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 [...]
US jobs: the real challenge
10 Jan 2011 [0 Comments | 149 views]
The latest jobs report from across the pond was out on Friday, and it was a disappointment. Alas, it’s beginning to look as if America’s long-awaited jobs recovery is still some way off. In all, December saw a 103,000 gain on payroll employment, compared to 297,000 the month before. It was a blow, because the [...]
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 [...]
US and China circle each other like sharks preparing to strike
7 Dec 2010 [3 Comments | 1,066 views]
The burgeoning row between China and the US is like a Great White shark circling off the coast, and the authorities are just about as inept as the mayor of Amity Island who tried to reassure everyone that the waters were safe. Steven Spielberg may have shown remarkable prescience with his famous 1975 film, apparently [...]
Fed bails out British banks, but world’s banks bail out US
2 Dec 2010 [0 Comments | 425 views]
This one will ruffle a few feathers. It seems that when the Fed dug deep back in September 2008 and dished out emergency loans, a Swiss and a British bank were the two main beneficiaries. Imagine that. The US taxpayer is bailing out foreign banks. Except he, or is that she, is doing no such [...]
US inflation heads for negative territory as impotent Fed blows bubble
18 Nov 2010 [2 Comments | 457 views]
Annual US core inflation, that’s headline inflation minus food and energy costs, fell to an all-time low in October. It seems US deflation is just a matter of months away. And yet the Fed seems impotent. It prints dollars as if they were going out of fashion, but still US prices plummet. Instead, the Fed [...]
Buy: equities, gold, bonds and oil soar; does this mean bye-bye common sense?
5 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 578 views]
Markets went on a spending spree yesterday, setting all-time highs and post-recession highs for a range of assets, including shares, oil and gold. Some of the movements were contradictory, with assets that normally do well in times of peril rising, as well as feel-good securities. But the headline really relates to the fact that major [...]
Will quantitative easing fuel the next bubble?
3 Nov 2010 [2 Comments | 1,165 views]
As a result of the recent mid terms, Republicans now dominate the US House of Representatives, meaning any attempt by Barack Obama to try and get approval for further fiscal stimulus will be vetoed. That leaves quantitative easing (QE) as the only game left in town. More QE will probably follow. The consequence of this [...]
The US and UK economy may be growing, but households are suffering a nasty hit
3 Nov 2010 [0 Comments | 480 views]
In the US, personal incomes fell in September, and household disposable income fell even further. What with the UK’s households so stretched, it seems we are seeing a disconnect between what the economy is doing, and what’s happening at the sharp end, consumer affordability. In the UK, wage inflation is lagging behind consumer inflation. In [...]
Spending review boost: Businesses to take up slack as government cuts spending, says ITEM Club
18 Oct 2010 [0 Comments | 453 views]
And we wait with baited breath for Wednesday, as George Osborne dots the i’s, crosses the t’s, and gets out his blotting paper to make sure the ink is dry on his spending review. But the big question is, will business take up the slack? As the government cuts and public sector job losses mount, [...]
