Six random thoughts to start your day November 23, 2009 THERE is something appealing about random musings. Here are mine for the day – the first in what will become an occasional series. 1. Governments don’t have unlimited borrowing capacity. At some point, the markets will stop extending loans to them. Countries such as Greece are starting to be penalised by investors and the credit [...]
Retail sales post increase for October November 19, 2009 UK RETAIL sales in October rose at their fastest annual pace in 17 months, according to official statistics released yesterday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said sales were up 3.4 per cent compared to the same month last year. But the 0.4 per cent rise on September was less than the 0.7 per cent [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK HOUSE PRICES ARE SET TO RISE OR FALL? November 18, 2009 STEPHEN FERRARI FERRARI BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT“I think the housing prices will increase because there is a short supply of nice houses on the market. Although I don’t think it’s going to be easy to borrow money, until the supply meets the demand for houses, I think we’ll see a rise in prices. There may be apparent [...]
Rise in inflation proves that QE must stop November 17, 2009 IT is wrong to argue that inflationary pressures are about to return, as many commentators said yesterday after the release of figures showing higher than expected consumer price rises. The reality is that inflationary pressures have always been with us – in past years, inflation took place in asset prices, while consumer prices rose at [...]
The amateur economist who finds the truth in the freakiest places November 16, 2009 FOR someone who has spent much of the last decade successfully writing about economics, Stephen Dubner is surprisingly keen to point out that he is not an economist. Following his co-authorship of Freakonomics, one of the publishing phenomena of recent years, and a sequel called Superfreakonomics, however, surely he has picked up some knowledge. Well [...]
Jump in US mortgages but demand for new loans falls November 12, 2009 THE NUMBER of US mortgage applications went up last week as lower fixed rates increased the call for refinancing, but demand for new home loans fell to a nine-year low. Average 30-year mortgage rates fell 0.07 percentage point to 4.9 per cent in the week ended November 6, making a new run toward the record [...]
Amount of repossessions is set to go up November 12, 2009 FEWER homes will be repossessed this year than previously forecast, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said yesterday, but the body expects 2010 to see more repossessions. The CML lowered its forecast for the second time this year and now anticipates that 48,000 homes will be repossessed in 2009, just 8,000 more than in 2008. [...]
Lloyds plans to axe 5,000 further jobs November 10, 2009 ANOTHER 5,000 jobs will be lost at Lloyds Banking Group, bringing the total number of sackings to 12,500 since the credit crunch began. Lloyds employees were yesterday warned by banking experts that there could be up to 30,000 sackings before the Lloyds-HBOS merger is complete. Unions branded the cuts, which were announced on the same [...]
A Tobin tax would destroy London without making the world safer November 8, 2009 It is imperative that Gordon Brown’s proposals to levy a Tobin tax on financial transactions be defeated. Such a tax would be a disaster: it would endanger Britain’s economic interests and do nothing for ordinary taxpayers or the stability of the financial system. Championing such a scheme reflects a failure to engage with the real [...]
ECONOMIC DIARY November 8, 2009 Monday 2 NovemberGermany:September imports and exports (7am)September trade balance (7am)September industrial production (11am) Tuesday 3 NovemberUK:October RICS house pricebalance (12am)BRC October retail sales (12am)September trade balance (9.30am)September DCLG UK houseprices (9.30am) US:Fed’s Lockhart speaks on US economic outlook (2.15pm) Germany: November ZEW survey on economic sentiment and [...]