Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
The government wants banks to "lend" more, the banks need to shrink their balance sheets. Are the two incompatible? Today's budget changed the "net lending targets" for RBS and Lloyds to "gross lending targets" instead. Is it just political semantics...
Friday, February 26th, 2010
Who read recent headlines and thought that the recovery from recession was greater than expected? Me too! When the ONS announced its growth revision upwards from 0.1% in Q4 '09 to 0.3% I thought, well its not much more, but what...
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010
The Bank of England's quarterly inflation forecast out today suggests an RPI peak over 3.5% in the next quarter, but then a rapid fall to below 1% in 12 month's time. What I found quite telling was its prediction of...
Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Maths and Economics show that "........if you lay 10,000 economists end to end ........they still cannot reach an accurate conclusion" (Sorry!). However even an old cynic like me listens when the Bank of England's own chief economist speaks because...
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
While the TIMES headline today asserts ‘BRITONS SEE GOOD TIMES AROUND THE CORNER’ with talks of signs of increased consumer spending, a potential bumper Christmas and an exit from recession, by contrast the Belfast Telegraph leads on the Ernst & Young...
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
UK factory orders rose at their fastest in almost six years and activity grew at its fastest pace for two years in October, according to the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS). The survey amongst members suggests the economy has...
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Are there "Green shoots" in the High St at last? Sales are growing at their fastest rate since the slump began, according to figures today from the CBI. 41% of retailers reported sales volumes for the year to October had...
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
No companies have yet taken part in its scheme to lend cash in return for commercial paper reports the Bank of England today. The "Secured Commercial Paper Facility" aims to channel money to firms by buying asset-backed commercial paper secured on companies’...
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
I have noticed over the last 2-3 months that the volume of savings delivered to clients in our Supply Audits has begun to increase again. A number of clients have also moved from reduced hours working back to full...