Bank of England to hike interest rates for 12th time in a row and forecast falling inflation May 9, 2023 The Bank of England is poised to intensify the strain on households and businesses’ finances by hiking interest rates for the 12th time in a row this Thursday in a bid to bring down inflation, City analysts are betting. Threadneedle Street’s nine-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the group tasked with setting official borrowing costs in [...]
UK to officially avoid recession in first half of this year as Bank of England readies twelfth straight interest rate rise May 8, 2023 Britain is set to have officially avoided a recession in the first half of this year in a sharp turnaround in fortunes for the country’s economy, figures out this week are expected to reveal. Gross domestic product (GDP), which measures the amount of goods and services produced in the UK, is anticipated to have risen [...]
Coronation and your cash: How much have prices – and life in the UK – changed since 1953? May 5, 2023 When Queen Elizabeth II was crowned 70 years ago in 1953, the price of a pint was less than 10p, the average house price was around £1,800, and the average salary was £10 a week. But that’s not all that has changed, this year’s Coronation of King Charles III takes place in a nation where life [...]
Inflation reignites in UK as economy powers further away from feared recession May 4, 2023 Inflation has reignited in the UK, pushed higher by the economy roaring back and emboldening businesses to pass on higher costs to customers via rising prices, a closely watched survey out today unveils. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (PMI) for the country’s services sector climbed sharply to 55.9 points last [...]
Stephen King interview: Inflation is ‘profoundly undemocratic’ and must be stopped May 3, 2023 What kind of world do we live in today? From an economists’ view, one that’s a lot different from just a handful of years ago. War in Europe. Strained global trade. Government debt stocks at multi decade highs (certainly in the UK). All fixtures of our present day lives. But there’s two things that have [...]
Eurozone core inflation falls, opening door to smaller ECB interest rate hike May 2, 2023 Inflation is receding faster than expected in Europe, raising the prospect of the bloc’s central bank slowing the pace of its interest rates hike this week, new figures out today reveal. The rate of underlying price increases – known as core inflation – in the group of 20 countries using the euro thinned to 5.6 [...]
UK factories shed workers as higher costs and weaker spending pound finances May 2, 2023 British factories are shedding workers after being pounded by soaring costs and weaker spending from customers, according to a closely-watched survey. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) final purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK manufacturing sector came in at 47.8 points last month, above an earlier reading of 46.6 [...]
Take your seat for the Bank of England, Federal Reserve and central banks’ final act May 2, 2023 This is the final act in central banks’ aggressive interest rate hike cycle. Well, so say most analysts at the moment.
Recession knife-edge: Consumer spending on credit at £1.3bn as house prices continue to slide May 2, 2023 Britain’s better than expected economic performance since the turn of the year is poised to have lured consumers into splashing the cash on their credit cards, new numbers out this week are tipped to show. Families are tipped by markets to have borrowed £1.3bn in March, which would signal spending in the UK is holding [...]
Recession, what recession? Firms shrug off UK economy fears to focus on growth May 2, 2023 Britain’s small businesses are turning their attention away from worrying about whether the country will slip into a recession to focus on growth, a new survey out today shows. Confidence among the country’s small firms – which drive output – climbed sharply from its depths at the end of last year, according to the Federation [...]