Stock markets are wrong about QE2 November 5, 2010 YESTERDAY’S stock market rebound is the proof that investors don’t always get it right – or at least, that they still love to get drunk on the prospect of cheap money. Stock markets in the US and UK jumped, taking equities back to the time when Lehman Brothers was just another big investment bank. One [...]
Morrison sales in slim rise November 4, 2010 Wm Morrison Supermarkets met forecasts with a modest rise in third-quarter underlying sales as the benefits from a small rise in food price inflation were held back by subdued consumer spending. Britain’s fourth-biggest grocer said sales at stores open over a year rose 1.3 per cent, excluding petrol and VAT sales tax, in the 13 [...]
Time to take inflation seriously again November 2, 2010 WHO said inflation is no longer a danger? Wherever one looks, prices are rising, demolishing the flimsy case made by the deflationistas. The British Retail Consortium/Nielsen shop price index out this morning confirms that the cost of living is continuing to go up, hitting ordinary folk and fuelling general negativity about the state of the [...]
SUGAR HITS NEW 30-YEAR PEAK November 2, 2010 SUGAR is trading at its highest level for three decades, raising fears about global food price inflation. The soft commodity yesterday surpassed the 29-year high it hit in February this year, on concern about low crop yields in Brazil and restricted exports from India. Raw sugar futures topped 30.6 cents per pound yesterday before settling [...]
Heinz threatened with strike as row over ‘below inflation rise boils over November 1, 2010 HEINZ workers could be balloted for strikes in a pay dispute, the Unite union warned yesterday. Unite said its members at the food giant’s site in Wigan were calling a vote in protest at a below inflation rise this year and a capped increase for next year of three per cent. Jennie Formby, Unite national [...]
US economy in slim GDP rise October 29, 2010 US economic growth edged up as expected in the third quarter but not enough to chip away at high unemployment or change perceptions of more monetary easing from the Federal Reserve next week. Gross domestic product expanded at a two per cent annual rate as consumer spending rose at its fastest pace since 2006, the [...]
Shock fall in September retail sales October 21, 2010 THE high street suffered a shock fall in retail sales last month, raising fears that consumer spending is slowing even before the austerity measures really begin to bite. Headline retail sales fell by 0.2 per cent for a second consecutive month in September after a downwardly-revised drop of 0.7 per cent in August. Economists had [...]
China’s GDP growth starts to slow down October 21, 2010 China’s growth ebbed in the third quarter while inflation edged higher, suggesting that the world’s second-largest economy was far from overheating and that an interest rate rise this week may be enough for now. Economic growth dipped to 9.6 per cent in the third quarter from a year earlier, down from 10.3 per cent in [...]
There was no other choice – now George Osborne must hold his nerve October 20, 2010 IT was a timely reminder that action is desperately required to tackle Britain’s out of control budget deficit. At 9:30 yesterday morning, a full three hours before George Osborne got up to deliver his spending review to the House of Commons, the latest monthly budget deficit figures popped up on traders’ screens across the City. [...]
Christmas retail sales could be best since 2007 October 17, 2010 SHOPPERS will spend more on the high street in the run up to Christmas than they have for at least three years, a report has claimed. Retail analysts Verdict Research said high street sales were likely to increase by £1.6bn in the three months to Christmas, a 1.9 per cent rise on last year, to [...]