Britannia Radio

ECONOMIC  'Shorts'   4.3.09

TIMES
=Food prices surge 9% despite inflation fall
Cost of meat, fresh produce and tinned goods soars in February but 
weak sterling boosts demand for non-food items
=Mortgage rates rise to beat the Bank of England
High street banks raise rates on deals pegged to the base rate, ahead 
of an expected cut on Thursday

TELEGRAPH
=FTSE 100 rallies after sharp falls
The index gained more than 2pc in early trading [+1.6% at lunchtime] 
on hopes that China will unveil a fresh economic stimulus package
=Obama's honeyed words on trade may conceal a Smoot
The trade agenda of US President Barack Obama, released on March 2, 
appears to include more obstacles to free trade than incentives. [nb 
a "Smoot" apparently is a referen ce to "The infamous Smoot-Hawley 
trade tariffs of 1929 [which] grew out of the Great Depression" -cs]
=One in three Northern Rock customers in negative equity
='Gold is still vulnerable'
Only an ever-increasing volume of investor purchases could keep 
prices near $1000 an ounce.  Gold has longest losing streak since 
October

FINANCIAL TIMES
=Fresh stimulus expected in China
-.-Boost to existing Rmb:4,000bn plan
=Hopes rise for UK service sector
Britain's services sector, the single largest contributor to economic 
activity, appears to be faring better than its continental cousins, 
according to the PMI services index
=London needs to be a 'superbrand' to survive
A survey of business leaders' attitudes to London has found that more 
than half of them would consider emerging cities as places in which 
they would invest, work and liv

GUARDIAN
=Former RBS bosses 'could be sued' over Goodwin pension
Scepticism greets government bank boss's claim that deflects blame 
from Myners  [They'd be mad to try - they'd lose! -cs]

STANDARD
=Housing chief has £60,000 interest-free home loan
Whitehall's top mandarin for housing is receiving an interest-free 
home loan funded by the taxpayer.
Peter Housden, the £195,000-a-year Permanent Secretary at the 
Department for Communities and Local Government, gets the perk on his 
£1.4million home in Blackheath which he bought seven years ago for 
£620,000.

BBC ONLINE
=Troubled ITV cuts jobs and costs
ITV has announced it is cutting 600 jobs across its businesses, and 
plans to make other "significant" savings.
The announcement came as ITV reported a loss of £2.7bn for 2008 after 
a huge write-down in the value of its assets