2011: a year when business and consumer will diverge
5 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 277 views]
Analysts have gone all bullish. A growing number of forecasters are predicting that this year the FTSE 100 will at last pass the all-time record it set on 30 December 1999. Economists are ripping up their growth predictions from a few months ago, and are making bold claims. And yet there is one rather uncomfortable [...]
Economic chestnuts on an open fire
24 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 398 views]
So this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, and a new one just begun. Well, one thing we can say without fear of contradiction: the global economy is one year older, too, but what has it done? The Sudoko puzzle Is China changing? Wages, the rich, and why super rich is [...]
Snow claims victim
22 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 272 views]
Already a retailer has issued a profits warning and has blamed the snow. Meanwhile, the Federation of Small Businesses has called for the government to give a helping hand to businesses that are reeling thanks to the bad weather. Alexon, the women’s fashion group that includes the Ann Harvey, Eastex and Kaliko brands, has said [...]
Interest rate warning would be scary, if it was right
21 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 599 views]
The CBI has predicted that interest rates will rise to 2.75 per cent by the final quarter of 2012. The Telegraph has put the CBI projection together with figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) and worked out that around three million householders will run into difficulty paying their mortgages if the CBI is [...]
MPC dove, Adam Posen, calls for humility, admits to not being sure, and predicts inflation will fall
17 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 407 views]
Economists, huh? Central bankers took credit for that period of seemingly never-ending growth – the period known as NICE, and then when things went pear- shaped they said: “Well it wasn’t my fault.” Alan Greenspan was the worst. The maestro happily took plaudits for keeping inflation down and growth up, but where was his humility [...]
Is High Street set to see best Christmas in eight years?
16 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 263 views]
We know what you are thinking, retail sales are booming and pigs are flying. But numbers are numbers, and they are looking good. The last two days have seen the release of the CBI distributive trades survey, and official data on retail sales from the ONS. The ONS data wasn’t half bad at all. The [...]
Unemployment and inflation rise, and we are becoming worse off
15 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 451 views]
Well, the last three days have seen something of an unholy trinity. The news on inflation was bad. The news on employment was even worse, But, to paraphrase Douglas Adams, then things went into something of a decline, and the news on household earnings was downright dire. First off the block was inflation. Once again [...]
Exports take up the charge – at last
9 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 254 views]
What was that? Would you Adam and Eve it, it seems that at last exports have done what they threatened to do over a year ago, and have begun to lead the UK economic recovery. According to ONS data out this morning, exports jumped by 3 per cent in October on the month before. And [...]
Baby boomers win pension rebellion
9 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 458 views]
It wasn’t much of a rebellion. The government mooted this idea for letting companies switch the income payments on their pensions so that they rise in tandem with the CPI inflation index rather than the RPI index. We covered it here yesterday, see: The rebellion of the baby boomers Of course it raised a furore. [...]
Average wage hits £499 a week
9 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 301 views]
So how are you doing? Do you enjoy an average income, or better, or worse? New data out this morning tells all. As at April this year, the median weekly pay for full-time employees in the UK was £499. That was 2.1 per cent up on the year before (although RPI inflation was 5.3 per [...]
