Deficit hope
Tax take leap
Chancellor George Osborne will have enjoyed figures out this week that suggest his chances of meeting ambitious targets for deficit reduction are improving. If April's tax take from income and corporation tax and VAT receipts is an indicator of things to come then the improvement in the UK's economy may be filtering through. During the month, the VAT tax take totalled £10.6bn, its highest since records began in 2007 and corporation tax also surged. This contributed to a net borrowing figure of £6.8bn last month, down £2.5bn on last year and the best monthly showing since 2008.
Time for a deal
Cable combination
The telecommunications sector has been awash with merger and acquisitions activity in recent months and now there is another potential megadeal in the offing that could reshape the US cable landscape. Charter Communications has agreed a deal with rival Time Warner Cable which would see the second and third-biggest US cable companies merge in a combination that values the latter at $78.7bn. At the same time, Charter is buying smaller rival Bright House Networks for $10.4bn. But whether the Federal Communications Commission will allow the deal remains to be seen, given its recent role in scuppering Time Warner Cable's proposed tie-up with market leader Comcast.
Unease grows
Periphery panic?
After years of worry about the economic health of the southern periphery of the European Union, new political concerns are starting to creep in. Notwithstanding the ongoing concerns about Greece as it staggers ever closer to the point of no return in its debt negotiations with the EU and IMF, growing anti-austerity and populist movements in Spain and Portugal are adding a new dimension to concerns about the potential fracture of the eurozone project. The ruling Popular Party in Spain failed to live up to its name as the Podemos anti-austerity party and the centre right Citizens party took significant chunks of the vote in local elections and set themselves up for an assault in the general election later this year. An autumn parliamentary election in Portugal is also expected to see a shift in voter support towards anti-austerity, with a host of smaller parties vying to pick up enough votes to be a king maker in a coalition.
Luxury leap
Top end revived
Pre-election fears of a mansion tax and other interventionist moves by a potential Labour-led government prompted a hiatus in the market for high-end homes worth £2m-plus, but the pressure valve appears to have been released. Data suggests that the number of homes worth £2m or more on the market more than doubled in the two weeks after the election, with more expected to be listed in the next few weeks as glossy brochures are printed up. Meanwhile, asking prices in London are said to have surged by 17 per cent in the short period since the election.
Spend, spend, spend
Consumer surge
The fall in inflation, improving economic prospects and a hint at better weather prompted UK consumers to dip into their collective pockets last month. A Confederation of British Industry survey suggests that confidence among retailers is soaring, with retail sales and orders beating expectations after their strongest start to a year since 2007. This backs up British Retail Consortium figures from earlier this month which showed April's total retail sales came in 4.7 per cent ahead of the same period a year earlier. Meanwhile, other data shows that consumer confidence has risen for the fifth successive quarter and is now at its highest since 2006.
Laying down the law
Queen's speech
The rather unexpected sight of an unfettered Conservative-penned Queen's speech at the opening of parliament this week gave a better indication of the priorities of the government, top of which appears to be getting a referendum on the UK's membership of the EU off the ground, sooner rather than later. Other key proposed laws include a five-year 'tax lock', meaning income tax, VAT and national insurance cannot be raised, the extension of 'right to buy' to those living in housing association properties and further devolution for Scotland.
