benefits

Article by Chris Sinclair – reproduced by kind permission from her excellent article in the RTN – member of Marina Alta Business Club

Our thanks to Laura Leeman from the British Consulate in Alicante who made the excellent presentation to members and guests on March 3rd. The meeting was held at Peri Pera in Javea Port and was open to members and friends of the Club. As you can tell from Chris’s Article it was an interesting evening with a lot of information on pensions and accessing them from Spain.

We were pleased to have such a good turn out and the evening was so successful it over-ran

British Consulate to Speak on Pensions

Tonight (3^rd March) Laura Leeman, from the British Consulate in Alicante, has kindly volunteered to make a presentation on UK Pensions to members and friends of Marina Alta Business Club in Jávea.

Whilst primarily aimed at expatriate British workers and businesses based in Spain – Members of the Consulate’s UK Pensions’ Office have also expressed an interest in meeting and talking to some of our friends who are already in receipt of UK pensions, so Laura has agreed to cover pension issues from both perspectives.

So if you are a British citizen and have ever made National Insurance contributions via a UK based employer – however briefly and however long ago, then this talk is likely to contain information that may be useful for you. After the talk, Laura has also volunteered to chat informally to anyone who wishes to raise a pension concern.

As this is a special event - the club evening will be open to non members and guests – so if you know some-one who might find the talk useful, please feel free to forward this email.

The event will start at 7:30pm for an 8 o’clock start – at Peri Pera Café in Jávea Port (very near the Dolphin Roundabout – next to the zebra crossing & opposite the vet – on the road to the Police Station and Sports Pavillion).

Thank you – I hope to see you there.

Gaile

the £ and the € (and the $)

GBPEUR/GBPUSD

Following on from last week, the Pound rallied back above the 1.20 level against the Euro on Thursday, approaching the highest rate in 18 months, after a report from the Nationwide Building Society showed that UK house prices climbed to the highest level in almost two years. Sterling also gained to within a cent of the three week high against the U.S Dollar, as the report fuelled optimism that the economic recovery is gathering momentum.

Prudential Plc confirmed last week that the collapse of its proposed acquisition of AIG Inc’s main Asian unit will cost roughly £450 million and that the failure may also cost the Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam his job. The insurer was due to pay AIG in Dollars after raising the cash in Pounds and the UK currency had risen above $1.47 versus its U.S counterpart on speculation that the transaction was destined to fail.

In terms of economic data, the Pound was buoyed by reports that UK construction expanded in May at the fastest pace since September 2007, led by homebuilding. An index of building activity, based on a survey of purchasing managers, rose to a reading of 58.5, from 58.2 in April, as the overall improvement in the manufacturing sector continues to support the economic recovery.

The UK economy expanded 0.3% in the preliminary estimate for the first quarter, more than initially forecast, after an upward revision in manufacturing and construction. Bank of England policy makers voted unanimously to keep the £200 billion bond-purchasing program on hold last month, but reserved the right to continue quantitative easing should the recovery stall.

Elsewhere, UK mortgage approvals rose to the highest level in four months in April, as banks free up lending conditions and the conclusion of a transaction tax on home purchases for first time buyers helped improve demand. Lenders granted 49,871 loans to buy homes, compared with 49,008 in March, the highest reading since December.

The Pound has climbed 5.7% against the struggling Euro this year, amid reports that signaled the UK economic recovery is gathering momentum, while European economies falter and remain mired in the sovereign-debt crisis. Analysts at Citigroup Inc believe that the Euro may decline further against the Pound, after it closed above 1.20 on Tuesday.

The Pound briefly rose above $1.47 against the U.S Dollar on Thursday, as UK stocks rallied for the first time in three days. The FTSE 100 Index climbed, amid speculation that the U.S economic recovery is spreading, while investors also speculated that shares in BP Plc had fallen too far. BP gained for the first time in four days, as it struggled with efforts to stop the oil spill off the Gulf of Mexico.

The leak has wiped out a third off the value of BP stock since April 20th and the company is bracing itself for a huge clean up bill from the U.S government. The FTSE 100 rose 1.2% yesterday and the Pound subsequently strengthened against the Dollar, as the correlation between stock market sentiment and Sterling’s performance against the U.S currency remains intact.

By the close of trading on Friday, the Pound had recorded its second weekly gain against the Euro and the UK currency climbed to a fresh 18-month high over the weekend of 1.2132. The Pound also gained against the Dollar last week, the first advance in over a month, but the volatile swings in risk sentiment has brought the rate back down towards $1.43 this morning.

