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M&S spectacular pulls in bargain hunters
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/36139?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+M%26amp%3BS+spectacular+pulls+in+bargain+hunters&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Marks+and+Spencer+Group+%28Business%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CHigh+street+retailers%2CBusiness%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CFashion+and+Beauty%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=Julia+Finch&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121366&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Marks+%26+Spencer&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FMarks+%26+Spencer" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>In the basement of Marks & Spencer's vast store in the new Westfield shopping centre in west London, trolleys are clattering through the tills. </p><p>It is the 20% off one-day spectacular - designed to pull in customers and shift unsold stock - and a couple from Dorset are paying for a trolley laden with Pol Monnet champagne. They have just bought 36 bottles - and saved nearly £500 on the shelf price of the bubbly.</p><p>The champagne is a triple bargain. On top of the 20% off is another 10% discount and a £5 a bottle reduction for buying more than 12 bottles. The result is the £26 shelf price slashed to just £13 a bottle. </p><p>Isabelle Marsh has just bought 36 bottles for £494 - and saved £442. She runs a fun casino business - Viva Las Vegas in Bournemouth - and the champagne will be used as prizes. The couple were in London visiting friends when they heard about the M&S discount day and made a special trip to Westfield to stock up at the bargain prices.</p><p>At the next till her friend, Kay and Roger Brahams from Surrey, who are also in the casino business, are doing exactly the same. They also have a load of half-price champagne and also a collection of blue spotted bow-ties and waistcoats for their croupiers - four waistcoats, four bow-ties and two pairs of black trousers for £124, down from £155 for one day only. "It's for the business," says Roger Brahams. "It is too good to miss."</p><p>The wine department is brimming with bargains. One couple are considering a job lot of Mersault, down from £23 a bottle to less than £19, for their wedding next year. The best bargain? An £85 bottle of Clos L'Eglise Pomerol for £68.</p><p>On the clothing floor, however, the signs are that shoppers have just used the discount day to bring forward purchases they were planning to make anyway.</p><p>Mark, a BBC employee who works nearby, has popped in to buy an £80 coat he has had his eye on for some time. "My wife rang me this morning to tell me about the sale," he explained. He paid £64 and was walking away very pleased with his bargain - but has not been tempted into other purchases.</p><p>A local resident, who had called in to buy cashmere sweaters for her parents in Canada, and was also bringing forward a planned purchase. "My parents like the sweaters and I would have come in to buy them next week anyway."</p><p>Two other local workers from Shepherds Bush were also using their lunch break to buy reduced price cashmere, which they said they would not have considered but for the cut in price. "We wouldn't have paid full price, we would have waited for the sale after Christmas, but today we can make sure we get the colours and sizes we want."</p><p>One added: "I never pay full price. I am a bargain hunter. There's no point in paying top prices for basics."<br /></p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marksspencer">Marks & Spencer</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/highstreetretailers">High street retailers</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222415955112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222415955112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Savers urged to act fast for highest interest rates
Falling interest rates mean savers have a limited amount of time to benefit from existing deals, says Huma Qureshi
Would an office like Google's change your life?
