Consumer confidence improved at the end of last year but spending is still cautious April 23, 2018 Consumer confidence ticked up at the beginning of 2018, but non-essential spending was flat. The agreement of a Brexit transition deal boosted overall confidence during the first three months of the year, according to Deloitte. But spending was still heavily weighted towards utilities bills, transport and food and drink. Discretionary spending meanwhile was flat compared [...]
The US midterms: Good for Democrats, but better for markets November 13, 2018 American politics is in a febrile state. Deep partisan divisions, heightened by Donald Trump’s controversial rhetoric and policies, have resulted in a historic year for midterm voter turn-out. Last Tuesday, voters on the left and right were spurred on by a conviction that the 2018 midterms were more important than any other in history. Politically, [...]
Theresa May has sacrificed herself on the altar of Brexit November 16, 2018 The power of Brexit is infinite. It has broken party lines, destroyed the traditional political order, forced people to reverse ideological positions, challenged the concepts of truth and fact, and sucked every last molecule of oxygen out of Westminster. It also, we have just discovered, has the power to distort time. For months, nothing has [...]
House prices in the capital sink to lowest level since financial crisis August 15, 2018 London house prices have fallen at their fastest annual rate since the financial crisis, dragging the UK property market down to its lowest levels of growth in five years. House prices in London tumbled 0.7 per cent in the year to June 2018, marking the sharpest decline in annual growth since a 3.2 per cent [...]
World Cup delivers consumer spending boost as pubs rake in 10 per cent more cash July 10, 2018 The World Cup prompted the biggest spike in non-essential consumer spending in June since October 2016, as Britons spent 33 per cent more in pubs during England’s first match. Non-essential spending jumped by 5.5 per cent in June compared to the previous year, the strongest year-on-year growth since October 2016, according to data to be [...]
City A.M. shadow MPC unanimously votes to hold rates amid ‘Brexit fog’ October 31, 2018 Economists have urged the Bank of England to keep interest rates on hold at least until the “Brexit fog” has cleared. The bank's monetary policy committee (MPC) will meet on Thursday and is expected to leave rates unchanged at 0.75 per cent despite stronger-than-expected GDP growth and pay growth at its highest in almost a [...]
Stock predictions 2019: Which stocks and shares will do well this year? January 2, 2019 After a tumultuous year in the markets with Brexit uncertainty, the threat of trade war and rapidly changing consumer habits, the FTSE 100 suffered its worst year since the financial crisis in 2018, ending it 12.5 per cent down. While there is no sign that 2019 will be any less eventful, with the date Britain [...]
Services PMI: The UK’s services sector outperformed expectations last month, though disappointing new work inflows cast a cloud June 5, 2018 The UK economy may indeed be on track to rebound in the second quarter of this year, as a closely watched index today revealed that the services sector performed better than expected in May. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK’s services sector, compiled by IHS Markit, rose from 52.8 points in April to [...]
UK consumer confidence at highest level for two years, despite Brexit concerns April 29, 2016 Consumer confidence in the UK has reached its highest level in nearly two years despite concerns over the EU referendum, new figures released today show. The YouGov and Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) Consumer Confidence Index increased by 2.2 points in April to 115.2 – slightly behind the 115.4 recorded in May 2014. The largest [...]
China vows to ‘fight back’ after US threatens $200bn tariffs on goods July 11, 2018 Beijing has vowed to “fight back as usual” after Donald Trump’s tit-for-tat trade war with China escalated once again last night. Washington threatened to slap a further $200bn (£150.8bn) worth of tariffs on a wide range of Chinese goods such as coal, tobacco and consumer electronics after talks between the two superpowers to ease tensions [...]