The US Federal Reserve (Fed) plans to “proceed cautiously” in slowing down asset purchases in an effort to calm market fears over the decision to taper its third round of quantitative easing, reports the Financial Times.
The Fed’s intentions were revealed in the minutes of its December meeting, published on Wednesday. In his press conference after the meeting, Ben Bernanke , the departing chairman, signalled that the Fed was likely to slow its purchases by $10bn (£6.07bn) at each meeting. The minutes show that this was intended to allay concerns over a quick exit, rather than signal that the Fed was in a hurry to end the QE3 programme.
UK economy gains momentum
Britain’s economic recovery is gathering momentum as demand for mortgages surges, banks become more willing to lend and companies scramble to hire staff, reports the Financial Times.
Strong data on Wednesday showed the economy was entering a virtuous circle. “The recovery is snowballing,” said Robert Wood, an economist at Berenberg. “Business confidence is booming, strong growth is back, unemployment is falling and inflation is down.”
Spring stake sale likely as Lloyds dusts off its details
Lloyds has started to prepare a prospectus for a sale of about £6bn of its taxpayer-owned stake to ordinary investors and City institutions in what could be one of the government’s most eye-catching measures in the Budget, reports The Times.
UK Financial Investments, which manages the government’s bank holdings, wrote to Lloyds before Christmas asking it to start work on a sales document that could set the stage for a substantial share offering after the bank’s results at the end of next month.
Grieving families to face spare-room benefit cut within three months
Families will be hit by the bedroom tax if a room remains unoccupied for just three months after the death of a family member, bereavement charities have warned, reports The Independent.
There have already been several cases of families in social housing told that rooms left “spare” after the death of a child or other family member will become subject to the controversial spare room subsidy.
People living in fracking areas set to get more compensation
People living close to where shale gas is extracted stand to get more compensation as the government tries to quell local resistance to “fracking”, reports The Independent.
Large parts of Britain are thought to contain huge reservoirs of shale, and the proposed move follows growing interest in fracking among energy firms.
