ECONOMY

Royal wedding boosts UK retail sales

Official photographs of the Royal Wedding.
The royal wedding appears to have brought happiness not only to Prince William and Catharine Middleton, but also to Britain's high streets, as retail sales climbed 1.1 per cent in April.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou

Eurozone talks to focus on Greece

Eurozone financial ministers are to continue their talks in Brussels, with discussions now expected to focus mainly on the poor state of the crumbling Greek economy. Greece got a 110bn euro (£94bn) bail-out in 2010, but leaders are now coming to the realisation that this was not enough to fix the county’s economy. Greece however is not the only European country in trouble since on Monday ministers approved a 78bn euro bail-out for Portugal while the IMF has also approved 1.58bn euros in new assi...
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Docking the Good Ship QE2

Now that we are in the year's second quarter, the end of the United States Federal Reserve's asset purchase program - dubbed quantitative easing two (QE2) - suddenly seems to be rushing toward us. The debate among market participants that remains unsettled is whether June 30th will in fact be the retirement of this form of monetary policy, or will it instead spawn an offspring for another period of time - QE3?
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London’s House Price Gains and the Lettings Market

December 2010 saw UK average house prices falling by 0.2% on the previous month for the fourth month in a row. By contrast, London property prices rose by 1% and were up 6.2% up overall on December 2009. In some areas, property prices had risen by more than 10% and the market is now suffering an acute shortage of supply. Some estate agents claim there is now a ratio of five buyers to every one available property within the capital.
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UK Company Insolvency: More Threats This Year

Business rescue professionals are concerned the UK economy still continues to present risks to the financial health of a large number of UK firms. Figures released for the final quarter of 2010 demonstrate that more firms went into administration than during the previous quarter.
Employee counts U.S. dollar at money changer in Jakarta

Is the dollar’s role slipping?

During the height of the financial crisis, the U.S. dollar spiked as investors fled to the quality and safety of what is considered to be the world's reserve currency. Peaking in March 2009, the dollar has had but one strong rally since. That occurred in late spring 2010 as worries that the U.S. might experience a double-dip recession heightened. As equities were sold investors once again plowed into the valued destination of the dollar. In both instances the dollar's store of value be...
American evacuees from Tripoli disembarking from the chartered ferry that brought them out of Libya

Is $100 oil an economic death-knell?

Recent turmoil in the Middle East has contributed to a surge in oil prices. While prices began to march upward in the last several months on the back of improving global economic conditions, threats that a supply disruption coming from a strategically important oil producing country sent prices higher by more than 10 percent in just the last week.
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China Syndrome

The central bank of China raised interest rates again last week and followed that by increasing the reserve requirement for the country's banks this week. This has been a fairly consistent pattern by the People's Bank of China over the last four months. The signs of creeping inflation and speculative activity in the property markets are clearly higher than the authorities' comfort level. Consequently, monetary policy is in the midst of "catching up" to economic activity.
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The hibernating global bond bear is awakening

Central banks in the U.K., Europe, Australasia and Latin America, are focused on the ill effects of inflation, which is rising at a rate that threatens to impair economic growth in their respective jurisdictions. This follows a period where these economies were attempting to stoke growth through monetary stimuli that led to lower interest rates and sizeable gains in bond prices. This is now changing.
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Inflate the Way Out

The IMF estimates the U.S. gross outstanding public debt to GDP ratio at approximately 100% for 2011. Not good, but the U.S. can point to Japan and Italy as having higher ratios. But probably not many think that Japan's dismal economic picture is one that the U.S. should try to model itself on. Italy also has more than its share of economic issues and an economic framework that not many countries aspire to.
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Manchester's Budget - A little less "big society" than it would like

On Tuesday 08 February 2011, Manchester City Council outlined detailed plans of its £109 million in cuts that it will make during the coming financial year. The City Council state that they are being forced into making these substantial cuts by a dramatic reduction in central government support. A further withdrawal of central funding is forecast for the 2012/13 financial year compelling the City Council to make additional savings of £170 million.
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A tale of two economies

A recent report on economic activity in Britain was stunningly anemic. It showed the U.K. economy actually contracted in the fourth quarter of 2010 by 0.5 percent. The troubling aspect was not just that it underwhelmed expectations, but that it comes at a time when inflation is rising to an uncomfortable level. Increasing prices have prompted discussions of a tightening in monetary policy by U.K. central bankers. Inflation rose to 3.7% in December, well above the official target of 2%, and s...
Ireland's Foreign Minister Martin gestures during a news conference at a hotel in Dublin

With its Finance Bill passed, Ireland now makes ready for a General Election

There was little good news for Fianna Fáil this past weekend with a general election expected to be held on 25 February and no change in the prediction that the current ruling party are going to lose badly. However, with a new party leader, Micheál Martin, Fianna Fáil's support does appear to have stabilised at 16 per cent. This was found to be the case in two opinion polls, one conducted by Red Co for the Sunday Business Post and another by MillwardBrown Lansdowne for the Sunday Independen...
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King gestures during a speech

Inflation worries handcuff Central Bankers

With flagging economies and worries about austerity measures further crimping growth, about the last thing central bankers from the U.K. and Europe need to consider is combating inflation. But that is exactly what is being heaped upon decision-makers at the moment.
Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates gestures during a meeting with China's President Hu Jintao at Necessidades Palace

Is default Portugal’s Manifest Destiny?

The daisy chain of events manifesting from the European fiscal crisis that initially consumed Greece then Ireland in its wake has skipped into Portugal. This is not being greeted by market participants as much of a surprise since this development had been foreshadowed for months. Portuguese bond yields had risen above 7%, roughly 4% higher than the benchmark 10-year German bund. This is the inglorious territory of Greek and Irish bond yields just as they were teetering on fiscal insolvency. ...
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