Wishing your workplace was more fun? Be careful who you tell
Oil falls below $50
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/63562?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+Oil+falls+below+%2450&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Oil+%28business%29%2CCommodities+%28oil%2C+gold+etc%29%2CBusiness%2CWorld+news%2CUK+news%2CUS+news%2CMotoring+%28Money%29%2CMoney%2CHousehold+bills&c5=Motoring%2CPersonal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CEnergy&c6=James+Robinson&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121292&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Oil&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FOil" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Oil prices fell below $50 a barrel today for the first time since May 2005, reflecting declining demand as the global economy slows - London-traded Brent crude fell $3.10 to $48.62 a barrel, while US light sweet crude was down $3.71 to $49.91.</p><p>The latest fall means oil is the cheapest it has been for over three years, and defies predictions earlier this year from some leading producers who said it could peak at $200 a barrel. </p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/may/23/oil.commodities1">In May this year, Libya's leading oil official Shokri Ghanem</a> said: "It is out of our hands. $200 a barrel is not logical but even $135 is not logical, so yes oil could reach $200 a barrel. Why not?"</p><p>The average price of oil for the year to date was $107.72. It peaked at $147.25 a barrel in July this year, well over twice the level it was at in the same month in 2007. </p><p>The decline in the value of oil is good news for motorists and consumers. The price of petrol is likely to fall and utility bills will also come down if the price remains low, although some energy companies have been criticised for failing to pass on price cuts to their customers quickly enough. </p><p>Energy minister Ed Miliband met leading suppliers earlier this week to demand they lowered their prices. The fall is also likely to reduce inflationary pressure and makes another big interest rate cut more likely. The Bank of England's monetary policy committee next meets to set the rate on December 4.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/oil">Oil</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/commodities">Commodities</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/motoring">Motoring</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/householdbills">Household bills</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222415976112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222415976112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Poll: Are you feeling the pinch?
Amid a constant stream of bad economic news, the latest retail figures suggest that we've far from given up our favourite national pastime ? shopping ? despite some evident pain on the high street. Have you changed your spending habits?
Rural south hit hardest by unemployment rise
As the economy enters recession, the impact upon the jobs market is starting to be felt across the UK, particularly in the south of England
Christmas: How to cope financially this festive season
Worried about the cost of Christmas? With a bit of planning you can sail through the season of goodwill without breaking the bank, says Laura Howard
Supermarkets flout rules on special offers, says Which?
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/48647?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Supermarket+offers+%27not+always+special%27&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Consumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CMoney%2CBusiness%2CSupermarkets+%28business%29%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=Staff+and+agencies&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121111&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Consumer+affairs&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FConsumer+affairs" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Supermarket special offers are misleading consumers and breaking government guidelines, the consumer group Which? said today.</p><p>Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's are all accused of labelling products as having money off when they have only briefly been sold at a higher price.<br /> <br />Guidelines state that for an item to be a genuine offer it must be sold in the store at the advertised higher price for the previous 28 days.</p><p>The item must also not stay on offer for longer than it has been at the higher price, unless the retailer displays a sign saying otherwise. The only other exception is if an item is going out of date.</p><p>However, by buying the same basket of items once a week between June and August in Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons and Marks & Spencer, Which? found some retailers were flouting those rules.</p><p>The offending deals were:</p><p>? M&S cherries were marked as half price at £2.49, despite selling for £2.99 immediately before. The cherries had only been sold at £4.99 for 17 days, a month before the offer</p><p>? Waitrose blueberries were only at the higher price of £3.99 for two weeks before being sold at "half price" (£1.99) for six weeks</p><p>? Sainsbury's Gallo Cabernet Zinfandel and Chardonnay Sauvignon had £1 off at £3.99 for five weeks, then briefly returned to the higher price of £4.99 for one week before going back to £1 off</p><p>Which? also found Tesco strawberries and M&S bacon were "on offer" for the entire three-month investigation. Although these offers did not break the guidelines they could "hardly be described as special", Which? said.</p><p>Nikki Ratcliff, head of research services at Which?, said: "Supermarkets need to comply with the spirit of the new government guidelines and stop misleading consumers into thinking they're getting great deals when they're not."</p><p>An M&S spokeswoman said: "We always aim to offer our customers excellent value and follow guidelines on promotions wherever possible.</p><p>"For the bacon, unfortunately we made a mistake with the ticketing of this product and we apologise to our customers. We rectified it straight away."</p><p>Tesco said it had clear policies in place to ensure it followed the guidelines and that all its offers were genuine. "Competition among retailers is strong and we're absolutely focused on delivering the best value while following regulations," it said.</p><p>Waitrose and Sainsbury's said they would be taking action in light of the findings to make sure they stuck to the guidelines in future.</p><p>A survey of 3,039 Which? online panel members found almost three quarters thought special offers were good value and more than half often bought items because they were on offer.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/supermarkets">Supermarkets</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222415995112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222415995112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Credit crunch: Will it deter the Christmas shoppers?
