After a two-day policy board meeting, the Bank of Japan (BoJ) has elected to keep interest rates at 0.1%.
Interest rates in the world’s second largest economy have been at the low level since December 2008 in a bid to fight off deflation.
Deflation remains a problem for the economy. Japanese core consumer prices fell 1.2% in [...]
The Bank of Japan’s closely watched quarterly Tankan survey has revealed an improvement in business confidence in Japan.
The Tankan index revealed business confidence among major manufacturers had picked up for the fourth consecutive quarter, rising to -14 in March from -25 in December and significantly higher than the record low of -58 seen this [...]
Figures published by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) have revealed a sharp fall in the deficit of the UK’s defined benefit pension schemes.
According to the PPF, the deficit was trimmed to £15.1 billion at the end of February from £51.9 billion at the end of January.
It is also a significant improvement on February 2009 when [...]
The world’s largest advertising group WPP has seen an improvement in profits after a ‘brutal’ 2009.
The advertising giant said pre-tax profits had tumbled by 16% year-on-year to £812 million. However, this was better than the £780 million forecast.
Meanwhile, revenue grew by 16% to £8.7 billion, while like-for-like sales fell 8%.
The company was hit severely [...]
A report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG has revealed February was the seventh consecutive month in which permanent places rose.
According to the report, more full-time jobs were added in February than at any time since July 2007.
The index, which is produced by Markit for the REC and KPMG, grew from 60.5 [...]
Figures released by the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) revealed an improvement in the UK’s 7,400 defined benefit (DB) schemes in December, with the collective deficit falling to £33 billion in December from £92.5 billion the previous month.
The PPF said not only is this is an improvement on the month, it is significantly better than a [...]