A Greek Newspaper has claimed that a deal has been proposed by European Commission President Juncker that would break the deadlock in negotiations. The commission refused to confirm the existence of any such arrangement but it is said to include more lenient budget surplus targets and allow VAT increases and a review of the country’s…
The Office for National Statistics said that the construction sector grew by 1.6% in March relative to the same month last year and output was 3.9% higher than in February. Private sector housing returned to growth after 5 consecutive months of contraction. Gareth Hird from consultantcy McBains Cooper commented, “today’s figures represent encouraging news. However,…
It would appear that the past few weeks have taught us many things in the worlds of politics and finance. One of the these is that the “chillax” approach to Government employed by David Cameron was enough to not only keep him in power, but actually to increase the margin of victory. Indeed, it seems…
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has said that a lack of houses coming on to the market is driving the continued increase in prices, as demand from buyers remains unchanged while the number of new instructions for sale decreased for the eighth time in 9 months. RICS Chief Economist Simon Rubinsohn commented that “it…
Unemployment in the UK hit a 7 year low after new figures from the Office for National Statistics showed 1.83 million people were out of work at the end of March. Average pay also rose by 1.9% relative to the same period of the prior year, meaning that real wage growth is at its fastest…
One of the most boring realities observed in the financial world is the tendency for reversion. When the price of an asset explodes, it later tends to shrink; when central banks cut their key interest rates, they later tend to hike them; when banks advance too much credit, they later tend to shrink it. The…
Fresh data from the Office for National Statistics has shown that UK industrial output grew at its fastest rate for 6 months in March, rising by 0.5% from March. Manufacturing output also rose by 0.4% in March and February’s growth was adjusted upwards to 0.5%. Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit, said that “the overall…
With the British economy now growing at an unspectacular but still decent pace, it is time to finally let it stand on its own. The support given by the Bank of England with near zero interest rates and asset purchases totalling £375 billion should be near an end, as the central bank is walking an…
In 2008 Warren Buffet made a big bet against hedge funds. He claimed that an investor would be better off following a passive investment strategy by dumping his savings into a low cost index tracker than by handing them to a hedge fund that would actively manage the money for an expensive “two and twenty”…
Here in Badger’s Holt, I’ve deliberately kept my head down during the UK election. I took the view that saying anything would probably get me shot for some form of disloyalty. Being slightly afraid of the potential results, we cautiously positioned to sell GBP and Gilts. While that might not look so smart on the…
