What the analysts are saying about Monetary Policy Committee minutes August 14, 2013 Earlier today, the Bank of England released the minutes of the latest meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that there was one dissenter on forward guidance, Martin Weale, who disagreed with the time frame for one of the inflation knock-out conditions (more details here). Rob Wood, chief [...]
Four key charts from the UK labour force data August 14, 2013 The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released data on the condition of the UK labour force earlier this morning, showing slight improvements to employment and unemployment figures. Here are four key charts from the ONS release: We're doing better than the EU at least, but the fall in unemployment has flatlined compared to progress in [...]
EU commissioner: The recovery is in reach but the crisis is not over August 14, 2013 European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs and vice president of the European Commission Olli Rehn has said that “recovery is in reach” for the Eurozone after gross domestic product (GDP) data showed that the region officially exited the recession in the second quarter of the year. Rehn said the good news added to recent [...]
Eurozone officially exits the recession in the second quarter August 14, 2013 The economic situation in the Eurozone worsened less than expected in the second quarter, according to seasonally adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) figures released by Eurostat (release). Compared to the same period the year before, GDP fell by 0.7 per cent – beating analysts’ expectations of a 0.8 per cent fall. And quarter-on-quarter, GDP was [...]
The UK labour market is improving August 14, 2013 The number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell by 29,200 in July, beating expectations of a fall of 15,000. By comparison, the claimant count fell by an upwardly revised 29,400 in June. The claimant count rate was 4.3 per cent down slightly from 4.4 per cent the month before. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) [...]
Bank of England forward guidance decision was not unanimous August 14, 2013 One member of the Bank of England's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted against the Bank's forward guidance policy due to a disagreement regarding the time frame for one of the "knockout" conditions that would remove the link between rates and unemployment (minutes). The Bank said that Martin Weale supported in principle the use of [...]
US Senate committee investigation into threats and risks of Bitcoin August 14, 2013 A US Senate committee has written to major financial regulators and law enforcement agencies to investigate the threats and risks posed by virtual currencies like Bitcoin. The Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs said it was concerned that virtual currencies could be sent anonymously, leaving little to no trail for regulators and law [...]
Pest control company tops FTSE 250 on better-than-expected results August 14, 2013 Pest control company Rentokil was the biggest riser on the FTSE 250 this morning, up over seven per cent on the news its adjusted pre-tax profits rose 7.9 per cent to £54.8m – beating analyst expectations of £50.9m. Despite pre-tax profits falling 18.7 per cent to £51.9m and conditions in continental Europe continuing to be [...]
MITIE acquires criminal records check service August 14, 2013 Strategic outsourcing company MITIE has announced it has acquired the UK criminal records checking service UKCRBs from the management team. The business will be integrated into MITIE’s exisiting employee screening business, and MITIE hopes it will help improve turnaround times and expand its technology platform. The combined business has over 600 customers in health, financial [...]
What the analysts are saying about French and German GDP data August 14, 2013 Here's what the analysts have to say about strong growth in the French and German economies this morning. Ishaq Siddiqi, ETX Capital: Both economies showing a solid upswing, particularly France (given how markets have worried about the government’s slow implementation of budget reforms) bodes well for a robust reading for the euro area as a [...]