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Undoubtedly today’s events will be dominated by the release of the US GDP figures. Consensus forecasts expect annualised growth of 3.5% with any substantial deviation from this figure having the potential to cause USD volatility with other major currencies. The significant movements by the GBP experienced earlier this week after…
Sterling has managed to claw back some of the losses it made following the shocking GDP data on Tuesday. This was helped on part by the release of the minutes from the last Bank of England policy decision which showed another member had joined Andrew Sentance in calling for a…
European equity markets closed lower yesterday, with the UK’s surprise 0.5% fall in GDP in the fourth quarter helping to sour sentiment. While the ONS estimated that 0.5 percentage points of the drop was related to the cold weather in December, that would still leave the underlying position of the…
Well, good old British manufacturing continues to power the fragile UK economy with the PMI manufacturing index remaining at 61.5, the highest recorded since the index began in the early 1990’s (Anything above 50 signifies growth). In further glimmers of hope, UK house prices also staged a surprise recovery in…
The UK was once renowned for her world famous manufacturing expertise with achievements such as Concorde, the QE2, the Spitfire and the millennium dome (okay you can scrub the last one). The long term decline of the UK manufacturing base however seems to have been stemmed in recent times with…
Friday’s downward revision of Q4 GDP from a 0.5% to a 0.6% contraction adds yet another headache for the Bank of England’s MPC – as it walks the fine line between controlling inflation and supporting growth. These figures may make policymakers think twice about raising interest rates in the near…
Australia is a popular choice for British emigration. A recent survey undertaken by Currency UK, a foreign exchange broker, found that three out of 10 Brits would like to immigrate Down Under. Comparing this year’s poll with one conducted in 2005, we see that the number of Brits who would…
Well the rumours were almost true, a third person did in fact vote for a rate hike, but it wasn’t the rumoured Vice Chancellor, Charlie Bean, but in fact BOE chief economist Spencer Dale. It meant the February meeting was split 6-3 in favour of keeping rates on hold and…
Today is an important day in foreign currency, particularly for users of Pounds Sterling. The release of the MPC minutes at 9.30 GMT will show how the current dynamics of the MPC are playing up. So has someone else joined the group for a rate hike or not? Well, Vice…
The list, compiled annually by The Economist Intelligence Unit, is based on a study of 140 cities around the world. It rates cities across five areas: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure. Vancouver managed to score 98 points out of 100 mainly thanks to its high standards in…