Quantitative easing: the hot money problem April 12, 2011 DESPITE murmurings to the contrary by various members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), it seems that the US Federal Reserve’s $600bn (£368bn) scheme to purchase Treasury bonds will run its full course, up to June as initially planned. But an intervention the size of QE2 cannot just come to a sudden halt and [...]
Quantitative easing: the hot money problem April 12, 2011 DESPITE murmurings to the contrary by various members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), it seems that the US Federal Reserve’s $600bn (£368bn) scheme to purchase Treasury bonds will run its full course, up to June as initially planned. But an intervention the size of QE2 cannot just come to a sudden halt and [...]
At a glance: All the crucial points from Osborne’s Budget for Growth March 23, 2011 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has revised its growth forecast for the economy, blaming higher-than-expected inflation as a result of recent global commodity price shocks and the weather-affected final quarter of 2010. GDP growth has been revised down to 1.7 per cent in 2011. Growth is expected to peak at 2.9 [...]
Labour can’t solve cost of living crisis February 28, 2011 ONCE again, Labour is outmanoeuvring Britain’s increasingly hapless coalition. Ed Miliband’s chutzpah will be on full display this week: he will point out that the public is facing a cost of living crisis, while wrongly pinning all the blame for it on the coalition. Miliband is right to flag up the issue. An explosion of [...]
Danske Bank plans £2.3bn rights offer February 10, 2011 DANISH lender Danske Bank said it would raise 20bn crowns ($3.7 bn) in new capital as it posted fourth-quarter profits below market consensus, as loan impairments remained high. The bank reported a 12 per cent rise in fourth-quarter pre-tax profits to 1.45bn crowns, aided by a 40 per cent drop in loan losses, but missing [...]
CBI: Coalition is harming growth January 24, 2011 SIR RICHARD Lambert, the outgoing head of employers’ organisation the CBI, launched a scathing attack on the government yesterday, accusing it of pursuing policies that may harm economic growth. “It has taken a series of policy initiatives for political reasons, apparently careless of the damage that they might do to business and job creation,” said [...]
Spiralling prices are hurting the UK February 15, 2011 TAKE your pick. Is inflation four per cent a year, as the official, consumer price index measure suggests, or 5.1 per cent, as the older, broader retail price index would have you believe? My own favourite measure of how the cost of living is going up is the tax and price index, which has surged [...]
Why I don’t believe rates should be going up February 20, 2011 The Bank of England releases its latest minutes this week and so the great rate debate continues. Will anybody have joined Andrew Sentance and Martin Weale in voting to hike? Many argue raising domestic rates can’t curb imported inflation but Sentance points out it might strengthen sterling, which would help. In practice, every currency analyst [...]
Shadow chancellor claims Mervyn King doesn’t agree with austerity measures January 30, 2011 JUST weeks into the job, and Labour’s new shadow chancellor is beginning to shape the argument on the economy far more than his predecessor Alan Johnson ever did. But Ed Balls’ key arguments are disingenuous at best. Here City A.M. picks them apart. 1. High levels of public spending did not cause the financial crisis. [...]
Shadow chancellor claims Mervyn King doesn’t agree with austerity measures January 30, 2011 JUST weeks into the job, and Labour’s new shadow chancellor is beginning to shape the argument on the economy far more than his predecessor Alan Johnson ever did. But Ed Balls’ key arguments are disingenuous at best. Here City A.M. picks them apart. 1. High levels of public spending did not cause the financial crisis. [...]