Forcing their hand
20 Apr 2023There was very little action yesterday. Primarily the Pound Index repaired higher while US yields halted their rise...
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Time to woo the voters
19 Apr 2023PM Rishi Sunak is laying on a charm offensive for business leaders in direct contrast to his predecessor Boris Johnson...
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Labour market tightens
18 Apr 2023The Office for National Statistics revealed on Tuesday that average earnings in the UK, excluding bonuses, increased by 6.6% in the three months...
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Stop and start
17 Apr 2023The Bank of England may be well positioned to take a pause in its interest rate hiking cycle in the May meeting...
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Equities predict pause
14 Apr 2023Slowing Russian oil exports coupled with surging Chinese imports are adding to signs of a tightening global market as oil steadies around...
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Still afloat
13 Apr 2023Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey hinted at a potential increase in deposit insurance which is currently set at £85k and rejected ideas that in practice....
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Improvement on the horizon
12 Apr 2023Not only is the UK set to contract 0.3% this year, the IMF commented that they are to miss both of their fiscal objectives: a falling public debt burden and borrowing below 3% of GDP...
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Buffet backs Japan
11 Apr 2023The NHS is preparing for a new four-day strike, this time by its junior doctors, who are demanding more pay and have timed the action so as to cause as much disruption as possible after the Easter bank holiday weekend....
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The inevitable
06 Apr 2023Halifax Home Price Index recorded a 0.8% increase in house prices for the past month, which is attributed to easing mortgage costs. This is in contrast to the Nationwide reading...
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Keeping ‘on message’
05 Apr 2023Senior Economist, Huw Pill, reinforced the existing message from the MPC: Rates are likely to go higher to combat inflation...
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Just in time
04 Apr 2023Concerns over dampened economic growth in China resulted in a cautious Asian trading session today with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index experiencing a selloff in technology stocks...
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Tensions rise
03 Apr 2023OPEC+ decided to cut oil output by one million barrels a day over the weekend, and with supply already looking tight for the rest of this year, analysts expect the pressure to drive higher prices will continue...
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Stable footing
31 Mar 2023Nationwide estimates that the average home price in the UK has fallen 3.1% in the last year as rising interest rates and a squeeze in the cost of living put people off getting on the property ladder...
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Treading water
30 Mar 2023The recent bank failures look set to create cost rises for the largest institutions, with officials set to assess the industry in May...
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Strike pays off
29 Mar 2023Health insiders claim that UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will allocate £3bn to the NHS to fund a pay deal that includes two one-off payments as well as a five percent pay increase for the 2023/24 financial year for health workers...
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Mixed picture
28 Mar 2023Annual food inflation has accelerated to 15%, which is the highest level since 2005...
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Hanging on
27 Mar 2023Neel Kashkari warned that if current bank pressures persist and credit availability continues to dry up, then the economy could more than likely be dragged into a recession...
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Steady hand
24 Mar 2023Optimism about the outlook for the UK economy has improved in recent months. Still, pessimism around the state of personal finances for the rest of the year appears to be persisting...
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The sensible middle road
23 Mar 2023The Fed's FOMC has voted to hike interest rates by 0.25% despite the failure of SVB and the near collapse of a couple of similar banks...
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Throw toys out of the pram
22 Mar 2023Business leaders, markets and most UK and EU politicians have approved the compromise, but the extreme right seems dead set against any deal where...
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Chopping block
21 Mar 2023The circa 30,000 staff currently under the employ of Credit Suisse are unsurprisingly questioning their job security after being taken over by fierce rivals UBS over the weekend...
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Delicate situation
20 Mar 2023The Bank of England will meet this Thursday to deliver its next interest rate decision...
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Half baked
17 Mar 2023Yesterday, the big news was the hawkish 0.5% hike by the European Central Bank, which many had argued would take a more conservative tack in the face of the SVB failure and dreaded contagion...
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Bank on it
16 Mar 2023UK GDP is only expected to contract by 0.2% this year versus a prior forecast of a 1.4% decline, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility...
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A little more cautiously now
15 Mar 2023Yesterday, Dollar depreciation halted, and US Treasury yields rebounded – after plunging 1% over three days...
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Ripple effect
14 Mar 2023Despite US President Joe Biden's promises to protect depositors in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's turmoil, investors were not convinced...
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Readjusting expectations
13 Mar 2023Following financial strain in the US regional banking sector in the last week, Goldman Sachs now expects the Federal Reserve to take a pause at its next meeting this month...
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Fighting back
10 Mar 2023UK GDP came in stronger than expected for the month of January at a 0.3% gain versus analyst expectations of 0.1%...
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Readjusting
09 Mar 2023Very strong labour data out for the US has helped the Fed take a strong inflation-fighting stance and puts pressure on other central bankers...
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Cold shoulder
08 Mar 2023Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, changed his tune during his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee yesterday...
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Mixed signals
07 Mar 2023There appears to be some newfound strength in the housing market, with gains in the previous two months of this year...
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Setting the bar low
06 Mar 2023The growth target, which is the country's lowest target for over 30 years, is even lower than last year's 5.5 percent target, which was set as Chinese economic output was being hammered by strict zero-Covid policies...
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Working it out
03 Mar 2023Core inflation remains elevated in the Eurozone, which rose 5.6% YoY in February as policymakers anticipate a more drawn-out peak requiring a great number of hikes...
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London lag
02 Mar 2023London's productivity – measured as the value of output per hour worked – lagged behind other major hubs, including Paris, Brussels, and New York...
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Facing consequences
01 Mar 2023Overnight, we received a real surprise in Chinese Purchasing Manager Index data which showed a surge towards improved conditions and expansion...
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Crawling over the line
28 Feb 2023A further 50 basis-point hike is priced in for the ECB's March meeting, with markets predicting an additional 75 basis points of moves over the summer...
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Closing in
27 Feb 2023The Dollar is down marginally in early trading while the Pound gains on a trade-weighted basis...
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Mixed bag
24 Feb 2023Optimism is on the rise in the UK as inflation begins to abate and energy costs fall...
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Absolutely scathing
23 Feb 2023The report details a decade of mismanagement and chronic austerity that has left virtually every area of public service facing a critical shortage of competent staff...
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The latest chapter
22 Feb 2023The windfall £30bn improvement in government finances has injected some flexibility into the NHS pay rise dispute...
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