Credit crunch, what credit crunch? Consumers were still shopping till they dropped at a festive fair last week, says Frances Booth
After Barclays, Pirc takes on retail minnow Clinton Cards
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/59747?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+After+Barclays%2C+shareholder+watchdog+takes+on+retail+minnow+Clinton+Cards&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Retail+industry+%28Business%29%2CMoney%2CInvesting+%28Business%29%2CInvestments&c5=Personal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CBusiness+Markets&c6=James+Robinson&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1121103&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=blog&c13=&c14=Business+blog&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2Fblog%2FBusiness+blog" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Executives at Clinton Cards are unlikely to be on Pirc's Christmas card list. The shareholder body, which took on Barclays earlier this week, issued a strongly worded critique of the company's management last night, highlighting concerns over the way it's run. </p><p>It may pale into insignificance when placed beside the excesses of the banking sector, where executives were paying themselves millions as their employees persuaded people with no money to take out colossal mortgages, but if Pirc can embarrass corporate giants like Barclays, it can easily shame retailing minnows based in Essex. </p><p>Clinton Cards is a small business, built by its founder Don Lewin, a Londoner who used to work as a chimney sweep, and it's difficult not to admire his success.</p><p>I expect he regards Pirc as a bunch of over-zealous box tickers, and it's true that its demands for good corporate governance sometimes seems ridiculous when they are applied to tiny companies who don't have big boards and run relatively streamlined operations.</p><p>Unfortunately for Lewin, they may have a point this time. </p><p>Lewin, who founded the company in the late 60s, is the chairman and chief executive of the listed group, worth around £26m, an arrangement guaranteed to get the corporate governance lobby into a frenzy.</p><p>But he also employs two of his children as directors and Pirc claims there is only one truly independent non-executive director on its 10-strong board. Lewin named his company after his son Clinton Lewin (left), who is MD, and has been waiting to succeed his father for years. Don Lewin's daughter Debbie Darlington (nee Lewin) joined the company in 1985 and was appointed to the board in 2000. </p><p>Both of them know the business inside out and evidently do a good job - the company consistently produces healthy profits - and there are no signs of a shareholder rebellion - yet. But Pirc is advising its members to vote against approving the company's report and accounts at its AGM on Tuesday.</p><p>Worse still, according to Pirc, there is little information about pay, the highest paid director receives one of the largest salaries in the quoted retail sector - Don Lewis was paid just over £1m this year and last, and there are no details about the amount paid into pension schemes.</p><p>The Lewin family owns 32% of Clinton Cards, which made pre-tax profits of £19.5m this year. There are far larger companies who operate in a similar fashion - Rupert Murdoch's media empire is one - and shareholders are generally happy to turn a blind eye to corporate governance issues providing they make lots of money and pay decent dividends. A healthy share price helps too, but Clinton's has fallen from around 60p at the end of 2007 and stood at 13p this morning. It will be interesting to see whether there are mutterings of dissent next week. </p><p>A source close to the company points out that it had strong family connections, and that under Lewin's guidance it has "grown from a very small concern in Loughton, Essex to one of the country's biggest card retailers". It is familiar with Pirc's complaints, although it hadn't seen the group's latest alert, and believes it is fixated on issues that few shareholders are concerned about. </p><p>Strangely, Pirc omits to mention that Don Lewin recently turned 75, and this year also marks the 40th anniversary of the company's formation, and 20 years since its stockmarket flotation. That might seem like a good time to step back from the business, or hand over control of the company to his son - after a thorough, and completely transparent search for a suitable successor, of course.<br /> <br />The last time there was a downturn in the City, the company made 'redundancy cards', and in the current environment it must be thinking about dusting off those designs. Don Lewin's retirement card, however, seems to be stuck in the post.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail">Retail industry</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/investing">Investing</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/moneyinvestments">Investments</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416008112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416008112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Mortgage lending increases by 7%