Niels Christensen, a foreign exchange strategist at Nordea Bank AB, said that “people are becoming a little more positive on the UK. We’ve had some good data and that has left sterling with a positive sentiment.” The UK currency rose 0.7% against the Euro on Friday, bringing the weekly gain to 2.9%, as concerns over the European sovereign debt crisis persists.

The focus this week will be firmly fixed on the Bank of England interest rate announcement on Thursday. The latest round of positive economic data are unlikely to result in any changes to the Bank’s judgment on the medium term outlook for growth and inflation. Consumer prices rose to 3.7% year-on-year in April, but is expected to fall back towards 2% over next year.

EUR/USD

The Euro fell below $1.20 for the first time in more than four years against the U.S Dollar on Friday, amid speculation that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is spreading. Investors promptly flocked to the safest currencies, as stocks also tumbled. The Yen and the Dollar rose against all of the 16 most actively traded currencies, as a lower-than-forecast U.S nonfarm payrolls report fueled speculation that the U.S recovery may be slowing.

American companies hired fewer workers in May than predicted, indicating that the government still needs to support the labour market to spur the economy. Payrolls rose by 431,000, boosted by a jump in hiring of temporary census workers. The jobless rate fell to 9.7%, from 9.9% in April, and the report will be of some concern to investors.

U.S stocks plunged and Treasuries rose, as the report raised concern that the U.S economy may be susceptible to the European debt crisis. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 3.4%, closing at the lowest level since February 8th. The Dollar rose to a high of 1.1877 against the struggling Euro, as risk aversion stalked the market and investors are already betting on a further deterioration of the single currency.

Jonathan Lewis, founding principal of Samson Capital Advisors LLC, said that “the euro is caught in a permanent, apparently unresolvable slide because of the tempo of bad news coming out of Europe. The market is so bearish on the Euro, it’s looking under any rock to find information that supports that conclusion.”

Market Analysis by Adam Solomon

If you need any further assistance, or require a quote – please do not hesitate to contact MABC’s manager, Gaile manager@mabc.biz , who can put you in touch with our Currency Exchange members.

With thanks to Tom Trevorrow from TOR FX for the above article

Monday Market Bulletin

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Colin Evans and Neil Gubbins

St Jame’s Place Wealth Management

Please find attached this Monday Market Bulletin 07 06 2010 which contains the following points:

European focus turns to Spain and Hungary
What future for the euro?
BP’s dividend comes under the spotlight
Trouble for the man from the Pru
Positive news flow and stronger company fundamentals remain the themes for long-term investors

Kind regards

Neil

www.sjpp.co.uk/neilgubbins

Neil Gubbins ST. JAMES’S PLACE WEALTH MANAGEMENT

11 Hamilton Place, Mayfair, London W1J 7DAT: 020 7495 1771 – M: 07739 263334

To Contact Colin please email colin.evans@sjpp.co.uk

Want to save money on utilities and more?

Adam Simmons of Fontana Design will be holding a free seminar at Restaurante Kopi, Carrer del Rap 5B, Dénia on Wednesday 9th December at 18:00 until 19:30.

The seminar will focus on the latest and best deals in fixed-line telephony, international calls, ADSL, mobile telephony and electricity prices.
The October issue of our newsletter is available online at http://utilities.fontanadesign.eu/ and follow the link to the current newsletter.

Your first drink will be on us and snacks will be provided. Call 634 459 214 to reserve your place, or email Adam at adam@fontanadesign.eu

UK Financial Update 21/10

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Colin Evans and Neil Gubbins

St Jame’s Place Wealth Management

Please find attached this week’s UK Financial UPdate Bulletin which contains the following points:

A raft of upbeat economic news from US retailers and exporters boosted the markets, along with reassuring comments from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
In the UK, exporters are benefitting from a weak pound although there are signs that some manufacturers are seeking to exercise pricing power, causing inflation to increase.
As the dollar continued to fall, investors sought out the haven of gold whilst several Asian banks were forced to intervene in the foreign exchange markets to protect their own currency’s competitiveness.
Property is back in vogue with foreign investors keen to take advantage of depressed commercial property prices here in the UK and attractive rental yields.
Neil Woodford explains his reason for getting rid of his oil stocks and replacing them with pharmaceutical stocks.

Regards

Neil Gubbins ST. JAMES’S PLACE WEALTH MANAGEMENT

11 Hamilton Place, Mayfair, London W1J 7DAT: 020 7495 1771 – M: 07739 263334