House prices continue to move firmly upwards and are still expected to be higher in a year’s time, according to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) this afternoon.

The numbers are somewhat surprising given that surveyors have seen the longest stretch of shrinking buyer demand in the housing market since the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

A net balance of 25 per cent of property professionals reported new buyer inquiries falling rather than rising in July, marking the third month in a row of an overall decline.

The RICS report said: “As such, this marks the third successive report in which this indicator has been in negative territory, thereby representing the longest stretch of falling demand seen since the early stages of the pandemic.”

The previous stretch of falling demand took place in March, April and May 2020.

Britain’s largest bank HSBC is blowing up the financial hit from carving out its Asia business to water down pressure from its biggest shareholder to demerge, sources close to the matter said.

Chinese insurer Ping An claimed the high street lender selling off its highly profitable Asia arm would unlock $35bn (£29bn) in value for shareholders that have been starved of payouts, according to a source close to the firm.

In its latest set of results, HSBC argued bowing to Ping An’s – which owns over eight per cent of the bank – demands would raise its tax bill and knock its credit rating.

In a veiled pushback in its second quarter earnings report, Noel Quinn, HSBC’s chief, said the bank’s “strength as a well connected, global institution is the main reason our wholesale clients choose to bank with us”.

“We are determined to capitalise on the advantages our network gives us,” Quinn, 61, added.

Despite having a huge presence on British high...

A new virus, Langya, is suspected to have caused infections in 35 people in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces.

It’s related to Hendra and Nipah viruses, which cause disease in humans.

However, there’s much we don’t know about the new virus – known as LayV for short – including whether it spreads from human to human.

Therefore, City A.M. caught up with one of the world’s leading experts in this field, Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Monash University.

He has shared what we know so far, including how sick people are getting, where the virus came from and what we can learn from related viruses.

Swiss insurance company Zurich today posted its highest first-half profits since the financial crash of 2008 and its second highest profits ever.

The insurer said its business operating profits increased 25 per cent compared to last year to long-term highs of $3.393bn.

The uptick in Zurich’s profits, which saw it second best results ever, came on the back of a 32 per cent uptick in profits from the Swiss insurer’s property and casualty business.

The 32 per cent uptick, as a result of higher premiums and lower weather and natural catastrophe related claims, saw profits from Zurich’s property and casualty division jump to $2.055bn.

The higher profits were however partially offset by a $51m loss from Zurich’s hedge fund portfolio due to the “adverse financial markets”.

Profits from Zurich’s life insurance business also increased 13 per cent, to $903m, as a drop in Covid-19 claims in the insurer’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa business...

Investor M&G reported its profits had slumped by nearly half in the first six months of the year after it was rocked by “adverse market movements” and soaring inflation. 

Pre-tax profits at the Lodon-listed investment manager hit £182m at the end of June, down from £327m in the same period last year, as assets under management fell by £21.1bn to £348.9bn.

Total capital generation also plunged to £24m, down from £86m last year as a result of increasing yields and falling equity markets.

Bosses said they were encouraged by a boost in inflows however, with net inflows hitting £1.2bn, reversing £2bn in net outflows.

“This is an encouraging set of results and provides evidence that M&G is continuing to build momentum,” said John Foley, chief executive of the firm.

“Improved client flows underpinned a resilient operational and financial performance despite a period of volatility when many investors reduced their exposure to...

Higher gas prices, including in the summer when demand is supposed to be at its lowest, are a long-term trend argued asset manager Investec.

In its latest report on oil and gas prices, Investec described historically elevated gas markets – which peaked at £8 per therm in March and have averaged 230p for the year -as a “long term trend” which could persist beyond 2025.

Investec said: “We anticipate that if Russia continues to restrict gas supply then UK gas prices are likely to remain elevated. This is underlined by our forward curve, which remains elevated beyond 2025.”

The asset manager noted that the UK gas prices began to move higher last year.

Last summer prices were 50 per cent above the 10-year average – before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – driven upwards by rebounding demand and underperformance of renewables.

The lack of social mobility in the UK’s financial and professional services sector poses a major threat to Britain’s “competitiveness and productivity,” the head of the Law Society has warned.

The Law Society president’s warning comes after a new report from the City of London Socio-Economic Diversity Taskforce showed those from working class backgrounds are significantly underrepresented in the UK’s professional services industry – particularly at the most senior levels.

All in all, more than two-thirds (64 per cent) of senior leaders in the UK’s major law firms, accountnacy firms, and financial services companies come from professional family backgrounds, compared to just 37 per cent of the country’s workforce, the report says.

Meanwhile, just 21 per cent of senior professional services industry leaders come from families in which their highest earning parent worked in a manual job, compared to 39 per cent of the UK’s workforce.

More than...

