Public spending still over half of GDP July 21, 2011 ED Miliband should be happy: Britain officially remains a state-dominated economy. For all the talk of “swingeing” cuts, public spending is set to remain at 50.1 per cent of GDP in 2011, according to the latest OECD predictions. This is an astonishing figure: more than half the economy, which by one definition means that the [...]
Public spending still over half of GDP July 20, 2011 ED Miliband should be happy: Britain officially remains a state-dominated economy. For all the talk of “swingeing” cuts, public spending is set to remain at 50.1 per cent of GDP in 2011, according to the latest OECD predictions. This is an astonishing figure: more than half the economy, which by one definition means that the [...]
Bank minutes show no sign of a rate hike July 20, 2011 DESPITE warning of even higher than expected inflation to come, the Bank of England appears increasingly reluctant to raise interest rates. Minutes of the Bank’s July meeting, released yesterday, suggest that bearish economic news has pushed the rate-setting committee even further from the first step in normalising rates. “Recent developments had reduced the likelihood that [...]
MPC says near term rate rise unlikely July 20, 2011 The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee judged that recent economic weakness had reduced the chance that interest rates would need to rise in the near term, minutes to the Bank’s July meeting showed. Committee members voted 7-2 to keep rates at 0.5 per cent, as they did in June. Bank chief economist Spencer Dale [...]
US inflation pressure high and industry weak July 15, 2011 US consumer prices fell slightly more than expected in June on weak fuel costs, but underlying inflation pressures remain high, new data shows. The US consumer price index fell 0.2 per cent, the Labor Department has said, the largest drop since June 2010, after rising 0.2 per cent in May. Economists had expected prices to [...]
Early summer sales tame UK inflation July 12, 2011 EARLY summer sales in British stores saw consumer price inflation tamed down to 4.2 per cent in June, yet analysts still expect the index to rise above five per cent in the coming months. “With surplus stock to shift, this year’s summer sales appear to have started relatively early, and perhaps with bigger price cuts [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS July 12, 2011 BRITVIC RBS rates the soft drinks maker a “buy” with a £5 target price as it believes Britvic has now hedged against 95 per cent of its input cost inflation – expected to be 9-11 per cent in the UK this year – leaving it protected against further shocks. RBS expects third-quarter trading to be [...]
High street sales bounce back in June yet British retailers remain cautious July 11, 2011 TOTAL retail sales improved by 1.5 per cent in the year to June, according to figures released by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) today. While food sales slowed slightly, this was offset by increased non-food sales, attributed to the summer clearance sales beginning earlier this year. Like-for-like sales – which exclude changes in shop floor [...]
Price pressures tame in Norway July 11, 2011 Norwegian inflation came out well below expectations yesterday, measuring 1.3 per cent on the consumer price index for June. Core inflation, which excludes volatile elements such as energy and food, measured just 0.7 per cent.
China’s economy looks to be on shaky ground July 11, 2011 INFLATION in China hasn’t been tamed. Statistics released at the weekend suggest annual inflation for June is running at 6.4 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent in May; while food inflation for June shot up 2.7 per cent on the month to 14.4 per cent. Tomorrow, China will release its GDP statistics, which are [...]