Euro holds strong as ECB weighs up inflation risks February 22, 2011 THE euro held up against the dollar yesterday, as chaos in Libya was offset by hawkish rhetoric from a senior European Central Bank official. Having dropped as much as one per cent against the dollar as the Libyan crisis escalated, the euro recovered to test $1.37 (£0.85) following the comments by ECB policymaker Yves Mersch. [...]
Food inflation fears grow in UK February 22, 2011 Over nine out of ten shoppers expect further food price inflation in the next 12 months, grocery research firm IGD said yesterday. Price pressure are increasingly feared by consumers, its survey showed. A third of respondents believe food will become “much more expensive” in the next year. Last October, just 19 per cent feared “much [...]
Why I don’t believe rates should be going up February 20, 2011 The Bank of England releases its latest minutes this week and so the great rate debate continues. Will anybody have joined Andrew Sentance and Martin Weale in voting to hike? Many argue raising domestic rates can’t curb imported inflation but Sentance points out it might strengthen sterling, which would help. In practice, every currency analyst [...]
S&P 500 is on a great rolling boil February 20, 2011 BRING up to a rolling boil then leave for…. How long exactly? That is precisely the question that spread betters everywhere are asking about the S&P 500. It’s been climbing for two years now, smashing through glass ceilings like a highly caffeinated new-age woman. But – realistically – how long can the rally last? The [...]
Core price pressures grow for US February 17, 2011 AMERICA’S recovery was boosted yesterday, with several data releases boding well for the world’s largest economy. However, the Federal Reserve faces more criticism after core inflation rose at its highest rate for over a year. Consumer price inflation for January came in higher than expected, at 0.4 per cent month-on-month. Core prices – excluding food [...]
US inflation in higher-than-expected rise February 17, 2011 US core consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in more than a year in January, indicating a long period of slowing inflation had run its course. The US Labor Department said its core Consumer Price Index, which excludes food and energy costs, increased 0.2 per cent – the largest gain since October 2009. The [...]
US input costs rising but housebuilding up February 16, 2011 US core producer prices rose to their highest rate in more than two years in January, hinting at a potentially troubling build-up in inflationary pressures. A separate dataset from the Commerce Department showed new housing starts jumped 14.6 per cent in January from December to their highest level since September, beating economists’ forecasts but still [...]
King warns over further inflation rises February 16, 2011 The Governor of Bank of England, Mervyn King, warned that inflation will rise sharply in the first half of this year before falling back next year. But he said there were “large risks” that inflation could dip under or go over the Bank’s two per cent target. He said that factors over which the UK [...]
Inflation hits 27-month high February 15, 2011 INFLATION reached its highest rate since November 2008 last month, as escalating price pressures and tax hikes continue to hammer households suffering from sluggish wage growth and rising unemployment. While inflation on the consumer price index (CPI) climbed 0.3 per cent to four per cent, the tax and price index (TPI) – which includes the [...]
Commodities dent FTSE 100 despite strong banking stocks February 15, 2011 BRITAIN’S s top share index closed lower yesterday as strength in banking stocks, inspired by forecast-busting results from Barclays, was outweighed by a broad retreat in the mining sector on commodity price wobbles. The FTSE 100 index closed down 23.01 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 6,037.08. The FTSE 250, FTSE 350 and AIM 100 [...]