Low oil prices pushes Saudi Arabia into economic reform – Prince Salman declares an end to reliance on oil and outlines Vision 2030 plan to diversify the economy April 27, 2016 Saudi Arabia is to kick its “dangerous addiction” to oil as the country's cabinet agreed on plans to diversify the economy away from the black stuff. The country is hooked on fossil fuels but “by 2020 we'll be able to live without oil,” said deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, author behind new economic plan, Saudi [...]
GDP growth slows to 0.4 per cent as first quarter volatility hits UK economy April 27, 2016 Economy watchers have been gearing up for today for quite some time. Calendars are cleared, models refined, data plugged in and the braver ones of the bunch even stick their necks out with a prediction or two. That's right: It's GDP day. We knew it was going to be ugly. The economy grew by 0.6 per cent in [...]
Get ready for another bout of Fedspeak when the US Federal Reserve holds interest rates this evening April 27, 2016 The US Federal Reserve will not be raising interest rates this evening. Neither will Janet Yellen – or anybody from the rate-setting Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) – be holding a press conference to announce the non-decision. That won't be enough to stop markets working themselves into a frenzy at around 7pm when a written [...]
EU referendum: Wetherspoon boss warns European Union is “doomed” because it lacks democracy April 26, 2016 The European Union is "doomed" because it doesn’t have the level of democracy required to make it a great economic region, the boss of one of the UK's biggest pub chains has warned. Tim Martin, the chairman of JD Wetherspoon and a staunch supporter of the Leave campaign, said that just as the euro could [...]
Obama effect holding steady as sterling soars against the dollar April 26, 2016 The pound has soared against the dollar today, smashing through the $1.46 mark and extending a run of gains that has caused sterling to rise by six per cent in the past 10 weeks. This afternoon, the pound was trading at $1.4614, up 0.91 per cent on the day. Sterling's gains were mirrored against the euro, where it was [...]
Property market mushrooms in March as mortgage borrowing hits a post-crisis high April 26, 2016 The property market was in full swing last month with yet another industry report showing mortgage lending shot up as investors piled in to beat the stamp duty surcharge which came into effect on 1 April. According to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), banks and building societies dished out £17.1bn to people taking out mortgages in March – [...]
UK economy slowdown expected to be confirmed this week with official GDP growth figures April 25, 2016 The UK economy is expected to have recorded a marked slowdown in the first quarter of this year when official figures for GDP growth are released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the final quarter of last year, though economists are suggesting that could have [...]
The Bank of Japan could unleash a triple dose of monetary stimulus – negative interest rates, quantitative easing and paying banks to borrow more April 25, 2016 The Bank of Japan (BoJ) looks geared to ramp up its reputation for out-of-the-box thinking when it meets later this week, unveiling an extra bout of monetary easing which could lead to it paying banks to borrow money. Japan's fight with deflation has been notorious. In 10 of the last 20 years prices have actually [...]
Manufacturing industry still stagnant, but does the latest CBI survey point to a recovery on the horizon? April 25, 2016 The manufacturing industry had a mixed start to the year, though the latest CBI industrial trends survey, out today, showed tentative signs of a pick-up over the next few months and provided some grounds for optimism. Manufacturers reported output was stable over the first three months of 2016, while orders dipped slightly but employment picked up. [...]
Stable oil prices and a stock market surge mean the global economy is a little less likely to fall into recession April 25, 2016 The world is no longer teetering on the brink of a full-blown recession thanks to a rally in global stock markets and surging commodity prices, according to a new report out today. Researchers at Oxford Economics said that there are slightly fewer alarm bells ringing over the health of the economy today than there were [...]