UK Data Response Consumer Prices (Dec.) Inflation took another step down in December and further chunky falls lie ahead, helped by the recent announcements of gas and electricity price cuts. This clears the way for significantly more asset... 17th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Producer Prices (Dec.) A sharp drop in both input and output price inflation in December had always looked likely, given the sharp rise in prices a year ago. Nonetheless, today’s figures confirmed that disinflationary... 13th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Industrial Production (Nov.) Today’s figures suggested that the industrial sector is heading straight back into recession and will fuel concerns that the overall economy stopped growing in the fourth quarter. 12th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Trade (Nov.) November’s trade figures bucked the trend so far this year of a general improvement in the economic data. 11th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response UK BRC Retail Sales Monitor (Dec.) & BCC Survey (Q4) The UK data released overnight enjoyed the slightly more upbeat tone seen in the other news on the economy so far this year. 10th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Halifax House Prices (Dec.) Today’s data from Halifax show that house prices fell in four of the final five months of 2011. With the economy set to re-enter recession and the recent rise in unemployment having much further to... 6th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response CIPS Services Report (Dec.) & Credit Conditions Survey (Q4) December’s CIPS/Markit report on services echoed the manufacturing and construction surveys already released in suggesting that the recovery regained some momentum at the very end of last year... 5th January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response CIPS/Markit Report on Manufacturing (Dec.) The improvement in December’s UK CIPS/Markit manufacturing survey got the data flow at the beginning of 2012 off to a relatively good start, but hardly suggested that the industrial recovery is back... 3rd January 2012 · 1 min read
UK Data Response MPC Minutes (Dec.) & Public finances (Nov.) The minutes of December’s MPC meeting reiterated the Committee’s view that there is little point in trying to fine-tune policy, but nonetheless suggested that the door remains open to more... 21st December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Retail Sales (Nov.) The official retail sales figures confirmed that November was a bad month for retailers and will raise concerns that spending will be soft over the festive period. 15th December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Labour Market Data (Oct./Nov.) Unemployment is still rising – and would be increasing far more rapidly were it not for large numbers of workers becoming self-employed. We expect unemployment to rise much further as the economy... 14th December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Consumer Prices (Nov.) November’s inflation figures provided further hope that inflation has now passed its peak and could soon fall pretty sharply. Give it a year, and the prospect of deflation could be the prime concern... 13th December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Trade (Oct.) & Producer Prices (Nov.) Given that the £75bn of asset purchases announced in October has not been completed yet, today’s decision by the MPC to leave policy unchanged was unsurprising. However, the Committee has sent some... 9th December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Industrial Production (Oct.) October’s official UK industrial production figures were even weaker than we or the consensus had expected and suggested that the risk that the overall economy re-enters recession in the fourth... 7th December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Halifax House Prices (Nov.) This month’s fall in the Halifax house price index was hardly a surprise given other recent, downbeat economic news. And with the labour market weakening rapidly and the economy on the brink of... 6th December 2011 · 1 min read
UK Data Response CIPS/Markit Report on Services (Nov.) The modest improvement in the UK CIPS/Markit report on services in November does not alter the big picture that the overall economy is verging on recession. 5th December 2011 · 1 min read