Worldwide interest rates raised again
This week has been a heavy one. We started on Monday with the funeral of our late Queen and ended with a ‘mini-budget’ from the UK Government, with multiple worldwide interest rate raises sandwiched in between. The biggest news came yesterday when the Bank of England raised interest rates from 1.75% to 2.25%- a 0.5% […]
August was officially Sterling’s worst month since Brexit
As September began yesterday, we saw the official conclusion that August had been the worst month for Sterling since the aftermath of the Brexit referendum. August started with Sterling sitting at £1.21 to the US Dollar but over the course of month saw a slow and steady decline, ending down at £1.16. Not a good […]
UK’s energy cap nearly doubles to £3,549 from October 1st
After months of speculation, changes to the UK energy price cap have finally been announced. The figure set by Ofgem has risen by 80% to £3,549 as a difficult winter for households continues to loom. (The price cap is the maximum a typical household can pay for their energy but is continually reassessed by Ofgem […]
Cost of living crisis spirals with 10.1% inflation
It’s been another gloomy week for economic data with UK inflation not showing any signs of slowing. The US CPI reading last week was celebrated for being below consensus estimates whereas, in the UK, we have not been so lucky. The first double-digit CPI reading in 40 years at 10.1% in July was 0.3 percentage […]
GDP falls for the second quarter in a row.
This week has been considerably quieter economic data front, perhaps a relief given the volume of negative news recently. US inflation figures were released on Wednesday with consumer prices rising 8.5% in July, the rate of increase has been calmed slightly as fuel prices fell. No increase was recorded in CPI between June and July, […]
BoE Governor: Expect 13%+ Inflation and a Recession!
The key update of the week is that the Bank of England has increased its interest rate by 0.5%, the largest increase since the Bank’s operational independence in 1997. The rate rise comes on the back of a dismal economic forecast by the BoE that forecasted inflation rates of 13% by the end of the […]
Fears of recession loom as inflation spirals and confidence declines
This week has been dominated by the fears of a looming recession following the release of key GDP and confidence data. Significant news was released on Thursday when it emerged that the US economy shrank for a second consecutive quarter. This technical recession is due to a 0.9% GDP contraction for Q2 following a 1.6% […]
Interest rate rises in the Eurozone & Canada
It has been a big week in the EU with plenty of data and political action. The ECB has increased interest rates by 0.5%, the first rate rise in the Eurozone since 2011. It comes at a time when inflation has hit record highs of 8.6% and the economic gulf between member states is widening. […]
Euro hits parity with USD for first time since 2002
Unsurprisingly, inflation continues to be the topic of the moment with figures announced Wednesday showing US prices rising 9.1% in June compared to a year ago, the highest rate in 40 years. Wednesday’s result was surprisingly higher than consensus estimates of 8.8%. Inflation continued to be led by large food and fuel price increases but […]
Markets react to the resignation of Boris Johnson
This week’s major story is that British PM Boris Johnson has resigned after 59 of his ministers quit within 48 hours. The flurry of resignations followed news that Mr Johnson knew about a history of sexual misconduct concerning Assistant Whip Chris Pincher. Mr Johnson intends to remain as PM until the autumn. Sterling reaction to […]
