Double trouble April 25, 2012 The economy fell back into recession at the start of this year, it was revealed yesterday, leaving George Osborne’s credibility – and his deficit reduction plan – in tatters. Every sector of the economy disappointed, dragging GDP down 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, following a 0.3 per cent contraction at the end of [...]
FSA considers News Corp bid emails probe April 25, 2012 The Financial Services Authority could look into emails sent by Jeremy Hunt’s office to News Corp in relation to possible market abuse. The culture secretary’s staff appear to have given News Corp executives advance warning of Hunt’s decision to give the firm more time to alter its ill-fated bid for BSkyB last year. The FSA [...]
…and bookmakers think it could cost Boris the London mayoral election April 25, 2012 BORIS Johnson yesterday admitted the mayoral race would “go all the way to the wire” as the Conservative government’s woes threaten to derail his re-election campaign. On the day that a double-dip recession was confirmed bookmaker William Hill slashed the odds on a Ken Livingstone victory from 4/1 to 5/2 following a flurry of bets [...]
Economists question the reliability of GDP figures April 25, 2012 THE UK might not actually be in a recession, economists said yesterday, fearing the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is using dodgy data to work out the GDP figures – and if they are correct, the ONS might have delivered a blow to confidence by declaring a recession incorrectly. Survey data over the past months [...]
A recession made in Downing Street – but not caused by cuts April 25, 2012 IS this a recession made in Downing Street? In part, yes. Obviously, Gordon Brown is the main culprit. It will take years to recover from his mismanagement of fiscal, monetary, tax and regulatory policies, as well as from the global, cheap money bubble. But George Osborne can no longer escape blame either. His desire to [...]
The doubts around official GDP figures April 25, 2012 Q Can we trust the ONS data? A The first estimate only uses about 40 per cent of the data, so we know it probably isn’t exactly right. It isn’t usually revised a lot, but when the economy is on the brink of recession, a few decimal points look very important. Q How could anyone [...]
WILL THE ECONOMY GROW ANY TIME SOON? April 25, 2012 VICKY REDWOOD CAPITAL ECONOMICS Assuming underlying growth is also held down by the fiscal squeeze, weak bank lending and falling real earnings, our forecast for a 0.5 per cent contraction in UK GDP in 2012 overall looks about right. GEORGE BUCKLEY DEUTSCHE BANK Not only did we slip back into recession in the first quarter [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 25, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES FLOWERS LEAVES US FOR LONDON BERTH Christopher Flowers, the veteran private equity investor, has moved to London from the US, seeing a shift in the balance of investment opportunities to Europe. BANKS TAKE PPI PROVISIONS PAST £6BN Three of the UK’s biggest banks are braced to increase their provisions for mis-sold loan insurance [...]
UK reforms to cost taxpayers up to £20bn April 25, 2012 THE UK’S banking reforms will cost the taxpayer £10-20bn in lost value on RBS’s shares, the bank’s chief executive Stephen Hester told a roomful of business students yesterday. He said that despite beating its recovery targets by slashing its balance sheet quickly, the bank had been hit by an extra avalanche of regulation, in large [...]
Fed stands ready to deliver QE3 if recovery stalls, Bernanke says April 25, 2012 THE FEDERAL Reserve “would not hesitate” to kick off yet another spell of monetary stimulus if it thought the US recovery required more assistance, its chairman Ben Bernanke said last night. “We remain entirely prepared to take additional balance sheet actions if necessary to achieve our objectives,” he told reporters in Washington DC. “So those [...]
