Wall Street rises on hopes the Fed may take it easier on rate hikes June 2, 2023 Wall Street rose on Thursday with hopes that the Federal Reserve may soon take it easier on its hikes to interest rates. The S&P 500 rallied 1 per cent after a suite of reports painted a picture of a split US economy. The job market remains solid, but manufacturing is weakening and retailers are seeing [...]
Why have the Bank of England and the IMF been so wrong on the UK economy? May 30, 2023 Recession? What recession? The Bank of England and the IMF have been wrong on the state of the UK economy, but it's not all their fault
Top City investor: Rate hikes and gilt spike WILL throw UK economy into recession May 26, 2023 A top Square Mile economist has warned that further rate hikes and the increasing price of government debt means the UK will struggle to avoid recession. Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme this morning, Abrdn’s investment director Luke Hickmore said that incomes were set to come “under a lot of pressure” after the Square Mile [...]
FTSE 100 close: London index extends losses as pound slides and bond yields soar May 25, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 continued yesterday’s wobble today driven by investors fretting over how high the Bank of England will have to send interest rates to tame sticky inflation. The capital’s premier index slipped 0.74 per cent to 7,570.88 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the [...]
House prices slow as market braces for a solid but ‘not spectacular’ year May 24, 2023 House prices in the UK rose 4.1 per cent in the 12 months to March, adding £11,000 to the average value of a property. However, the figures are down from February’s 5.8 per cent hike and £8,000 below the recent housing peak in November 2022, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports. Across [...]
Why today’s inflation numbers are much, much worse than you think May 24, 2023 Inflation in the UK has trimmed to its lowest level in over a year. It has also dropped out of the double digits for the first time since last August. Hooray! These are milestones that shouldn’t be welcomed with much joy, especially given that outside of the last 18 months or so, inflation barely budged [...]
Inflation falls out of double digits to lowest level in a year but tops forecasts May 24, 2023 UK inflation has fallen into single digits but the price of food continues to spiral at the fastest rate in four decades.
House prices surge at fastest pace this year to record £373k despite Bank of England rate hikes May 22, 2023 Britain avoiding a much-forecasted recession has helped push house prices up by the greatest amount so far this year to a record high of £372,894, new figures out today reveal. The average price of a home coming to market climbed 1.8 per cent over the last month, the strongest increase in 2023, according to property [...]
Consumer confidence continues to recover as double-digit inflation fails to deter Brits from splashing cash May 19, 2023 Consumer confidence in the year ahead is continuing to recover despite persistent cost-of-living pressures, a long-running survey suggests. GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index rose by three points in May to minus 27, the fourth monthly increase in a row from January’s minus 45. Confidence in personal finances over the coming 12 months saw a “robust” five-point [...]
Disney woes and health of banks edged Wall Street lower May 12, 2023 Wall Street edged lower on Thursday, weighed down by a sharp drop for the Walt Disney Company and flaring fears about the health of some US banks. The S&P 500 lost 7.02 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 4,130.62, with two out of every three stocks in the index falling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average [...]