UK Business News

Supermarkets prepare for Christmas price war

Analysts say that falling food price inflation will give supermarkets a ‘war chest’ to allow them to cut back their prices

Lloyds announces another 5,000 jobs to go

Banking group formed from takeover of HBOS will make cuts in administration, insurance and mortgage processing

• Secret £165bn loan keeping Lloyds alive

• Branch sales and cash to keep banks off rocks

Luella’s fashion business unravels

The young British designer has become the latest fashion casualty of the recession despite adulation and celebrity fans

House prices rise for sixth successive month

Low mortgage rates and a more sensible attitude towards the pricing of homes have led sales higher this autumn

World Business News

Senate proposes to limit Fed's power

Launching the new Bill, Senator Chris Dodd accused the Fed of having been an "abysmal failure" as a bank regulator

Brussels to investigate Reuters datafeed tool

Competition regulators launch an investigation into Thomson Reuters over concerns that it locks customers into its services

• Thomson Reuters revenue dips on weak sales

• Thomson Reuters pays £13m for Breakingviews

Gas glut will weaken ‘Russian grip on Europe’

The International Energy Agency says that the surplus in global supplies may hit 200 billion cubic metres a year by 2015

Ericsson axes 700 staff and shuts Coventry site

Swedish telecoms group will cut 17% of its UK workforce and scale back its research and development headquarters

Analysis

Some good news on bad debt situation

It seems Lloyds' Eric Daniels may have been right: there are glimmers of hope for high street banks amid the devastation

• Cost benefit for Vodafone

• Game over in pension case

Evolutionary clock is ticking for dinosaur model

While we were doing our jobs, we saw our business model thrown on the scrapheap for something smaller and cheaper

Tempus: IHG's future looks bright

Compared with vaguely positive comments from rivals, however, the hotel group's trading update looked rather downbeat

Law  

Straw orders review of cautions after DPP warning

Justice Secretary agrees to rethink after The Times revealed that 40,000 assaults a year were dealt with by way of caution

Caution for assault ‘will lead to a murder’

Judges are concerned that thousands of cautions are being handed out for violent assaults that should come before courts

Setback for Lehman creditors as court blocks PwC plan

Court of Appeal says radical plan designed to speed up the Lehman Brothers administration is unacceptable under UK insolvency law

Money  

How to get a mortgage that is six times your salary

Borrowers may be surprised to learn that lenders remain flexible for certain customers

• Grab that cheap mortgage now

• Northern Rock ‘bad bank’ will trap borrowers

Investors take sides on the boom vs gloom debate

Fund managers Anthony Bolton of Fidelity and Neil Woodford of Invesco Perpetual tell Kathryn Cooper where markets are heading

Funds to put your finances on the right track

Investors need to check out the charges on tracker funds before diving in to this deceptively complex market

• Lifting the lid on hidden charges

• Why an economist will pick a tracker

business travel  

The world's oddest airport lounges

Lounges for dogs and children sound bizarre but not as odd as Finnair's new facility

SkyTeam, Alitalia open new terminal facilities

Alliance gets common check-in at Heathrow while Italian carrier gets a dedicated terminal in Rome

10 rules of business travel etiquette

Business travellers forced to fly in economy might need to be re-educated in acceptable on-board behaviour

• Business airfares to rise in 2010

• Profile: Luxury car boss Clive Sutton