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/39448?ns=guardian&pageName=Money%3A+Mortgage+lending+increases+by+7%25&ch=Money&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Mortgages+%28Money%29%2CProperty%2CMoney%2CMortgage+lending+figures+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CUK+news&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Hilary+Osborne&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1120931&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Money&c12=Mortgages&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FMoney%2FMortgages" width="1" height="1" /></div><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/mortgages">Mortgage</a> lending increased by almost 7% in October but remains well below last year's level, figures showed today.</p><p>The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said gross mortgage lending totalled £18.7bn in October, up from September's record low of £17.4bn.</p><p>Despite <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/interestrates">interest rate</a> cuts in October and November, which have brought the Bank of England base rate down to 3% from 5%, the market was still stymied by a lack of mortgage funding, the CML said.</p><p>As a result, the gross lending figure, which does not take into account repayments and redemptions, remains the second lowest this year and is 44% lower than last October when lending totaled £33.4bn.</p><p>The CML's direct general, Michael Coogan, said the outlook for the mortgage market remained weak and more government action was needed to free up lending. </p><p>"Consumer confidence is now being affected by the worsening economic outlook. However, any recovery in lending is also being held back by the continuing shortage of mortgage funding," Coogan said. </p><p>"The government should therefore publish the delayed Crosby review as part of the forthcoming pre-budget report and announce concrete steps that will enable and encourage firms to increase mortgage loans."</p><p>Andrew Montlake, a partner at mortgage broker Cobalt Capital, said few people would take heart from the fact that lending was up month-on-month. </p><p>"You have a double whammy where consumer confidence is shot to bits by a rapidly weakening economy and the mainstream lenders are only accepting 'quality' applicants with big deposits," he said.</p><p>"I hate to say it, but it could be some time before things start to improve."</p><p>Yesterday, the National Association of Estate Agents also reported a slight bounce in the housing market in October, saying its members had sold an average of seven <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">properties</a> each during the month, compared with six in September.</p><p>The percentage of buyers entering the market had also increased, it said, but the number of house hunters on agents' books was down 7% from the previous month.<br /> <br />One of the problems buyers face is the continued shortage of cheap deals. Although many lenders cut their standard variable rates (SVRs) in line with the base rate reduction after <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/nov/08/rate-cut-mortgages-banks">pressure from the government</a>, they have withdrawn some of their most competitive deals and continue to demand large deposits.</p><p>Financial information firm Moneyfacts said today that despite the 2% fall in the base rate since the start of October, rising margins meant the average rate on a new two-year tracker mortgage had only fallen from 6.29% to 5.11%. </p><p>At the same time, the maximum loan-to-value on tracker deals had been slashed from 90% to 75%.</p><p>Fixed-rate mortgages have started to come down in price, with Abbey cutting its two-year deals last week, and poised to cut rates on its three-year deals by up to 0.5% tomorrow.</p><p>However, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/firsttimebuyers">first-time buyers</a> will struggle to benefit from the price cuts as lending is restricted to 75% of the value of a property, and those 75% deals are restricted to a maximum of £150,000.</p><p>Nationwide building society is also cutting the cost of its fixed-rate mortgages tomorrow, with some rates falling by 0.8%. </p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/mortgages">Mortgages</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/property">Property</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/mortgagelendingfigures">Mortgage lending figures</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416015112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Money&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416015112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Fears over US economy weaken world markets
