UK Data Response MPC Minutes (May.) The minutes of May’s MPC confirmed that the Committee as a whole is still singing from the same Dovish hymn sheet as the Governor. Interest rates are unlikely to rise for a long time and further... 19th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response UK Consumer Prices (Apr.) CPI inflation surprised on the upside again in April. But Mervyn King made it clear in his letter to the new Chancellor George Osborne that the MPC is not about to panic and raise interest rates in... 18th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response UK Trade (Mar.) March’s trade figures suggested that, after a period of weather-induced volatility, the underlying trend in net trade remains disappointingly weak. It remains hard to see what part of the economy is... 13th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Inflation Report (May) & Labour Market (Mar./Apr.) The dovish tone of the Bank of England’s May Inflation Report suggested that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has no intention of tightening policy anytime soon. If anything, it is more likely to... 12th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response UK Industrial Production (Mar.) March’s industrial production figures confirmed that the industrial sector expanded strongly in the first quarter of the year. But industry is not big enough to drive a solid recovery in the overall... 11th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Halifax House Prices (Apr.) News that the Halifax house price index suffered a marginal fall in April is a reminder that the recovery in house prices has not had a firm economic foundation. With the acute supply shortages that... 7th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Halifax House Prices (Apr.) News that the Halifax house price index suffered a marginal fall in April is a reminder that the recovery in house prices has not had a firm economic foundation. With the acute supply shortages that... 7th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response UK CIPS/Markit Report on Services (Apr.) April’s UK CIPS/Markit report on services suggested that the recovery in the services sector is failing to maintain the momentum seen on the industrial side of the economy. 6th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response CIPS/Markit Report on Manufacturing (Apr.) April’s CIPS/Markit report on manufacturing provided further evidence that the economic recovery, for now, is building a decent amount of momentum. However, the continued weakness of housing market... 4th May 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Nationwide House Prices (Apr.) House price inflation returned to double-digit rates in April, for the first time since June 2007. However, with the pressure on household incomes more likely to rise than ease and surveys pointing to... 29th April 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Nationwide House Prices (Apr.) The contradictory messages offered by the Halifax and Nationwide house price data make it almost impossible to draw clear conclusions about the health of the market. But, at the very least, May’s drop... 29th April 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Preliminary GDP (Q1) The weakness of GDP growth in the first quarter of this year may not be as bad for the Government’s election prospects as it might seem. But it is clearly disappointing for the economic outlook. 23rd April 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Public Finances & Retail Sales (Mar.) March’s public finances figures provided the Government with a modest pre-election boost in revealing an unexpected undershoot of the Budget forecasts for public borrowing in 2009/10. But a long and... 22nd April 2010 · 1 min read
UK Data Response MPC Minutes (Apr.) & Labour Data (Feb./Mar.) The minutes of April’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting showed that the Committee is still unlikely to alter policy in the near future. Meanwhile, despite the headline-grabbing drop in claimant... 21st April 2010 · 1 min read