GDP

Shares in British banks were broadly up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading despite signs that the economy is not as strong as previously believed.

If a week is a long time in politics, then Brian Cowen must be wishing that the relatively short time remaining between now and the next general election in Ireland feels like a decade to the electorate. With the latest polls showing his Fianna Fáil Party's ratings to be around 13 per cent after a lost by-election in Donegal and the first stage of an austerity Budget being passed on 07 December 2010, the Party needs all the time it can get to restore its fortunes.

The British Prime Minister had a good visit to China but received no praise for his part at the G20 Summit in Seoul, South Korea, immediately after. On his return to the Commons on 15 November 2010, Harriet Harman, standing in for Ed Miliband, hurled the jibe at Mr Cameron: "Britain needed to send a statesman to this summit but all we sent was a spectator."

Shares in British banks were broadly down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after Swiss banking giant UBS reported a third quarter loss in its investment banking arm.

A sharp recovery in the construction sector has led to stronger than expected GDP growth. Analysts had predicted growth of around 0.4 per cent, however today the Office for National Statistics has said that GDP growth actually reached 0.8 per cent in th third quarter.

It always amazed me, even in the days of black-and-white television, that almost as soon as the Budget was announced, the BBC would be interviewing a poor soul who was about to suffer Dickensian poverty in its wake. Less usual after the present Government's Spending Review announced to Parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne on Wednesday, 20 October 2010, was the media being quite so spoilt for victim choice.

On 14 October 2010, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California and former "Terminator" actor, was photographed on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street meeting his friend and British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Mr Cameron joked with the gathered reporters that the Governor would help to "terminate the budget deficit", before the pair turned and walked back into No 10. There is little doubt that the deficits of both the UK and California would be amongst the topics the two po...

In a small corner of the Financial Times on Wednesday, 14 July 2010, Eamon Quinn reported that the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Ireland's leading economics think-tank, was urging the Irish Government to pursue a firm austerity budget. In order to maintain the confidence of the sovereign debt markets, the Government needed to cut the deficits "rather than loosening spending to boost economic growth". At about the same time in July, Dan Boyle, Chairman of the Green Par...

The Bank of England is due to make its monthly decision on interest rates next Thursday after the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee decided 8-1 to keep rates at 0.5 per cent last month.

Shares in British banks were down on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the Office for National Statistics said that GDP growth in the second quarter was unchanged by its final estimate.

The Confederation of British Industry has said that it expects economic growth in 2011 to be slower than previously thought thanks to the Coalition government's emergency Budget. By contrast the CBI said it expected growth in the remainder of 2010 to be slightly faster than previously hoped for.

The Confederation of British Industry has said that the Coalition government should protect economic growth in its upcoming Spending Review.

"Is Standard & Poor's being overly pessimistic in its view on the Irish economy?" The Irish Times asked its readership to poll and the voting was a fairly close 53 percent "Yes" to 47 percent "No" by the afternoon of Friday 27 August 2010.

Ed Balls, potential leader of the UK opposition, has dismissed potential growth in the UK as GDP figures released today show a 1.2 pct growth.

Shares in BHP Billiton were up on the FTSE 100 in morning trading after the mining giant reported a doubling of its profit in the full year ended 30 June.

With further revisions of UK Q2 GDP not out until out 23rd August, the Office of National Statistics continues to process emerging indicators with UK output, income and expenditure out this Friday along with Land Registry House Prices.

Lord Pearson of Rannoch, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, has said he will be standing down from his position next month.

UK Retail sales for July and inflation data is set to go in differing directions next week as retail sales slow despite recent gains due to World Cup and inflation falls.

The pound has lowered to a one week low versus the dollar today amidst further evidence that the Bank of England are to keep interest rates low. The signs of 'softening' confidence in the economy is leading the central bank to lower its forecasts for next year to 2.5 pct from 3.4 pct in May.

UK Manufacturing and industrial data for June released today shows that the sectors did indeed grow following predictive data out this week that shows healthy performance continued throughout June into July.

The Bank of England has held interest rates in a widely expected move for the seventeenth consecutive month as spare capacity in the recovery is expected to bring inflation down.

Bank of England policymakers greeted the upcoming interest rate meeting with a view that rates will need to rise sooner than expected as economists show that the recovery has faltered.

Shares in HSBC fell yesterday on the FTSE 100 following U.S. GDP results and ahead of first half results due to published in Monday.

Falling consumer confidence by market researcher GfK NOP will lead to drop in consumer spending economists warn, as levels drop for fifth consecutive month despite a rise in retail sales.

Shares in British banks were broadly down in morning trading on the FTSE 100 ahead of second quarter GDP data due to be released this afternoon in the U.S.

The Bank of England is unlikely to raise interest rates 'near-term' after a series of economic data show that the MPC - the eight wise-men in charge of setting policy - are more likely to adopt a 'wait and see' approach to stabilise the UK recovery.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, was cautious but hopeful today as he faced a Treasury Select Committee of MP's. The Governor of UK's Central Bank, in charge of financial regulation, King said:

UK's Gross Domestic Product grew by 1.1 pct last quarter as economists forecasts were left behind in a massive construction, business and manufacturing growth that beat forecasts by as much as two times forecast of 0.5 - 0.7 pct.

Shares in British banks were broadly up in morning trading on the FTSE 100 after stronger than expected GDP figures for the second quarter helped offset fears about the results of stress tests due to be released today.

The ONS today reported that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased 1.1% in the second quarter of 2010, compared with an increase of 0.3% in the previous quarter. The growth in the second quarter is…