Ear to the Ground
It was the turn of Halifax to report weaker house prices this week, following a negative report by Nationwide last week. Halifax reported that house prices had fallen by 2.3% in the month of November, the largest drop since November 2008. In the US meanwhile, some economic data surprised to the upside. The ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI for November came out at a stronger-than-expected…
Ear to the Ground
It has been a quieter one on the UK economic data front this week, especially in the UK. There was data out regarding the housing market and it was no real surprise to see a fall in both price and activity here. Mortgage approvals and mortgage lending came in lower than in the previous month and also below forecast.
Ear to the Ground
A little quieter on the economic front this week. The release of the FOMC minutes from the previous meeting contained no real surprises and reflected very much what was said by Chair Powell in the post-meeting press conference and statements made by other Fed governors since. The Minutes confirmed the…
Ear to the Ground
This week saw the release of the UK budget. Some are terming it as being a ‘rescue’ budget and this is understandable given the forecasts made by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). They forecast that the economy will contract by 1.4% in 2023, before expanding by 1.3% in 2024, 2.6% and 2.7% in the following two years.
Ear to the Ground
A number of central banks have held their latest meeting to set interest rates. The ECB acted in line with expectations, increasing its policy rate by 0.75% to 1.5%. The ECB also offered hints as to the future direction of its rate setting. Whilst further hikes are expected to combat inflation, which is still deemed as being too high, the central bank suggested that pace of rate hikes may be slower moving forward.
Ear to the Ground
This week as again been dominated by central bank actions. Here in the UK we had the Bank of England working busily. Firstly they auctioned their first tranche of government bonds as they looked to reduce their balance sheet holding of £838bn. They sold £750m of gilts which had a remaining maturity of between three and seven years.
Ear to the Ground
A number of central banks have held their latest meeting to set interest rates. The ECB acted in line with expectations, increasing its policy rate by 0.75% to 1.5%. The ECB also offered hints as to the future direction of its rate setting. Whilst further hikes are expected to combat inflation, which is still deemed as being too high, the central bank suggested that pace of rate hikes may be slower moving forward.
Ear to the Ground
It is fair to conclude that this week has again been dominated by politics, with the resignation of Liz Truss stealing the headlines. This has been very well publicised in great depth and therefore we will leave it there. From an economic perspective in the UK, this week we saw the release of CPI to September. This came in at 10.1%. This was slightly ahead of the consensus forecast of 10% and given this did little to unnerve markets.
Ear to the Ground
Eyes have been firmly focussed on the US this week as investors awaited the latest inflation print. Although a lagging indicator, the level on inflation in the economy is main factor driving the US Federal Reserve monetary policy. The headline inflation for September came out at 8.2%. Feelings were mixed on its release. ..
Ear to the Ground
This week has very much been a to and fro between whether the US Federal Reserve are about to pivot and adopt a more dovish monetary policy stance, or perhaps less tightening stance would be a more appropriate way to put it. Investors are therefore focussing on every scrap of economic data which they can get their hands on. We appear to be back…
