The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today revealed the UK’s trade deficit widened in May to £8.48 billion from a revised £7.6 billion in April.
The figures surprised economists who had expected the trade gap to narrow to £7.3 billion.
Meanwhile, the ONS said exports rose by 4.2% on a monthly basis to £25.4 billion, while imports were 5.7% higher on the month at £33.8 billion.
The deficit on trade in goods with EU countries widened to £3.4 billion in May from a deficit of £3.1 billion in April.
This interactive Nat Geo chart shows the distribution of income around the globe:
National Geographic, The World of Seven Billion
Find a need and fill it; its the basic building block of any real business.
11 Jul
Posted by: James Pease in: Financial Tips
The dog days of summer refer to the hot, lazy days of summer. The root of the phrase comes from Roman and even Greek roots dating back to the days of Socrates. The origin is astronomical in nature relating to the star Sirius of the constellation Canis Major and specifically to Sirius itself a.k.a The Dog Star.
History lesson over, lets get to the Festival.
Sit back and enjoy the following personal finance articles while sipping lemonade and enjoying these hot lazy dog days.
Thanks for reading 288th edition of the Festival of Frugality. Be sure to comment on the articles you love and share them with your social circles.
Done? Good, now take one last sip of your ice-cold lemonade, place your straw hat over your face, lean back, and kick your feet up to take a nice long dog days nap.
11 Jul
Posted by: Renetta Rust in: Financial Tips
Europes equities markets were lower again Tuesday on concerns that the debt crisis is spreading to Italy and on speculation that the European Central Bank will intervene to make sure a bond auction in Italy this week is successful.
The FTSE 100 was down 1.02 percent to 5,868.96 in London, while the FTSE 250 dropped 0.86 percent to 11,778, with declines coming even though Credit Suisse upgraded the nations shares from benchmark to overweight and UK consumer price inflation dropped to 4.2 percent in June from 4.5 percent in May.
Travel agents led declines on the 250, with Thomas Cook Group (LSE: TCG) down 28.4 percent as the worst performer on the index and in a mostly lower travel and leisure sector after it forecast lower profits as Britons decreased travel due at least partly to civil unrest in North Africa, while TUI Travel (LSE: TT) dropped 7.46 percent for the second-worst performance on the 250.
Chipmaker ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM) did worst on the 100 as it fell 4.94 percent after disappointing results from other chip-related companies.
British Sky Broadcasting Group was down 3.28 percent and was the worst performer in the media sector after the UK government referred News Corps (NAS: NWS) bid to the Competition Commission.
Fashion house Burberry Group (LSE: BRBY) was the best performer on the 100 as it added 1.63 percent, while consumer electronics retailer Dixons Retail (LSE: DXNS) gained 6.08 percent to lead advances on the 250 and in a mixed retail sector.
Banks were lower, except for an 0.76 percent gain for Royal Bank of Scotland Group (LSE: RBS), while most other sectors were mostly lower, although the food and beverage sector and homebuilders were mixed.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.48 percent to 1,092.31 while the IBEX fell 0.69 percent to 9,603.4, the Dax was 0.78 percent lower to 7,174.14 and the CAC-40 dropped 0.88 percent to 3,773.88.
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were lower on concerns that the debt crisis in Europe could spread and get worse, with analysts and investors particularly worried about Italy and Spain, and after legislators in the United States could not agree on deficit reductions.
The Nikkei 225 was down 1.43 percent to 9,925.92 in Tokyo, while the Topix index was 1.49 percent lower and the Mothers market dropped 1.3 percent to 477.61 after the Bank of Japan cut the nations growth forecast for the fiscal year ending next March from 0.6 percent in its previous estimate to 0.4 percent, blaming the forecast declines on the earthquake last March and its aftermath, while the Bank left interest rates at 0.1 percent.
Banks were lower, with Mizuho Financial Group (TYO: 8411) down 1.5 percent while Sumitomo Financial Group (TYO: 8316) was 2.1 percent lower and Mitsubishi UFJ (TYO: 8306), while traders and oil companies were lower on declines in oil prices.
A stronger yen sent exporters, including carmakers lower, as Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203) dropped 1.9 percent and Honda Motor (TYO: 7267) was down 2.5 percent, while consumer electronics manufacturer Sony (TYO: 6758) was 3 percent lower.
The Straits Times Index was down 1.28 percent to 3,077.36 in Singapore, Indias Sensex fell 1.65 percent to 18,411.6, the Shanghai Composite was 1.72 percent lower to 2,754.58, in Australia the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 1.79 percent to 4,563.5 and the SP/ASX200 was down 1.9 percent to 4,495.4, Taiwans Taiex fell 2.02 percent to 8,491.01, the Kospi was 2.2 percent lower to 2,109.73 in South Korea and Hong Kongs Hang Seng dropped 3.06 percent to 21,663.2.
New York equities markets were mixed at midday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.03 percent to 12,509.9 while the SP 500 had added 0.05 percent to 1,320.09, but the Nasdaq Composite was 0.35 percent lower to 2,792.71
Crude oil prices were mixed, with August contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude were $1.28 percent higher to $96.43 per barrel in midday trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange while Brent crude was recently reported 26 percent lower to $116.98 per barrel, with gains for WTI coming as the US dollar began to weaken but gains were limited by concerns about European debt.
The price of gold was up $4.90 to $1,554.10 per troy ounce on the worries about Europe, and copper was higher, but silver prices were lower.
Eric Fischer shows where people post geotagged photos to Flickr from and geotagged tweets to Twitter from.
Heres a zoomed in view of Europe:
And the United States:
This map of Manhattan shows where tourists flock.
: Flowing Data, Flickr and Twitter Mapped Together
Gods Word instructs us to give in secret. But why, is it some sort of holy law or does God have a greater purpose for instructing us to give secretly? Before sharing my thoughts lets take a look at what the Bible says:
The Bible seems clear on the matter but how should our giving manifest itself? And more practically, how does this affect a Christian? Lets break this passage down to better understand the how and why of giving in secret.
Giving your money back to the Lord is an act of worship and brings glory to the Lord. Its never about us. Some may whip out their massive checkbook or make sure people can see their wad of cash going into the offering bowl. God hates this and calls these types of acts dirty rags. By giving in secret, we avoid the temptation to show off to others and bring attention to ourselves.
Giving in secret is an unselfish act that puts all the attention on the Lord. Its