UK Economics Weekly More clear signals from the MPC Comments from the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) dominated events last week, with the key message being that a further extension of quantitative easing (QE) could soon be on the cards. Of course, we... 1st March 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly A week to forget! Last week was clearly one to forget in terms of news on the UK economy. Inflation rose to a 14 month high, unemployment resumed its upward trend, bank lending weakened, retail spending collapsed and... 22nd February 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly MPC retains faith in spare capacity to reduce inflation Last week’s Inflation Report was always likely to show a downward revision to the MPC’s growth forecasts and it duly delivered. But less certain was whether the recent rise in inflation would have... 15th February 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly The big squeeze is still coming Several recent developments appear to have cast some doubt over the likelihood and size of the widely expected post-election tightening of fiscal policy. Recent opinion polls have raised the chances... 8th February 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Why is the UK lagging behind? It was bad enough that the UK was one of the last major economies to pull out of recession, but we also now know that it saw a particularly feeble post-recession bounce. One reason is that big... 1st February 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Sterling’s election rally? The pound’s recent climb to a four month high against the euro has revived memories of sterling’s major appreciations ahead of the last two changes of government back in 1979 and 1997. We do not... 25th January 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Can consumers keep this up? From what we can tell so far, the high street has had a surprisingly good Christmas – and not just due to people trying to beat the VAT rise. We have had our fingers burnt before in betting agains UK... 18th January 2010 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly 2010 – A bumpy road to recovery Last week’s news, all but confirming that the deepest peacetime recession on record finally came to an end in the fourth quarter of last year, suggests that the economy started 2010 with a reasonable... 11th January 2010 · 1 min read
