Including thoughts on UK GDP, “rocket and feather” pricing at the pumps, should the BoE follow the ECB, US bond market intervention, German defence spending, and the latest UK evidence on “second round” effects... Theme of the Week The reassuringly strong GDP data added to evidence that the UK economy is holding up better than … Continue reading Weekly wrap – Has the UK economy really “turned the corner”?
Tag: ECB
Why Labour shouldn’t try to claim credit for the FTSE’s record highs
A couple of weeks ago, the Chancellor was widely criticised for calling the FTSE 100’s climb past 10,000 a “vote of confidence in Britain’s economy”. As many commentators pointed out at the time (including myself), the FTSE 100 is dominated by large global companies, while the more domestically focused FTSE 250 has underperformed. I would … Continue reading Why Labour shouldn’t try to claim credit for the FTSE’s record highs
How could a bond market crisis unfold?
The yields on UK government bonds, commonly known as “gilts”, are now consistently the highest among the G7 group of advanced economies. Why is this, and why should the rest of us care? The numbers alone are disturbing. The cost of new government borrowing for ten years is now around 4.8% in the UK, compared … Continue reading How could a bond market crisis unfold?
The Government cannot take credit for the cuts in UK interest rates
The Bank of England’s decision to trim its key interest rate by another quarter point this week was widely expected, but there is still plenty to write about. Unfortunately, little of this is good news. For a start, why on earth is the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) still cutting rates when the Bank itself now … Continue reading The Government cannot take credit for the cuts in UK interest rates
Plain-speaking Economics 