The UK Economy

Increase in activity during May the fastest in over a year. The UK service sector activity rose at an accelerated rate during May as new business increased at the sharpest pace for over three years. Amid evidence of marginal capacity pressures and with positive expectations for the coming year, companies added to their payroll numbers […]

Everyone knows the story of the prodigal son and how he took his portion of his father’s fortune and mismanaged it through a series of foolish choices.  Then, when he was destitute, he returned home, where his father restored him to his familial position. Apparently the 21st Century version has another chapter.  In the new, […]

Just to be certain, before putting fingers to keyboard for this story, I looked up the word “unstable” in the dictionary.  It defined “unstable” as “not stable.”  I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but even my cat could have figured that out.  Digging a little deeper, I found the following definition […]

Loan cuts despite funding costs falling “significantly”. The Bank of England has published updated data on the use of the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS). The data shows that for each group participating in the FLS the amount borrowed from the Bank and the net quarterly flows of lending to UK households and businesses for […]

The GBPUSD is trying to resume the bullish trend, but strong resistances are preventing it. The GBPUSD failed to break the resistance level at 1.5155 and now is trying to climb up to the resistance level at 1.5257, a strong resistance in the way. We should note that if the GBPUSD manages to break this […]

Deal set to be completed next week. Lloyds Banking Group has announced that it has agreed the sale of a portfolio of US RMBS (residential mortgage backed securities) to a number of different institutions for a cash consideration of £3.3 billion. The transaction is part of the Group’s continued capital accretive non-core asset reduction. The […]

After last week’s QE3 taper tantrum and fall from near all-time highs, the shortened week started on a calmer note with what looked like a rebound. This ultimately proved a tease and short-lived with better US data (housing, manufacturing, consumer confidence) being taken well in terms of growth/recovery rather than scaring market with worries of […]

The Eurozone has reached another record high unemployment rate in April 2013 as the single-currency block continues to be mired in its longest recession since its creation 14 years ago. Data from EU’s statistics agency, Eurostat, revealed seasonally-adjusted jobless rate in the 17-member bloc rose from 12.1% in March to 12.2% in April of this […]

Pound Sterling – With UK markets closed for a national holiday it was a slow start to the week for the Pound. Although Sterling went on to weaken against the US Dollar as UK retail sales dropped to a 16-month low, it was able to recoup losses as separate reports showed a surge in British house […]

Kingfisher, owner of leading brands including B&Q and Screwfix, reports Q1 total sales down 0.4% (-4.2% LFL) and retail profit of £114 million. The owner of B&Q has seen a nearly 30% fall in profits in Q1. Kingfisher Plc argue that Sales improved at the end of the quarter, following a return to more normal […]