Monday newspaper round-up: House prices, M&A slowdown, Strauss-Kahn

16th May 2011 06:30

A lack of new properties on the market has pushed the average house price in England and Wales up to its highest level in nearly three years. The property website Rightmove said that prices rose by 1.3% over the past month to deliver an average of £238,874 ? the highest level since June 2008. Prices are 0.7% higher than they were this time last year, according to the Times.The recent earthquake in Japan and the eurozone financial crisis have contributed to a sharp fall in merger and acquisitions activity at companies listed in the UK. The main market of the London Stock Exchange and the Aim growth market saw the completion of just 14 deals in the first quarter of the year, down 39% on the 23 deals sealed in the previous three months, and 61% lower than the 36 completed in the first quarter of 2010, according to a survey by the law firm Wedlake Bell, the Independent says.Talks on the Greek sovereign debt crisis and French presidential politics were both thrown into disarray after Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, was escorted off an aircraft in New York over the weekend to face sex charges. Late on Sunday night it was announced that the appearance would be delayed until Monday, the Financial Times reports.A committee of MPs will launch a blistering attack on the Government's energy policy today, calling it too complicated and saying that it is in disarray and has misled the public over the subsidy being given to the French nuclear power company EDF. Lambasting the flagship Electricity Market Reform of Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, the Energy Select Committee says: "The Government must go back to the drawing board and come up with a more straightforward and coherent set of plans to reform the electricity market," the Times reports.The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland has told senior colleagues that he will stay in the job for up to eight more years, scotching rumours that he could quit within 18 months. Stephen Hester - appointed in early 2009 to overhaul RBS after its near-collapse and part-nationalisation - has come under steady pressure from politicians and some elements of the media, largely over his own pay deal and the level of bonuses distributed to staff, according to the Financial Times.Disposable incomes have fallen by the highest levels since the Queen's Silver Jubilee 34 years ago and growth in consumer spending will remain subdued for another nine years, according to a stark new report on the economy. Real household disposable incomes are expected to fall by 0.1% this year after a 0.8% fall last year, according to Ernst & Young's Item Club, reports the Telegraph.Vodafone is deepening its relationship with American partner Verizon - raising hopes for a lavish windfall from their US mobile phone venture. The FTSE 100 giant, which declined to comment, is understood to be close to signing a deal that will see the two firms jointly sell mobile services to international companies, reports the Daily Mail.The London Stock Exchange is facing a rival for its proposed £4billion merger with its Toronto counterpart. Maple Group, a collection of Canadian pension funds and banks has made a £1.8billion cash and shares proposal for the TMX Group in an attempt to keep the owner of the Toronto stock exchange in the country, reports the Daily Express. ---RG