Publicans have called on ministers to introduce an energy price rise cap for venues amid pleas that bill hikes threaten to “be a pub killer.”

The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) said the majority of its members were experiencing a minimum 300 per cent increase in energy costs, all while venues attempt to recover from the side effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to ministers, the trade body urged Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi and business minister Kwasi Kwarteng to issue grant support for pubs, as well as introduce a cap for businesses similar to the one for households.

It comes as pubs are facing heftier operational costs and staff shortages while punters are tightening their purse strings amid historic levels of inflation.

An avalanche of cost increases has left “many long-standing, successful pubs simply unviable,” according to the BII’s chief executive officer Steve Alton.

The trade body has also called for a full...

A new virus, Langya, is suspected to have caused infections in 35 people in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces.

It’s related to Hendra and Nipah viruses, which cause disease in humans.

However, there’s much we don’t know about the new virus – known as LayV for short – including whether it spreads from human to human.

Therefore, City A.M. caught up with one of the world’s leading experts in this field, Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Monash University.

He has shared what we know so far, including how sick people are getting, where the virus came from and what we can learn from related viruses.

The Government is running out of time to tackle rising household energy bills ahead of winter, warned Simon Oscroft, co-founder of So Energy.

In his view, the longer politicians failed to announce plans to ease the pain facing consumers, the fewer options they would have at their disposal.

He argued the energy sector was “at a state of emergency” and that the “Government needs to act.”

Oscroft told City A.M.: “I think that every day that goes past, the Government is narrowing its policy and the tools are which they are going to have to utilise are going to be blunter and blunter.”

The energy boss’ concerns follow multiple alarming forecasts of vast hikes in the price cap this winter.

Cornwall Insight has predicted the cap will rise to £3,582 per year on October 1 and peak at £4,426 per year in April, and does not expect prices to drop off until 2024.

There has also been an alarming forecast from Auxilione climbing to a vast...

The founder of a Cayman Islands headquartered fund, that bankrolled ‘no win, no fee’ lawsuits, has been jailed for 14 years for using millions in investors cash to finance his own extravagant spending habits.

Axiom Legal Financing Fund founder Timothy Schools was today sentenced to 14 years in prison at a hearing at Southwark Crown Court after being found guilty on five counts of fraud and money laundering.

The former lawyer used a network of offshore trusts and bank accounts to siphon off millions invested in his litigation fund to buy £262,543 worth of luxury cars, a £78,000 motor boat, and a £5m shooting and fishing estate in the Lake District.

The investment manager, who set up Axiom in 2009 with a view to financing ‘no win, no fee’ lawsuits, told investors their money would be paid out to a panel of high-quality law firms, and used to bankroll profitable legal cases.

Instead, the majority of the money was paid out to just three separate...

EUR/USD has been trading within a range over the course of the past three weeks, with the price spending much of this week rising back towards the confluence of trendline and 200 simple moving average (SMA) resistance. The wider bearish trend does bring expectations of another turn lower before too long, with this afternoons US consumer price index (CPI) reading bringing the potential for major dollar volatility today.The fact that we have trendline, SMA, and horizontal resistance up ahead does bring a heightened risk that the pair heads lower here. As such, a bearish short-term outlook holds unless we see the price push up through the $1.0294 swing high.Source: ProRealTime

Four?million Russians are set to lose their jobs due to the impacts of Western sanctions, according to new research from the Kyiv School of Economics.

The sanctions are set to see Russia’s economy contract by up to 9.5 per cent this year, the study shows.

High oil and gas prices have shielded Russia from the worst impacts of sanctions so far as the country’s economy has been buoyed up by its energy industry.?

However, Russia’s energy exports are set to decline in coming months, as Europe strengthens its oil and gas embargoes.

The drop in?Russia’s energy export revenues will in turn lead to widespread cuts in public spending, as funding is instead redirected towards bailing out Russia’s banks and bankrolling the country’s military.  

Russia is already selling its oil at discounted prices of $80 per barrel, the study says, as it notes the $35 per barrel discount has cost Russia $20bn in the past quarter alone.

The sanctions...

The next prime minister should have the “backbone” to secure a deal with the European Union to open up the free movement of labour, Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said this morning.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the first thing they should do to boost the British economy is prioritise a trade deal with the European Union – a good starting point for that would be to open up the free movement of labour between the UK and Europe once more.”

O’Leary, who said he accepted the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, added: “You have to accept that you’re not going to get elected by a very narrow 180,000 electorate of the Tory party membership if you advocate common-sense policies.

“But once you do become prime minister, you should have enough backbone to lead the UK economy forward and the starting point for that should be a free trade deal with the European Union.”

