Retail sales and jobs data expected to prove positive – The week ahead July 12, 2015 RETAIL sales data and employment figures due out this week are expected to show improvement, while some of the UK’s biggest brands will update the market over the next five days. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) retail sales monitor for June, out tomorrow, is expected to show healthy year-on-year retail sales growth in June. Data [...]
How the chancellor used his new-found luck: Easing the squeeze on public services July 8, 2015 GEORGE Osborne has not, up to now, been a very lucky chancellor. He inherited a huge fiscal deficit and has presided over a recovery that, in the early years, repeatedly disappointed. Initial plans to eliminate the deficit over the life of the last Parliament morphed, year by year, into plans to halve the deficit over [...]
Bank of England monetary policy committee could split over timing of first interest rate rise June 24, 2015 One of the MPC’s nine members, Dr Martin Weale, has indicated that the Bank of England should be prepared to raise the cost of borrowing as early as August. The comments indicate the monetary policy committee could soon face a split over when to raise interest rates from the historic low of 0.5 per cent they [...]
Retail sales growth slows in May as clothing sales dip June 18, 2015 Retail sales growth slowed to 0.2 per cent last month, after rising a downwardly revised 0.9 percent in April, according to data released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This meant sales rose 4.6 per cent year-on-year in May, and it also marked the 26th consecutive month of annual growth. Read more: UK retail sales smash [...]
Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee meeting minutes show members vote 9-0 to keep rates unchanged in June June 17, 2015 The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted 9-0 to keep interest rates unchanged at its meeting ending June 3 minutes released today have shown. Read more: UK shrugs off deflation as prices rise 0.1 per cent in May All nine members voted to hold interest rates at 0.5 per cent, although two members said their [...]
UK shrugs off deflation as prices rise 0.1 per cent in May June 16, 2015 Inflation rose by 0.1 per cent in the year to May according the Office for National Statistics, up from -0.1 per cent a month earlier, and ending a brief spell of deflation. "The largest upward contribution to the change came from transport services, notably air fares with the timing of Easter in April a likely [...]
Britain likely to exit deflation next week June 12, 2015 Economists have said that official data due to be released next week will likely show Britain escaped from a brief period of technical deflation last month. They think that prices could have risen slightly in May due to higher fuel prices, alongside increases in the cost of air/sea transport, and holiday prices. Inflation turned fell by [...]
French inflation rises further as food and energy prices climb June 11, 2015 INFLATION in France has reached 0.3 per cent, signalling a wider recovery in prices across the Eurozone. French inflation reached a recent trough of minus 0.4 per cent in January, but has recovered in line with the rest the currency bloc to eventually escape deflation. Yet the inflation breakdown shows that the return to price [...]
Swedish krona jumps against the euro as it climbs out of deflationary spiral June 11, 2015 The Swedish krona jumped against the euro this morning after official data showed it had come out of deflation for the month of May. The krona rose more than one per cent to 0.108 against the euro, and 0.56 per cent to 0.1217 against the dollar. Prices in the country rose 0.1 per cent in [...]
Wimbledon set to serve up aces June 9, 2015 WASH your whites and let out your waistbands; Wimbledon 2015 is just over three weeks away. Fans are gearing up for the party of the year and to cheer dour Brit Andy Murray to victory. Wimbledon is the largest annual sporting catering operation in Europe. Whether you’re just coming for the finals or staying for [...]