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/4700?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+Fears+over+US+economy+weaken+world+markets&ch=Business&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Global+recession%2CUS+economy+%28Business%29%2CMarket+turmoil%2CWorld+news%2CJapan+%28News%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CToyota+%28Business%29%2CUS+news%2CShares%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CInvestments%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Markets%2CUS+Economy&c6=Justin+McCurry&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1120901&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Global+recession&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FGlobal+recession" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The increasingly precarious state of the US economy sent stockmarkets into retreat today as Asian markets closed sharply down, with Japan's Nikkei benchmark index falling almost 7%.</p><p>Shares also tumbled in Hong Kong, South Korea and Australia following another plunge overnight on Wall Street, where fears of recession sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 427 points, or just over 5%, to its lowest level for five years.</p><p>Britain's FTSE 100 index was down 90 points at 3915.73 in early trading - a fall of more than 2% - shortly after it opened at 8am, taking it below the 4,000 level. Yesterday it tumbled 4.8%. Other European markets were also in retreat this morning.</p><p>Asia's slide was seen as inevitable after the US Federal Reserve warned that the US economy would contract through the first half of next year, and concern intensified over the fate of the country's top three car markers.<br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/19/citigroup-shares-credit-crunch"><br />Financial stocks were particularly hard hit on Wall Street and Citigroup</a>, once the world's biggest bank, saw more than $9bn (£6bn) wiped off its value yesterday as its shares slumped more than 22% to $6.45, their lowest level since 1995. </p><p>The Dow has plummeted more than 30% since September when the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy started one of the biggest Wall Street sell-offs in history.</p><p>"We've gone past the poor sentiment stage," said Miles Remington, head of Asian sales at BNP Paribas Securities in Hong Kong. "People are looking for any kind of positive and there are just no positives out there. Everyone seems to be united in the depressed global outlook."</p><p>The Nikkei 225 was spooked by new figures showing Japan had registered its second trade deficit in three months as a result of the strong yen and plummeting demand in the key US and European markets for Japanese cars and electronics.</p><p>The Nikkei dipped 570 points to close at 7703, its lowest since it hit a 26-year low in late October. The index has lost 9% this week and 10% since the start of the month.</p><p>Earlier this week <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/nov/17/globalrecession-japan">Japan announced it had slid into recession for the first time</a> in seven years after posting two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.</p><p>The eurozone and Hong Kong are also in recession, and the US is expected to officially join the list by the start of next year.</p><p>Government figures released today showed Japanese exporters suffered their biggest decline in seven years last month. Exports dropped 7.7 % in October, the biggest fall since 2001. Exports totaled ¥6.93 trillion (£48bn), while imports amounted to ¥6.99 trillion.</p><p>There were double-digit falls in sales of cars and electronics, two mainstays of Japan's export-dependent economy, amid signs that the credit crunch has spread to China, whose huge market helped fuel Japan's nascent economic recovery after 2002.</p><p>"The fall in exports to Asia reflects that their economies are also taking a blow from weakness in developed economies," Takeshi Minami of Norinchukin Research Institute in Tokyo told Reuters.</p><p>The parlous state of Japan's exports has forced companies to slash earnings projections, cut production and lay off workers.</p><p>Isuzu, a leading maker of trucks, said today it would cut 1,400 temporary and part-time workers, while Toyota, the country's biggest carmaker, said it would reduce output at its passenger car in factory due to weakening sales.</p><p>Sharp said it was thinking of cutting production in pivotal products such as flat-screen TVs due to weak demand overseas.</p><p>More than half of Japanese companies have cut their profit forecasts over the past two months, according to the Shinko Research Institute.</p><p>Shares in Japan's megabanks and electronics makers were among the biggest victims of global recession fears.</p><p>Mitsubishi UFJ, which suffered a 61 % decline in second-quarter profit, lost 6.1% to close at ¥480, while Sumitomo Mitsui shed 10.4% to ¥281,500.</p><p>Canon fell 7% to ¥2,610, Panasonic by 7.7% to ¥1,350 and Sony by 6.4% to ¥1,826.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/globalrecession">Global recession</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/useconomy">US economy</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/marketturmoil">Market turmoil</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/japan">Japan</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch">Credit crunch</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/toyota">Toyota</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/shares">Shares</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416027112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416027112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Growing numbers avoiding or delaying paying tax
