We will need to hear more from the Bank if a credit crunch follows this banking ‘crisis’ March 28, 2023 Well, you can’t say he laboured the point. Andrew Bailey limited his commentary on the banking crisis / gentle banking wobble to just one paragraph in his speech last night at the London School of Economics, but he made himself clear enough: further rate hikes are on the way unless something dramatic changes in the [...]
Why the Bank of England and Fed could welcome Credit Suisse and Silicon Valley Bank failures March 28, 2023 There’s been reams and reams of wild predictions about whether we’re slipping into another financial crisis, triggered by the collapse of US tech lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Credit Suisse’s arranged marriage with its crosstown rival UBS. Blackrock chief Larry Fink even warned in his annual letter to shareholders we’re slipping into a slow [...]
Andrew Bailey: Our banks are sound – we’ll keep hiking if inflation persists March 27, 2023 The Bank of England will be forced to jack up interest rates again if incoming data shows inflation is not falling fast enough in response to the central bank’s eleven straight rate rises, Governor Andrew Bailey said today. Further pain will be needed to be borne by families and businesses if price pressures keep pinning [...]
UK recession still on the cards after aggressive Bank of England interest rate hikes March 27, 2023 A recession is still on the cards in the UK despite the economy performing much better than experts predicted just a few months ago, new forecasts out today project. Higher interest rates and households responding to the cost of living crunch gripping their finances by trimming spending is tipped to push GDP 0.3 per cent [...]
UK household debt swells past £2 trillion for first time ever March 27, 2023 Family debt has swelled past £2 trillion for the first time ever in a sign Brits are whipping out their credit cards to fund spending amid the cost of living crunch, new research out today reveals. Household debt is now nearly the same size as the entire UK economy (£2.2 trillion) and has been pushed [...]
We’re living with the impact of a decade of a Goldilocks approach to interest rates March 27, 2023 We are in an hangover era of monetary policy, recovering from a period when bad news was considered good news by investors. We must work to change that outlook, writes Charles White-Thomson
UK poised to have officially dodged recession last year as outlook brightens March 26, 2023 Britain is poised to have officially swerved a recession last year, the country’s statistics agency is expected to confirm this week. New final numbers outlining economic growth in the final three months of 2022 are likely to hold steady at zero per cent, meaning the UK narrowly dodged the official recession definition of two consecutive [...]
UK suffering worst living standards squeeze on record, OBR boss warns March 26, 2023 Brits’ spending power won’t recover to pre-pandemic levels for another half decade, the boss of the UK’s economic watchdog has warned. The UK is experiencing the “biggest squeeze on living standards we’ve faced in this country on record”, Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) chairman Richard Hughes said today. His stark warning came after the regulator’s [...]
‘If all prices try to beat inflation we WILL get higher inflation’: Bailey pleads with firms to be considerate to low earners March 24, 2023 The Governor of the Bank of England has pleaded with companies to remember that inflation will drop sharply later this year when they are setting prices or risk hurting those on the lowest incomes. Andrew Bailey said that if companies set prices that help embed inflation in the economy it will not benefit anybody and [...]
Confidence in Bitcoin growing by the day March 24, 2023 Jason Deane eyes up all the week's action from the world of cryptocurrency, and discovers a sense of confidence in Bitcoin.