The UK Economy

There was bad news for chancellor George Osborne as official figures showed growth in the UK economy was slower than initially thought in the third quarter, along with a deterioration in public finances last month. The UK economy grew by 0.9% in the third quarter of the year according to the Office for National Statistics […]

UK retail sales unexpectedly stagnated in November as spending at department stores slumped the most in almost two years. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) announced sales volumes were flat in November compared with October. Retail sales had been expected to bounce back after October’s shock 0.8% fall. Anna Leach, analyst at the Confederation of […]

They are just doing their job What do the rating agencies do? They rate the debt issued by a company or a government. After analysts’ recommendations, a committee of senior staff  formally decides a rating (Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s have recently downgraded the rating of France by one notch). Every prime minister or CEO […]

The Swiss bank UBS has agreed to pay $1.5bn (£940m) to US, UK and Swiss regulators for attempting to manipulate the Libor inter-bank lending rate. It is the second major bank to be fined over Libor after Barclays’ was ordered to pay £290m to UK and US authorities in the summer, where CEO Bob Diamond […]

UK consumer prices inflation (CPI) remained unchanged in November at 2.7%, according to the Office of National Statistics. The fastest price rises were seen in the cost of fruit, bread, cereals and energy bills, while car fuel, plane tickets and beer prices fell from the month before. On the other hand, the Retail prices index […]

Has anyone ever rated the credit rating agencies? The answer is simple: no. In 2011 the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published a long report with a generic downgrade of all the agencies, without naming them and asking for a further effort not to repeat the mistakes of the past.  A second report published […]

Hard times for big banks. In the US they are making a last minute push to ease the new global liquidity requirements, that would force them to come up with an additional $800bn in easy-to-sell assets under the proposed standards. On the other hand, UK banks are facing the threat of a break-up if they […]

Ofgem, the energy regulator will permit firms running the UK’s electricity and gas grids to add an average £12 to annual energy bills up until 2020, to pay for upgrades and maintenance. The proposals are part of plans to radically overhaul Britain’s ageing energy infrastructure over the next eight years, as set out in its […]

Euro-area services and manufacturing output fell less than forecast in December, giving hope to a quicker recovery from the debt crisis that is weakening several countries. An index based on a survey of purchasing managers in both industries rose to 47.3 from 46.5 in November, London-based Markit Economics said today, whereas economists had forecast a […]

Standard & Poor’s has become the latest credit rating agency to give the UK government a scare, by downgrading the outlook on Britain’s triple A rating to negative. Fellow agencies Moody’s and Fitch both revised the UK to negative outlook earlier this year. S&P said “The outlook revision reflects our view that we could lower […]