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/39213?ns=guardian&pageName=Politics%3A+Growing+numbers+avoiding+or+delaying+paying+tax&ch=Politics&c3=guardian.co.uk&c4=Tax+and+spending%2CTax+%28Money%29%2CPolitics%2CMoney%2CUK+news%2CIncome+tax%2CBorrowing+and+debt&c5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful&c6=David+Hencke&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1120473&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Politics&c12=Tax+and+spending&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FTax+and+spending" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>Growing numbers of people and businesses are avoiding or delaying paying taxes as the "credit crunch" bites, the National Audit Office says in a new report.</p><p>The increase comes against the background of a doubling of consumer debt leading to people avoiding paying their tax bills, says the report.</p><p>The auditors estimate that up to 1.5 million working adults had a personal or business tax debt in April this year - and expect the figure to rise. The total number of debts has already risen by 22% over the last year - from 13 million to 15.8 million. </p><p>Pay-as-you-earn receipts accounted for 32% of the debt, VAT accounted for 27% and self-assessed income tax for 21%.</p><p>The report, published yesterday, warns that HM Revenue and Customs is unprepared to tackle the problem, having cut its number of staff handling debt by 14% to 6,200 since 2006. </p><p>Revenue & Customs has also decided to target the largest sums owed to the tax authorities regardless of whether there is any prospect of getting the cash. As a result many of the smaller debts are not being chased up, which has led to the big jump in numbers in debt to the department.</p><p>The auditors criticise Revenue & Customs for ignoring recommendations made by MPs on the Commons public accounts committee four years ago. It has not, as MPs suggested, introduced risk profiles on taxpayers to target those who could be bad payers and tailored debt collection to get the money. </p><p>It also has no measurements of how long it is taking to recover debts or the best methods of doing so. It has implemented some recommendations, including allowing people to pay by direct debit and credit card, and providing more information to debtors.</p><p>But it is concentrating on getting more legal powers to pursue debtors while planning further cuts in staff by 2011 to save another £217m. Other activities have been given priority. </p><p>Edward Leigh, the chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said: "HMRC has failed to adopt key techniques used by other organisations to improve how they manage debts owed to them. If the department had introduced such measures, then it would be better placed to tackle what will surely become a more pressing problem in the present economic climate.</p><p>"It is difficult not to ask some fundamental questions. How will HMRC manage what is very likely to be a growing volume of tax debt? How will the department maintain the flow of money to the exchequer? And how will HMRC identify and support those poor and vulnerable people owing tax who need time to pay?"</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/taxandspending">Tax and spending</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/tax">Tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/incometax">Income tax</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/debt">Borrowing & debt</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416035112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Politics&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416035112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Our digital addiction: 727 hours surfing, 27 phoning and 972 texts
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/34742?ns=guardian&pageName=Technology%3A+Our+digital+addiction%3A+727+hours+surfing%2C+27+phoning+and+972+texts&ch=Technology&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Technology%2CBusiness%2CMobile+phones+%28Technology%29%2CInternet%2CInternet%2C+phones+and+broadband%2CDigital+media%2CMedia%2COfcom%2CConsumer+affairs+%28Money%29%2CMoney&c5=Personal+Finance%2CDigital+Media%2CBusiness+Markets%2CMedia+Weekly%2CTechnology+Gadgets%2CCorporate+IT%2CConsumer+Electronics&c6=Richard+Wray&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1120839&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Technology&c12=Mobile+phones&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FTechnology%2FMobile+phones" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>In the heyday of rock music, no stadium gig was complete without a slow number that prompted the crowd to hold aloft their cigarette lighters to create hundreds of flickering points of light. Now the same effect is created by hundreds of people holding up their mobile phones as the audience takes photo after photo to prove they were there.