UK inflation increased to 3.4% in the 12 months to December 2025, based on the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) measure from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The increase in price changes was unexpected and the first rise in five months as price rises slowed in the second half of 2025. Among the chief drivers of the […]
Latest News from Radcliffe Cooper
This section is regularly updated to bring you news of important developments in financial planning matters.
A confluence of factors shows signs of increasing the demand for UK short-dated gilts in retail investor portfolios. Here’s what you need to know. The UK Government issues a range of types of bonds to investors. These can, and do, include anywhere from one to 50-year bonds, called ‘gilts’ in the UK context. When interest rates are low, […]
December Economic Background: Central banks take a cautious step towards easing as growth momentum cools AI enthusiasm continues to drive markets, but valuation concerns refuse to fade Rare earth tensions between the US and China ease temporarily, but strategic risks remain Click here to read more
Introduction As 2025 comes to a close we can take breath and reflect on how turbulence, or volatility as we often refer to it, does not necessarily mean losing money. In 2024 the talk was all about monetary normalisation, as central bank’s sought to bring inflation under control and interest rates back down. In 2025 […]
Weak GDP data is raising expectations of interest rate cuts that could ease borrowing costs but squeeze savers as the economy loses momentum.The UK economy stalled in the three months to September, growing by just 0.1% compared with the previous quarter. Office for National Statistics (ONS) data show real gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.1% […]
In the US, the first Monday after the end of the regular NFL season is known as Black Monday, due to the high number of coaches who get the chop on that day. Black Monday this year was 5th January. In the Premier League, Manchester United and Chelsea have also hit the headlines by sacking […]
You would be forgiven for wondering why Chancellor Rachel Reeves is frantically trying to ramp up investment into UK businesses, after a year in which the FTSE 100 outperformed the equivalent US and European indices. However, the long term trend, as shown by Morningstar, shows the extent of the problem. Since the start of 2023, there […]
November Economic Background: Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced several measures to increase government revenue in Autumn budget, including freezing tax thresholds, cutting ISA allowances, and capping salary sacrifice. With the US government shutdown obscuring key economic data, investor caution rises ahead of the Federal Reserve’s upcoming rate decision. AI anxiety builds amid an accelerating wave of […]
Introduction The Autumn Statement on 26th November dominated UK headlines. In the US the longest government shutdown in history came to an end, and China will hope that the trade war ceasefire will start to show improving results in their end of year economic performance. UK After months of speculation, which the Chancellor and the […]
The Government has announced in its 2025 Budget a key change to pension salary sacrifice arrangements that could alter how many workers save for retirement. Under the new rules the Government will cap National Insurance (NI) relief, on pension contributions made through salary sacrifice, at £2,000 per year from 2029 onwards. Any pension contributions made via salary […]