Canadian building permits plummet more than expected in July – the first fall in half a year August 7, 2013 Permits for the construction of new buildings in Canada fell by a greater than expected 10.3 per cent in June – the first decrease in six months. Analysts had expected a slightly less drastic decline of 3.2 per cent following the previous month’s revised 5.8 per cent growth. Despite this, the total value of building [...]
New Portuguese treasury secretary resigns over swap contract reports August 7, 2013 Portugal’s new treasury secretary Joaquim Pais Jorge has resigned just weeks after taking the position after media reports questioned his role in the offering of swap contracts to the preceding government while working in his previous role at Citigroup. Swap contracts have been a particularly controversial subject in Portugal over the last few months, with [...]
Obama cancels meeting with Russian president amid tensions regarding Snowden and human rights August 7, 2013 US president Barack Obama has cancelled meetings with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow amid tensions over former National Security Agency IT contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden. The meetings had been scheduled for September, but it now appears they will not be going ahead. A Kremlin aide said Obama's decision was "disappointing". Russia has [...]
Proposals for expanding UK air capacity reveal a “wide spectrum” of views August 7, 2013 The Davies Commission, charged with examining the need for additional UK airport capacity and making recommendations for government policy in this area, has received and published the proposals submitted. Sir Howard Davies, who chairs the commission, said the responses “show clearly the wide spectrum of views that exist”. The set of 29 proposals includes plans [...]
Osborne and Balls both want to have their monetary cake and eat it August 7, 2013 Osborne and Balls have weighed in on the introduction of forward guidance by the Bank of England, and both now seek to ask for what they can't have. Chancellor George Osborne: "I also clarified that the Committee may judge it appropriate to deploy explicit forward guidance including intermediate thresholds in order to influence expectations and [...]
Bank of England remains reluctant to end monetary policy by committee August 7, 2013 Mark Carney hasn't been in the job that long, and it's all change at the Old Lady. We've now got an unemployment yardstick of 7 per cent and an effective inflation upper limit of 2.5 per cent. But this doesn't kick in properly until 2015. Inflation is already at 2.9 per cent, with unemployment up [...]
Initial analyst responses to Bank of England inflation report and Q&A August 7, 2013 Some reactions to the Bank of England's quarterly inflation report and governor Mark Carney's announcement of a forward guidance policy. Joe Rundle, head of trading at ETX Capital: Sensible Fed-style strategy adopted by dovish governor BOE Mark Carney, switching things up at the Bank of England since his occupancy started in July. At the press [...]
Bank of England: Funding for Lending has been a success August 7, 2013 The Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England has said that the Funding for Lending scheme has achieved the objective of creating a situation in which funding no longer holds back bank lending. Governor Mark Carney said that, while the bank does not know what shocks the UK economy will face over the next [...]
Bank governor Carney says we’re not at escape velocity August 7, 2013 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has said that the UK is not yet at "escape velocity" but is approaching average after weak performance. Carney said that he was not expecting a material increase in borrowing as the UK recovers, and that prolonged periods of low rates pose stability risks. To give some perspective to [...]
German industrial production easily beats expectations reaching 14-month high August 7, 2013 German industrial production figures smashed expectations in June, rising by half a percentage point year-on-year and 2.4 per cent from the month before. This follows a 1.0 per cent fall in annual data and an upwardly revised 0.8 per cent monthly figure. Analysts had expected a decline of 0.4 per cent and an increase of [...]