The UK Economy

Has been CEO since November 2008. The Board of Directors of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group have announced that Stephen Hester will be stepping down as the Group’s Chief Executive later this year. The bank’s board believed that an “orderly succession process will give a new CEO time to prepare the privatisation process” and […]

A strange thing happened on the way to the London Stock Exchange this morning.  Beverage baron A.G. Barr (LSE:BAG) announced that the UK Competition Commission had completed its review of Barr’s proposed merger with its rival Britvic (LSE:BVIC).  The commission has made a provisional decision that the merger would not have any significant effect that […]

The GBPUSD continues forming a bullish pattern, to follow up and breaking resistance levels, along the way. We should not rule out possible bearish rebounds. The GBPUSD is trying to exceed the 200 day moving average, upward, to continue forming a lower high pattern and to break the resistance level at 1.5618. If the cable […]

I like companies that operate quietly in a well-defined niche, don’t catch a lot of headlines, operate efficiently, provide an important service, fill a vital need, and pay a handsome dividend.  Latchways (LSE:LTC) is that kind of company. The share price of LTC was up by what some would call “a modest 2.41%” today.  But […]

Ersnt & Young ITEM Club argue that George Osborne’s attempts to rebalance UK have failed. The UK has “returned to relying on” the consumer “to drive economic growth”, the latest Ernst & Young ITEM Club special report on consumer spending has argued. Criticising the failure of the UK government’s plans to rebalance the economy, the […]

Report by Think Tank policy exchange argues that “a distribution of shares in both banks to taxpayers be repaid on sale” is the best option for reprivatising Lloyds and RBS. Up to 48 million British taxpayers would have the opportunity to receive a no risk stake in RBS and Lloyds, under a new plan announced […]

Pound Sterling This week has been one of gains and upward momentum for Sterling. On Monday the Pound made gains against the US Dollar and edged upwards against the Euro after May’s manufacturing PMI data rose to 51.3 from the 49.8 recorded in April. A figure above 50 signals expansion. Construction data also boosted the Pound […]

After all the recent fear and uncertainty that markets’ upcoming monthly ‘fixes’ might be reduced due to the dealer restricting supply on improved economic/labour market outlook, the major piece of data used to decide supply (NFP) came in at a level which was OK but neither good enough to intensify fears of restricted supply nor […]

Now that we all know that the European Central Bank and the Bank of England have made no changes to their economic policies that might significantly evoke dramatic investor and consumer responses, all eyes are fixed on the U.S. jobs report that is due to be published tomorrow. The tension and apprehension are so thick […]

Rate not changed since March 2009. ​The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee MPC had today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%. The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion. Today’s meeting of […]