We mustn’t delude ourselves about the scale of the crisis Britain went through February 3, 2014 OVER the past three years, the debate over the coalition’s deficit reduction plan and the sluggishness of the subsequent recovery has dominated the agenda. On almost all sides, this debate has been framed in a way that implies that, had we adopted marginally different policies, the fallout from the crash need not have been anywhere [...]
Tech resentment in San Francisco is ignoring the real culprit: Government February 3, 2014 RENTS are rising, pushing people on low incomes out of the neighbourhoods they’ve lived in for years. Resentment towards the rich is growing, with the most profitable and dynamic industries singled out for the most ire. Talk of a cost of living crisis, driven above all by the cost of housing, is dominating politics. This [...]
Letters to the Editor – 04/02 – Energy supply, Best of Twitter February 3, 2014 Energy supply [Re: As the International Energy Agency doubts UK shale’s potential, is more nuclear the answer?, Friday] The International Energy Agency was right to say that Britain should not have too high expectations regarding the shale gas revolution. But while it argues that increased investment in new, heavily-subsidised nuclear plants would be more desirable, it [...]
Real emerging market risk is not repeat of 1997 Asian crisis February 3, 2014 Don’t prepare for a reversal in market’s appetite for risk anytime soon TO SOME analysts, the bloodbath in emerging markets over the past fortnight bears uneasy similarities to the early stages of previous full-blown emerging market crises. As a recent note by Brewin Dolphin pointed out, such episodes have historically recurred every 15 years or [...]
CNBC Comment: Don’t blame the Fed for sentiment swing February 3, 2014 WHAT is the difference between the global economy on the last day of 2013 and the first day of 2014? Absolutely nothing. And yet if you look at financial markets, you’d think that something dramatic had happened to send sentiment diving off a cliff after 1 January. What happened to the glorious 2013 rally, accompanied [...]
DailyFX Tips & Picks: Why traders should lose gracefully but win with style February 3, 2014 FXCM data shows that the average trader is right 60 per cent of the time. So why is it that some traders struggle? Analysing 12m actual trades by retail investors, we know that the number one reason for the average trader’s difficulties is a tendency to do the opposite of common wisdom. Losses will be [...]
DailyFX Tips & Picks: Analyst’s pick February 3, 2014 CURRENCY STRATEGIST CHRIS VECCHIO My pick: Stay short sterling-yen, watch for dollar-yen below ¥101.50 Expertise: Fundamental and technical analysis Average time frame of trades: A few hours to a few weeks Sterling-yen remains on track for a continued pullback, as investors grapple with potential shifts in both the Bank of England’s and Bank of Japan’s [...]
Leaner, meaner but still not sexy February 3, 2014 Nissan’s new Qashqai ticks lots of boxes – especially for families – but leaves me feeling something is missing OVER the past three weeks, we’ve looked at some exotic cars – the Peugeot RCZ R, Audi A3 Cabriolet and Ferrari F12 Berlinetta – that do one thing very badly: storage. And, let’s face it, even [...]
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Average home to cost £600k February 3, 2014 LONDON’S booming property market is already starting to look like a bubble, while many other parts of the country are still seeing subdued activity since the financial crisis. London’s house price-to-income ratio is back at peak levels, bucking the trend of other regions, where it has fallen back since 2007, according to today’s report [...]