More QE?
14 May 2012 [0 Comments | 3 views]
The Bank of England didn’t do much this month. The wise men who sit on its interest rate setting committee sat and cogitated, and then decided nothing was the best course. No change in interest rates, and no change in quantitative easing – or QE as those in a hurry call it.
Markets give thumbs up to George Osborne, but the economy stutters
14 May 2012 [0 Comments | 9 views]
As turmoil threatens to descend on the euro area, guess which country suddenly looks like a safe haven? Give up? Well, it’s the UK.
Real wages fall again
23 Apr 2012 [0 Comments | 1 views]
In the three month period ending in February, average wages including bonuses rose by just 1.1 per cent. During the same period inflation, as measured by the RPI index, was 3.7 per cent. And that seems like a pretty depressing set of statistics.
UK manufacturing flirts with record
1 Mar 2011 [0 Comments | 97 views]
Well, most of the economic news is bad, but not for manufacturers. In fact, today’s report from CIPS/Markit is the stuff dreams are made of. If a sad economist who dreams economics at night had a wonderful fantasy, then it would resemble the latest PMI for UK manufacturing. The headline index stayed at 61.5, equalling [...]
WTO Rule In Favour Of Airbus
1 Feb 2011 [1 Comment | 25 views]
Yesterday the WTO (World Trade Organisation) announced that it had ruled in favour of Airbus against Boeing receiving unfair government subsidies for its 787 Dreamliner. Over the past few decades Boeing has received about $5bn (£3.1bn) in indirect subsidies which according to Airbus cost it $45bn in sales. In response to the findings Boeing said [...]
UK retail sales tumble
24 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 5 views]
It was a bad, bad month for retail land in December. Sales at all retailers fell 0.8 per cent in December on the month before, and annual growth was a big fat nothing – or zero. Poor sales of fuel helped to distort the picture. It is not hard to see why. After all, when [...]
UK jobs market, the race heads down
20 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 32 views]
As you probably know, the UK jobs market is in something of a race at the moment. The public sector is losing jobs, the private sector is putting jobs on. The fortunes of the UK jobs market this year will depend on which of the two will be the greater. The latest data from the [...]
Globalisation: How can the UK compete?
18 Jan 2011 [1 Comment | 282 views]
We are taking a sideways look at the economy today. China is rising, or is that risen? India is following in its wake. By 2050, PwC reckons the total GDP of the so-called E7, that’s Brazil, Russia, India, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Turkey, will be half as much again greater than the total GDP of [...]
The real story behind Brits using credit cards to pay for mortgages
10 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 274 views]
And so it appears Brits are using their credit cards to pay for their mortgages. At least that[‘s what a survey from YouGov and commissioned by Shelter has found. Don’t do it, says Shelter. It’s right, but the question is, how can people stop? The YouGov survey polled 2,00 people and found 6 per cent [...]
Manufacturing booms, but services and construction pull us back
6 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 212 views]
It seems the UK’s recovery is a one-trick pony – with absolutely no field of ponies in sight. According to CIPS/Markit, manufacturing is booming, with the latest PMI hitting a 16-year high in December, and the index tracking employment in the sector hitting an all-time high. Alas, services and construction did not look so good, [...]
