Interest rates will stay on hold at their record low until 2016, according to a leading forecaster, amid warnings that the UK has already double-dipped back into recession. 
The Bank of England will be forced to keep the base rate at 0.5pc for another four years.
Growth under or around 1pc for years to come will force the Bank of England to keep the base rate at 0.5pc, cut to that level in March 2009, for another four years, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) predicts.
The think tank believes the UK economy shrank in the last three months of 2011 and is still contracting in the current quarter, marking a recession.
It has slashed its expectations of the UK’s growth for 2012 from the already paltry 0.7pc it forecast in October to a 0.4pc fall. A still more painful contraction of 1.1pc looms if developments in the eurozone take a sharp turn for the worse, the think tank warned.
Read more…
Major events that have a significant impact on the trading of the pair GBP/USD for the week ending January 13th, 2012 are as follows:
On Monday, In United States, member of Federal Open Market Committee, Dennis Lockhart addressed at a public event.
On Tuesday, January 10th, 2012, British Retail Consortium will publish its report on UK’s retail sales. The country will also report industry data on house price balance while in United States, FOMC member John Williams and Sandra Pianalto will address at an event.
On Wednesday, January 11th, government data on crude oil stockpiles will be released in United States while US Federal Reserve will publish its Beige Book. Moreover, FOMC member Dennis Lockhart will also address at an event. In United Kingdom, official data on country’s trade balance will be reported.
On Thursday, January 12th, 2012, government report on manufacturing production in United Kingdom will be released. Mor
Read more…
The RushCard, one of the worst prepaid cards on the market, has announced a new savings tool and cash-back rewards program that it says “helps hard-working members who want to budget and save, but are finding it difficult to do so with the big banks.”
Don’t be fooled. The card is still a bad deal for consumers and should be avoided.
The new feature, called RushGoals, encourages you to set up Goals savings accounts.
For each month you maintain an average daily balance of $500 or more across your Goals accounts, RushCard will reward you with a $2 credit that will be applied against your monthly fees, $24 a year if you maintain that balance for a full year.
“With RushGoals, we not only give customers money back, we’ll also help them realize their financial goals,” RushCard founder Russell Simmons said. “This is ju
Read more…
Rewards credit card offers are a great idea and a real help if you already shop in a way that could offer you privileges without having to change the lifestyle. If you use a credit card very often, as in business, for example, where your company pays your expenses, then a reward credit card is probably the best type for you to have.
The rewards are not just confined to travel miles and cash back. Suppliers are always thinking up new and unique rewards to attract customers, for example tickets to family attractions, movie tickets and discounts on household appliances. Read more…
Year-end festivities in Naples are not for the faint-hearted. The locals’ idea of fun is to light illegal firecrackers and toss them from windows and rooftops in china pots.
These home-made mini-bombs are usually dubbed after weapons, film stars or football players as a sign of their potency. But the latest concoction marks a break from this naming tradition. A banger of reputedly monstrous strength, it is called “The Spread” after the difference in interest rates between 10-year Italian bonds and their benchmark German equivalent.
When something as obscure as the bond market has entered public language, you know that something big has happened.
The spread indicates the cost of a country’s borrowing: every percentage-point increase translates into a bill that can be billions of euros. It tips a hugely indebted, struggling economy that bit closer to bankruptcy – unless a government musters the resolve to cut welfare programmes, reduce bureaucratic payrolls or increase taxes.
Read more…
Recent Comments