Bloomberg UK lenders approved more mortgages in 2020 than in any year since before the financial crisis, as house hunters sought to take advantage of a temporary tax cut. The stamp duty holiday, which allows buyers to save as much as 15,000 pounds propelled the housing market into high gear even as the coronavirus crisis sent the wider economy into ...

Bloomberg US consumer sentiment edged lower in late January, adding to signs that consumers remain subdued about prospects for the economic recovery as the pandemic wears on. The University of Michigan’s final sentiment index falls to 79 from a preliminary reading of 79.2 earlier in the month and 80.7 in December, data showed. The figure fell below the 79.4 median ...

Bloomberg Italian manufacturing is picking up at the fastest pace in nearly three years, a bright spot in an economy that probably shrank close to 10% during the 2020 pandemic. Factories, mostly located in the country’s north, saw a sustained upturn in output in January, with orders expanding at a solid pace thanks to demand from Europe and North America, ...