• 2 grouse

• 200g button mushrooms (washed)

• 8 shallots (peeled and chopped)

• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)

• 6 savoy cabbage leaves (blanched and stalks removed)

• 150g foie gras

• 100ml Madeira

• 250ml veal stock

• Salt and pepper

• 100ml olive oil

• 50g butter

• 3 egg yolks

• 100g mirepoix

• 25g carrot (finely chopped)

• 25g celery (finely chopped)

• 25g shallot (finely chopped)

• 25g leek (finely chopped)

HOUSE prices will soon start to “flatline” following years of double digit rises, a leading property association claims this morning.

Property values have continued to soar over the past two years in most regions of the UK – often defying predictions by economists who are convinced a crash is on the horizon.

The National Association of Property Buyers told City A.M. this morning that after months of looking “immune” to falling rates, house prices will soon start to reduce. 

Spokesman Jonathan Rolande said: “It won’t be long before we see house price growth slowing to perhaps 5 per cent in most areas.”

He added: “This is still high, but compared to retail inflation,  it is less than half. As the price of everything else rises, property will therefore gradually begin to look like better value than it does right now.”

Commenting on the way the market has performed in recent months, Rolande, the founder of House Buy Fast,...

A new virus, Langya, is suspected to have caused infections in 35 people in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces.

It’s related to Hendra and Nipah viruses, which cause disease in humans.

However, there’s much we don’t know about the new virus – known as LayV for short – including whether it spreads from human to human.

Therefore, City A.M. caught up with one of the world’s leading experts in this field, Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Monash University.

He has shared what we know so far, including how sick people are getting, where the virus came from and what we can learn from related viruses.

OUR great city works well because we Londoners muddle through together without too much friction. “Live and let live”’ has a claim to be the defining London motto. 

But there have been times where that harmony has shattered. I remember the shock of Tottenham and Croydon burning in August 2011 and of shops being boarded up all over London in 1981 as Brixton erupted. At those times London suddenly felt vulnerable, and society fractured. 

Many of the causes of similar civil unrest are developing again. The right actions now can reduce the chance of reaching boiling point in London.

Academics agree that the most common causes of civil unrest are economic hardship (especially rises in food and fuel prices) plus a sense of social or political injustice.  

Economic hardship is with us and getting worse. Food inflation has been at 9.8 per cent in recent months, energy prices have risen and have been predicted by consultancy...

Over a hundred thousand people will soon have added their name to a pledge to cancel their direct debits for gas and electricity on 1 October if the government fails to adequately address the crisis of sky rocketing energy bills.

The live tally of number of pledges can be viewed at dontpay.uk – currently at over 99,000 people.

In addition, over 31,000 people have signed up as activists in their local communities, and over 3,000 people have joined 150 Don’t Pay groups across the country.

“In just a few weeks, over 100,000 of us from across the country have come together to say we will refuse to be pushed into fuel poverty and we no longer want to pay for the profits of the energy companies,” a spokesperson for Don’t Pay told City A.M. this morning.

“We are building the biggest mass non-payment campaign since the Poll Tax and we are showing the powers that be that our collective power will force an end to this crisis.”

He aded:...

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies jumped on Wednesday following the announcement that US inflation has fallen to 8.5%, dropping for the first time since April 2022.

Year-on-year headline inflation in the US retreated from June’s 9.1%, which buoyed risk-on assets, including stocks and crypto, as it means the Federal Reserve, the world’s most influential central bank, has more scope not to hike interest rates so aggressively to fight rising prices. 

Bitcoin and Ethereum – the largest and second largest digital currencies by market cap – climbed 2% and 7% respectively, just after the inflation print was reported. 

However, there is still the issue of rising wages, which will continue to drive core inflation for the time being, but this can be expected to be largely shrugged off by crypto investors. 

They are likely to jump on this positive news – they’ve been waiting many months for this after all – and pile further in to...

The next prime minister should have the “backbone” to secure a deal with the European Union to open up the free movement of labour, Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary said this morning.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think the first thing they should do to boost the British economy is prioritise a trade deal with the European Union – a good starting point for that would be to open up the free movement of labour between the UK and Europe once more.”

O’Leary, who said he accepted the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum, added: “You have to accept that you’re not going to get elected by a very narrow 180,000 electorate of the Tory party membership if you advocate common-sense policies.

“But once you do become prime minister, you should have enough backbone to lead the UK economy forward and the starting point for that should be a free trade deal with the European Union.”

A new virus, Langya, is suspected to have caused infections in 35 people in China’s Shandong and Henan provinces.

It’s related to Hendra and Nipah viruses, which cause disease in humans.

However, there’s much we don’t know about the new virus – known as LayV for short – including whether it spreads from human to human.

Therefore, City A.M. caught up with one of the world’s leading experts in this field, Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases at Monash University.

He has shared what we know so far, including how sick people are getting, where the virus came from and what we can learn from related viruses.