Sunday newspaper round-up: Retailers, ECB, Floods

Hedge funds are sharpening their claws ahead of what they hope will be a raft of poor Christmas trading updates from several of the main High Street retailers next week. Their expectation is that a profit warning from Game Digital the day before Christmas Eve and another from Bonmarche, the womenswear retailer, will prove to have been just the tip of the iceberg for the sector. Next, John Lewis and Marks &Spencer were set to release trading updates next week, followed by the likes of Associated British Foods the following week, wrote The Times.

More asset purchases from the European Central Bank in 2016 were not a foregone conclusion, the results of a poll among economists carried out by the Financial Times revealed. Just under half of those questioned expected no further action from the ECB, despite Mario Draghi's claims that more stimulus was still possible - should it be needed. Even those who did expect action stressed that no radical reshaping of the ECB's current policy stance was likely, the FT reported.

UK insurers would be able to deal with the cost of floods in the North of England, consultancy PwC said, but according to economists the cost in terms of the rate of economic growth might rise to two tenths of a percentage point. Indeed, a spokesman for the ABI believed it was too early to estimate the costs. The estimates came among rare 'danger to life' warnings, although one economist was sanguine that follow-up repair work would help to mitigate the damage to the economy, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

Fiscal tightening by the Chancellor could kick the hopes of some analysts that the Monetary Policy Committee would raise rates towards mid-2016 into the long grass, if they weighed on consumption and economic growth. Deutsche Bank, for one, expected just that to happen, pushing the pound lower to 1.27 versus the US dollar in 2016 and 1.15 in 2017, should the US central bank raise rates while the Bank of England stayed put on interest rates. Risks linked to the referendum on EU membership could also make financing the UK's current account deficit "difficult", a strategist at the German broker said, according to the Sunday Telegraph.

House price growth in Britain was set to slow a tad in 2016 and gains would be led by areas outside of London, according to property experts. Prices were expected to rise at an 8% clip, after clocking in at 10% for 2015. Nevertheless, most commentators believed the largest increases would take place outside of London as people moved their money out of London, benefiting the likes of Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool, the Guardian on Sunday said.

A group of 250 landlords was set to launch a court challenge against tax changes for buy-to-let which were set to come into force in 2017. Cherie Blair's firm, Omnia Strategy, advised the group that those modifications might breach human rights legislation and European law. “Not only is this tax grab unfair, undemocratic and underhanded, but we believe that it could also be unlawful,” said Steve Bolton, who had teamed up with the popular landlord websites Property Tribes and Property 118, according to the Guardian on Sunday.

Clydesdale Bank chief David Duffy slammed talk that promises of rapid growth in coming years are not realistic or over-ambitious. The lender - which is preparing to float - had said it wanted to grow its mortgage and retail lending by 50% and loans to small businesses by 25% over the coming five years. Analysts replied that it would struggle to compete with the large banks and be forced to slash its prices. However, in remarks to the Sunday Telegraph Duffy said it was "lazy commentary by people" and pointed to his bank's ability to grow at such rates over the past three years.