Pound hits highest level against US dollar in over a year as traders bet Bank of England will outmuscle Fed June 14, 2023 Pound sterling today climbed to its highest level against the US dollar in over a year, driven upwards by investors betting that the Bank of England will surpass the Federal Reserve in its interest rate rise cycle to bring down inflation. Britain’s currency jumped around 0.7 per cent today to nearly $1.27, taking it to [...]
Britcoin: Digital pound will not be introduced without a Parliamentary vote June 14, 2023 Lawmakers agreed that the digital pound, or ‘Britcoin’, should not be introduced without proper parliamentary scrutiny. Speaking in the House of Lords, Lord Forsyth said the notion that the Treasury and the Bank of England could introduce the digital pound “without having proper parliamentary scrutiny… is utterly ridiculous.” The Bank of England and Treasury are [...]
The Bank of England has mismanaged this inflation cycle from the get-go June 14, 2023 The Bank of England and Andrew Bailey have botched their messaging, their forecasts and their decisions - and we are paying the price
The Notebook: Neil Bennett on scale-up funding, bounce-back Britain and a Love Supreme June 14, 2023 Roll up, roll up ladies and gentlemen for the greatest sale on earth, a once in a generation opportunity to snap up corporate assets at unrepeatable prices. If you don’t, my (imaginary) new investment firm, Car Boot Capital, will certainly do so. It is a truth universally acknowledged that we are living through a liquidity [...]
US inflation slips to lowest level in two years and to more than half of UK rate June 13, 2023 Inflation in the US has fallen to its lowest level in two years, setting Britain even further out as suffering the toughest price pressures in the developed world, official figures out today show. Prices rose four per cent over the year to May, down from a rate of 4.9 per cent in the previous month, [...]
Mortgage commitments plummet to pandemic levels as rate hike jitters spook housing market June 13, 2023 The number of new mortgage commitments has fallen to the lowest levels since the Covid pandemic as speculation the Bank of England’s will keep on hiking interest rates rattles the market. As the central bank raised interest rates for the 12th consecutive time during the quarter, in a bid to cool inflation, the number of [...]
Bank of England to hoist interest rates to 5.75 per cent as experts warn UK inflation is out of control June 13, 2023 The Bank of England will have to hike interest rates to their highest level since July 2007, the eve of the financial crisis, in a sign that markets think the UK has the worst inflation problem in the rich world. Traders ratcheted up bets on how high Bank Governor Andrew Bailey and the rest of [...]
FTSE 100 close: Miners lift London’s premier index despite high wage growth sending rate fears spiralling June 13, 2023 Commodity giants lifted London’s main indexes on Tuesday despite concerns that the Bank of England will have to hike rates higher and faster on the back of the latest labour market figures. The capital’s premier index climbed 0.3 per cent to 7,594.78 points, although the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with [...]
Wages jump at fastest pace outside of Covid-19 but inflation erodes finances for 18th straight month June 13, 2023 Workers in Britain have pocketed the largest pay increases on record outside of the Covid-19 pandemic, but inflation is still sharply eroding their finances, official figures out today reveals. Numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the average worker in the UK received a 7.2 per cent wage increase in the three months [...]
Bank of England ratesetter: Mortgage pain will affect our decision on interest rates June 13, 2023 The Bank of England’s decision on the interest rate will be shaped by the severity of the coming mortgage shock on households, according to one Threadneedle Street ratesetter. Catherine Mann, who sits on the Bank’s monetary policy committee, said that households had been “very resilient” in the face of inflation so far but said there are [...]