</p><p>This is most likely to occur in the UK as the British use their mobile phone as a camera more than anyone else. They are also among the world's fastest adopters of social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, posting the subsequent photos or at least updating their status to relate how great the gig was, as a way of keeping in touch with an ever-expanding and ephemeral collection of "friends". </p><p>The British love of camera phones, social networking and even digital video recorders and digital televisions - there are more per capita in the UK than anywhere else, even the US - is revealed in research by the communications regulator Ofcom published today. It paints a picture of an increasingly tech-literate nation, with a strong desire to keep in touch, that is now spending almost twice as long on the internet as it did in 2004.</p><p>Prof Simeon Yates, director of the Culture, Communication and Computing Research Institute (C3RI) at Sheffield Hallam University believes that British consumers - especially younger ones - have wrapped the mobile phone into their lives in a way that is less pronounced in other countries. </p><p>"One of the things that is becoming clear is that for a lot of reasons British people, especially those under the age of say 40, have got used to using their mobile phones for communication, whereas in the US they are used to using their computer and in Japan they still use their phone in a different way." </p><p>The Japanese, for instance, are hindered by their language which makes composing a text message a rather cumbersome process. Many Americans, meanwhile, grew up with free broadband access, as it came bundled with cable television.</p><p>In the UK, the ubiquity of mobile phones has accompanied the explosion in social networking. Despite their reputation as being reserved, the British seem more and more willing to share everything online. Ofcom's latest International Communications Market report shows that 50% of British internet users access social networking sites, up 11 percentage points on last year and second only to Canada. </p><p>Increasingly, Britons use mobile phones to tell friends what they are up to. "For an awful lot of people, the mobile phone is core to maintaining their relationships with people," says Yates. "They are trying to maintain very large but slightly ephemeral social networks, which are bigger than the networks we used to try and maintain, and one way to do that is to send little moments of contact: 'here's a picture of me at a concert', for instance, and it does not require any conversation to follow."</p><p>The sheer size of the US market means it tops the global league for doing this - with 4 million Americans regularly accessing social networking sites on their phones - but the UK is in second place.</p><p>The Ofcom report shows there were 121 mobile phones for every 100 people in the UK last year, the second highest market penetration among the world's seven top economies - excluding China - after Italy at 154%. Italians regularly have one pre-pay phone for work and one for personal use while 40% of households in Italy have no fixed line at all, compared with about one in 10 in the UK.</p><p>Britons used those phones to make a total of 99bn minutes of calls last year, compared with 52bn in 2002, and send an average of 972 texts each, up from 708. American mobile phone users topped the calling league with 2.1 trillion minutes last year, but Irish mobile phone users sent the most texts, composing 1,848 each, or 154 a month, up from 118 a month in 2002.</p><p>Asked whether they use their mobile phone as a camera, 59% of Britons surveyed by Ofcom said they do, compared with 58% in Italy and 52% in Japan. </p><p>The dramatic growth in mobile phone use helped the global communications market grow 6.1% last year, to £876bn. </p><p>The report also shows that British internet users are spending more and more time online, currently 839 minutes a week, up from 385 minutes in 2004. British internet users are only outpaced by their American counterparts who now spend 913 minutes a week glued to their screens.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/mobilephones">Mobile phones</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/internet">Internet</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/internetphonesbroadband">Internet, phones & broadband</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/digitalmedia">Digital media</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/ofcom">Ofcom</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/consumeraffairs">Consumer affairs</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Technology&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416047112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Technology&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416047112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
Bank of England sends out clear message that interest rates to be cut again next month
