Semi-retirement for the telephone box. The iconic telephone box is set to retire – or at least semi-retire. Plans announced by BT will see half of the remaining telephone kiosks retired and placed in better locations more likely to be used by the customer. Some 33,000 calls each day are …

US retail sales picked up June to July driven by car purchases and department stores sales growth. Based on this latest set of data it would appear, thanks to the US consumer, the US economy is well placed to benefit from more consumer spending in the second half of the …

Hargreaves Lansdown profits up Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (HL.) reported today and profits are up by 21%. Assets under management are also up at £79.2 billion. See report here for Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (HL.) Share price: £13.56 on 15/08/17 at: 11:15am

Latest UK inflation figures Inflation is unchanged from July to remain at 2.6% – UK inflation reached 2.9% in June 2016 the highest value so far this year. The Bank of England target is 2%

Markets appear to have settled after the escalation of tensions between the US and North Korea last week subside.  Thankfully the tensions did not worsen over the weekend. Strong economic fundamentals under-pinning recent strong market increases are still there, hiding behind the scenes, despite geopolitical uncertainty. One of my concerns …

German growth continues Latest figures show the retail sector helped the German economy grow. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.6% on previous quarter. These initial figures are open to revision at a later date. Imports grew faster than exports.

UK economic data to look out for this week Economic data is due this week (14/08/17 – 18/08/17). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is due to announce latest employment figures and retail data (Wed & Thu). But before that on Tuesday 15th August inflation figures are also due – …

Oil prices fall Stock markets are up – oil is down. It appears oversupply fears are playing a part in dragging prices down. It’s beginning to look like oil prices may level out at around $50.00 a barrel.

DOW Jones above 22000 again – but for how long? The DOW Jones Industrial Average moved above 22000 again today – but for how long? Markets generally appear calmer for the time being as the rhetoric between the US and North Korea subsides. The FTSE 100, DAX 30 and S&P …

Is the DVD dead? Is streaming killing the DVD? If Amazon’s decision to shelve its Lovefilm DVD by post service is anything to go by – then yes! Amazon says decreasing demand for its DVD movie postal service will mean it will close this year. Is it goodbye DVD? – …