Business news over the festive period.......

WIth 2 days to go until school starts again, I have to admit I have been pretty lazy in keeping up to date with what is happening in the business news. So, with nothing but Hole in the Wall to keep my occupied for half an hour, I thought I would see what has been making the news over the last couple of weeks.

Tiger Watch

AT&T have joined Gillette and Accenture in dropping Tiger Woods from their sponsorship. As well as these 3 companies, Tag Heuer and Gatorade have also reduced their use of Woods since news of his infidelity broke. A recent study by the University of California suggests the total economic damage for everyone involved could be up to $12 billion.

House prices continue to rise

House prices rose by 5.9% in 2009, making some recovery from the massive 15.9% fall of 2008. In December, the average cost of a home went up by 0.4% to £162,103, the 8th consecutive monthly rise. However, industry experts have warned that recovery in 2010 will be slow as the effect of increasing unemployment takes hold and whether cash buyers who had reentered the market when it was at a low are likely to continue to be significant in house buying market.

Christmas spending up

Nearly £500 million was spent on 23 December which enabled this years Christmas sales to outperform 2008. Overall, consumer spending was 2.4% higher this year according to Barclaycard. Even on Christmas Day, shopping continued as 700,000 transactions worth £24 million were made online. However, as in the story above, unemployment and other economic issues mean that consumer confidence is still low and it may be that the increased sales is simply people taking advantage of the 15% VAT rate before it goes back up to 17.5%.

Now, let's hope Hole in the Wall is finished......