<div><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/38359?ns=guardian&pageName=Business%3A+Further+rate+cut+likely+after+MPC+minutes+reveal+unanimous+vote&ch=Business&c3=The+Guardian&c4=Interest+rates+%28Business%29%2CInterest+rates+%28Money%29%2CEconomics+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CMoney%2CBank+of+England+%28Business%29&c5=Personal+Finance%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CProperty+Mortgages+and+Interest+Rates&c6=Larry+Elliott&c7=2008_11_20&c8=1120808&c9=article&c10=GU&c11=Business&c12=Interest+rates&c13=&c14=&h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FInterest+rates" width="1" height="1" /></div><p>The Bank of England sent out a clear message yesterday that interest rates would be cut again next month when it revealed that the monetary policy committee considered reducing borrowing costs by more than the 1.5 percentage points it announced this month.</p><p>Minutes of the MPC's November meeting showed that Threadneedle Street believed "a very significant reduction in [the] bank rate - possibly in excess of two percentage points - might be required" to prevent inflation falling below the government's 2% inflation target.</p><p>The doveish tone of the MPC minutes, coupled with a warning from the CBI that factories expect to cut output over the next four months at a rate not seen since the early 1980s, left the City convinced that interest rates would be cut by at least 0.5 point from 3% next month. City economists think that the bank rate may even come down to 2% - equalling the lowest it has been in the Bank's 314-year history.</p><p>In deciding unanimously for a 1.5 percentage point cut, the Bank said it wanted to see the size of Alistair Darling's tax and spending boost to the economy in next week's pre-budget report before assessing the required scale of further easing of monetary policy. The MPC also said it wanted to see whether October's coordinated efforts to shore up the banking system had increased the flow of credit and was concerned that a bigger reduction in the bank rate would scare the City. "Too large a surprise could pose upside risks to the inflation target if the resulting depreciation of sterling was excessive."</p><p>Apart from the emergency cut in interest rates on the day after Black Wednesday in September 1992, this month's move was the most aggressive since the early 1980s. The minutes revealed that the MPC was concerned the markets would think it had gone soft on inflation and wanted to leave some of the easing of policy until after it had had the chance to explain its view that the financial turmoil this autumn had markedly changed the outlook for prices.</p><p>Some MPC members also thought there was an argument for the Bank reserving some of its fire power so that it would be able in "the months ahead to support confidence as the economy weakened".</p><p>David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "The latest MPC minutes confirm a radical change in attitude. As demand prospects in the economy have deteriorated and inflation is set to plunge well below target, the MPC correctly acknowledge the need for sharp interest rate cuts.</p><p>"Businesses are now facing acute pressures in the face of a worsening recession. We urge the MPC to persevere with a forceful line, and cut rates to 2.5% in December," he said.</p><p>The CBI's monthly snapshot of industry showed that manufacturers are planning to retrench after seeing demand plummet. Seeing no positive effects from the recent sharp depreciation in the value of the pound, firms said the weakness of domestic and export order books was forcing them to plan production cuts.</p><p>Capital Economics, a forecasting and consultancy firm, said that if the survey was accurate there was a risk of a double-digit fall in manufacturing output next year - in line with the drop seen in the deep recession of 1974-75.</p><p>The CBI found that only 14% of firms expected to raise output over the next four months, while 56% planned to cut production. That left a balance of -42 points, the lowest since 1980. Order books edged up slightly from October but remained at their weakest for five years. Companies have also amassed large stockpiles of unsold goods, with a balance of +25 points reporting that their inventories were more than adequate to meet expected demand.</p><p>"The survey provides yet more evidence that the downturn in activity is not confined to the financial, construction and retail sectors," said Paul Dales, UK analyst at Capital Economics. He added that the forecast for factory production was "consistent with output falling by around 10% per annum compared to the current rate of decline of 2%. This would be a larger drop than the 7% drop seen in the early 1990s and similar to the 12% drop in the 1974-75 recession." </p><p>The biggest post-war slump in manufacturing occurred in 1980 and 1981, when output fell by about 25%.</p><div style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/interestrates">Interest rates</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/interestrates">Interest rates</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/economics">Economics</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/bankofenglandgovernor">Bank of England</a></li></ul></div><div class="guRssAdvert"><a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416055112023085624355"><img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yes&site=Business&country=usa&spacedesc=rss&system=rss&transactionID=1227222416055112023085624355" border="0" /></a></div><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html">More Feeds</a>
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