Inflation

The Bank of England's latest inflation report has hinted at the possibility of a further rise in the base interest rate in order to keep inflation under control.

Scottish Friendly Society is calling on the government to increase the maximum amount which can be invested in friendly tax-exempt savings products.

The FTSE 100 index has dumped almost 3% in afternoon trading, crashing 170.7 points in the space of a couple of hours, after Wall Street took another nosedive over inflation concerns.

Annual house price inflation in the UK fell from 3.4% in February to 3.3% in March, according to the latest data from the Department for Communities and Local Government. (DCLG)

THE BANK OF ENGLAND quashed lingering hopes of another interest rate cut yesterday as it signalled that it now expects its next move to be an increase in borrowing costs, reports the Times .

PRUDENTIAL IS UNDERSTOOD to have ruled out any move on Standard Life as the Edinburgh mutual prepares for its £5bn stock-market flotation, believing that the UK market would not generate the returns to justify a big-money outlay, reports The Scotsman...

STANDARD LIFE ON Tuesday put a £5.5bn price on its head and revealed that it had already rebuffed a number of approaches, including one from Resolution Life, the specialist investor in life assurance funds which manages closed books of with-profits business,...

Figures published by the Office for National Statistics today suggest consumer prices increased in February according to the official way of measuring changes.

Fears of a possible end to the current strong growth in equity returns are being driven by "false signals" as a continued bullish nature towards global market should be expected in 2006, suggest Standard Life Investments strategists.

CASH-STRAPPED companies will be able to reduce their payments to the Government's pensions lifeboat in return for promising their headquarters to their final salary scheme, according to the Times .