Proactive Investors -
- Blue chips fall 12 points to 7,898
- Gold reached new all-time high
- Bitcoin gains against dollar
Bitcoin gains against dollar
Digital gold, aka bitcoin (BTC), is also up today, with the BTC/USD pair adding 1.1% in early exchanges.
It marks the third green candlestick in a row for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, though unlike physical gold, it is off its all-time high seen in mid-March.
At the time of writing, bitcoin was swapping for $70,161, or around half a percentage point higher week on week.
Back to stocks, the FTSE 100 is currently down 12 points to 7,898, adding to last Friday’s steep losses.
Rents through the roof
The Resolution Foundation has allayed private landlords of blame for rising rent prices, instead pointing the finger at earnings growth and “post-pandemic readjustment”.
A report titled ‘Through the Roof’ showed that private rent prices have risen by 15% since January 2022 and are rising at their fastest pace on record.
Pushing back against “popular theories about the rise”, the foundation suggest that the private rental sector (PRS) has seen only a modest decrease in size, suggesting that landlords leaving the market en masse are not driving up rents significantly.
Rising costs for Buy-to-Let mortgages have been suggested as a factor for the rent hikes, but this doesn't fully explain the trend as 38% of landlords have no debt, the report said.
The report stated: “Some have been keen to pin the blame for recent rent rises on the rising costs of servicing Buy-to-Let mortgages, which landlords have passed on to tenants.
“Many landlords will have wanted to recoup those higher costs (although it should be noted that 38 per cent of landlords hold no debt), but it’s just not the case that the UK’s landlords can unilaterally set prices: although there are clear power imbalances in landlord-tenant relationships, the ability of landlords as a whole to increase prices is constrained by the wider rental market.
“If this weren’t the case, then landlords would have been increasing rents long before the recent rise in interest rates.”
Gold hits new record high
Gold prices have hit a fresh all-time high of $2,350 an ounce after swinging $27 higher during Monday’s Asia trading window.
Analysts have pointed to high central bank purchasing as a key driver.
“Touching on a theme we introduced last week, at a stretch one could question whether the dollar's failure to advance has something to do with de-dollarisation trends,” said UBS in a Monday research note.
“We note that gold is still pushing ahead strongly, and recent data shows that the People's Bank of China has been a consistent buyer of gold.
Traders are also likely to be turning to gold as a safe haven amid ongoing Middle East conflict.
Santander reportedly quitting Lending Standards Body
Banco Santander (BME:SAN) is quitting the Lending Standards Body according to a Sky News report.
The UK’s fifth-largest lender cited confusion with other regulatory standards, chiefly the Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty and new fraud reimbursement rules.
These new regulations "supersede the existing voluntary industry standards that are set out in the current LSB codes", Santander is reported to have said. "This inevitably leads to duplicative regulation and can create confusion among staff and customers about which standards apply."
The LSB is a self-regulating body established to promote fair and transparent banking practices among its members, focusing on improving customer outcomes in the UK banking and financial services sector.
It sets the standards for the industry through its Lending Code, which provides guidelines on responsible lending and borrowing.
It was created in 2009 in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis.