UK unemployment rate falls to 5.2%, lowest in nearly 10 years

Generali

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Last man standing approach? Akin to Saudi Arabia with oil. With low cost ore production in Australia. Keep the squeeze on those competitors with higher production costs.

You didn't mention Shell, BP or HSBC either. All potentially may have difficulty in maintaining dividends.

Why HSBC do you think?

Thrugelmir

Generali wrote: »

Why HSBC do you think?

Combination of factors.

• Increasing UK bank levy
• Increasing (overhead) cost of meeting regulatory compliance requirements.
• Falling revenue, risk of bad debt in Asia, selling off of businesses. (i.e. the business is contracting)
• Higher capital requirements still to be met ( retain profit rather than distribute as dividend).

Jonbvn

Generali wrote: »

Rates rising is great news. The people that have the greatest access to economic data think that the economy is doing well and have acted accordingly.

I wish I could trust them as much as you. Must be getting cynical in my old age

mwpt

tincans6 wrote: »

Tobacco companies are a strange one - haven't held any for years and missed out on massive capital growth and better than average income stream. They continue to confound me & I suspect could do for another decade.

I'm a bit red faced to admit I hold shares in a couple of tobacco companies. They've been very good earners for me. I now look forward to invective of "how can you criticise BTL"...

I'm going to sell out I think. For a start I've been divesting of shares over the last six months into cash. I have held on to a few names though, of which BATS and IMT are two, just because the dividends were good. So my reasoning for tobacco companies:

- In times of recession, cigarette use has not gone significantly down. In fact, some think it goes up due to more stress related smoking.

- Smoking is still incredibly popular in Asia. This may not last though.

- Tobacco farming scales well. The infrastructure is in place. They can just as easily scale back when needed without affecting profit margins.

Generali wrote: »

I don't think it's possible to hold cigarette companies from a moral POV, frankly.

Surely anyone invested in any FTSE tracker is implicitly holding tobacco company shares? Most people don't think much about that.

Sorry, this isn't the investment board. As I said, I have a gut feel, nothing more, that tobacco stocks may not perform as well soon and I'm thinking of selling out. I'm curious why you feel people are mad to hold the shares?

Generali

mwpt wrote: »

Surely anyone invested in any FTSE tracker is implicitly holding tobacco company shares? Most people don't think much about that.

Correct. One of many hats I wear is as an analyst for a large ethical investment fund. One of my pet arguments is that there is no morally neutral investment. If you buy a MSCI Emerging Markets tracker you are making a positive choice. That choice includes holding companies that enslave children and kill people that disagree with the way the company is run.

I think, backed up with evidence increasingly, that ethical investments outperform the market as a whole as a rule. I suspect that the reason is that well run companies tend to look after the wider world around them.

cells

unemployment now 4.9%

Long term unemployment (12months or more) closer to 1%

cells

The employment rate reached a record high of 74.5%, with 31.8 million people in work in the three months to June - 172,000 more than the previous quarter.

Herzlos

Do zero-hours count as employed?

Are they any figures on FTE positions?

I mean, are we seeing more employment, or just less people classed as "unemployed"?

Thrugelmir

There's also those off the unemployed register that are seeking employment.

kinger101

Herzlos wrote: »

Do zero-hours count as employed?

Are they any figures on FTE positions?

I mean, are we seeing more employment, or just less people classed as "unemployed"?

A breakdown is here;

http://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/uklabourmarket/latest