Economy and general comment

• Market Update
  
  08 Oct, 2008
  By Mark Dampier

  Stock market moves have been extraordinary. The line ‘markets can go down as well as up’ seems somewhat of an understatement, but the news at last of a policy initiative...

• Market Update
  
  07 Oct, 2008
  By Mark Dampier

  Can we really make any sense out of the stock market movements? It is well known that stock markets are a discounting mechanism. In other words they look ahead and try and reflect...

• Looking after the pennies
  
  07 Oct, 2008
  By Danny Cox

  If you have a pile of paperwork on the dining room table, or next to the computer in the study ready to be “filed” you are not alone. Mine stares at me every time I sit...

• Remember September
  
  01 Oct, 2008
  By Richard Hunter

  Astonishing times. If there is anyone who has worked in this industry and has seen one month like the one we have just had, they have not yet made themselves known. It feels as...

• Confidence is everything
  
  30 Sep, 2008
  By Stephen Lansdown

  The failure of the House of Representatives to pass the bail out plan last night was disappointing. The investment markets had focused on this as a panacea to all their ailments...

• Inflation
  
  24 Sep, 2008
  By Ben Yearsley

  A figure largely overlooked during the turmoil in world stock markets recently is that of UK inflation. August inflation figures were released and the Consumer Price Index (CPI)...

• Chinese interest rates cut - is the boom over?
  
  23 Sep, 2008
  By Alexander Davies

  In a shock announcement recently, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), cut interest rates from 7.47% to 7.2%. Rates were widely expected to not fall until next year. During 2007...

• A white knight on a black horse
  
  18 Sep, 2008
  By Richard Hunter

  Following unprecedented events in the financial markets over recent days, turmoil within the banking sector and government intervention in an attempt to pacify nervousness, the...

• Market Update
  
  08 Sep, 2008
  By Mark Dampier

  The main feature of the Stock Market over the last few weeks has been the weakness of Sterling, or to put it the other way around, the strength of the US Dollar. The Dollar has...

• The interest rate yo-yo
  
  05 Sep, 2008
  By Meera Patel

  In a widely expected move, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has kept interest rates on hold once again at 5% this month. For much of this year the bank has...

• Light at the end of the tunnel?
  
  29 Aug, 2008
  By Mark Dampier

  Generally the economic news remains grim and frankly I don’t expect this to change in the near future. The housing market continues to fall and with the absence of mortgage...

• Winners and losers
  
  22 Aug, 2008
  By Richard Hunter

  There was another collective groan from the consumer over the last couple of days as the closure of an important Norwegian gas pipeline was announced. This particular pipeline, which...

• Shock, denial, regret, acceptance
  
  19 Aug, 2008
  By Stephen Lansdown

  When I look over the events of the past year or so I think the above heading summarises everything. It was indeed a shock to the system when the US sub-prime problems arose and...

• Market volatility
  
  18 Aug, 2008
  By Mark Dampier

  Markets have continued their incredible volatility. What in the industry is called a vicious sector rotation has been going on for the last couple of weeks with banks, builders and...

• It's always darkest before the dawn - a stockmarket recovery?
  
  14 Aug, 2008
  By Meera Patel

  If this year is anything to go by, it serves as a reminder that volatility has always been a feature of the stockmarket. It doesn’t help when news headlines report that...

• Don't bury your head in the sand
  
  06 Aug, 2008
  By Stephen Lansdown

  It is tough in investment markets at the moment and the likelihood is that it will be tough for some time to come. The point I think we should remember is that just as when times are...

• 3.8% Inflation - no problems compared to the Zimbabweans
  
  25 Jul, 2008
  By Ben Yearsley

  Two contrasting reports came out last week regarding inflation. There has been much hand wringing at the Bank of England over the state of the UK economy and the fact that inflation...

• Action Stations
  
  22 Jul, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  First the bad news: Inflation is going up, wage settlements are being squeezed and the first job losses are popping up in some sectors of the market, your house is worth less than...

• Expanding inflation
  
  17 Jul, 2008
  By Tom McPhail

  The latest inflation numbers from the Office for National Statistics have confirmed that daily living is getting more expensive, and that it is getting worse not better; this is...

• Cut out and keep
  
  16 Jul, 2008
  By Richard Hunter

  The old market adage is that a bull market needs to climb a wall of worry. Unfortunately, the wall is currently smothered in anti-climb paint. Not that the figures mean anything in...