The UK Economy

It’s that time again and despite being a shortened week post-Easter it has been a busy one. Disappointing Manufacturing updates from Japan, China and the US while we were scoffing chocolate were offset on our return by slightly better figures from Europe which saw the week start on the front foot and the UK flagship […]

The GBPUSD was bullish in the yesterday’s session, because of the good readings in some economic calendar’s events that have “positive” impact in the cable. ¿Will continue the bullish trend for today? The GBPUSD found strong resistance at 1.5242, which is currently, forming a posible lower high pattern, to continue its bullish trend, which is […]

Bank Rate left unchanged The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.5%.  The Committee also voted to maintain the stock of asset purchases financed by the issuance of central bank reserves at £375 billion. The minutes of the meeting will be […]

Regulator Ofgem finds failures “at every stage of sale process” UK energy sector regulator Ofgem is to fine SSE £10.5million for numerous breaches of its obligations relating to telephone, in-store and doorstep sales activities. In a statement Ofgem said the “level of fine reflects the seriousness and duration of breaches, the likely substantial harm that […]

In Tuesday’s session, the UK Manufacturing PMI was published, which, was 48.3, lower than the 48.9 forecast, after that, the GBPUSD fell over 140 pips. ¿Will the bears continue to dominate the bulls, for the rest of the week? On the 1 hour chart, we can see that the GBPUSD is below the 200 day […]

The GBPUSD rose more than 40 pips in yesterday’s session. Today, the cable could define completely the trend for this week. In the fundamental outlook for today, we must pay attention to the Manufacturing PMI, which has a previous reading of 47.9 and has a forecast of 48.9. A reading higher than the forecasted, would […]

And so we add Cyprus to the list of Eurozone sovereign debt crisis bailouts. We can also add bail-ins of bank deposits (haircuts on uninsured deposits >€100K) and total bank investor wipe-outs to the list of self-help measures imposed by those holding the bailout purse strings. Politicians can shout all they like about Cyprus (often with mixed messages) being a special case and not...

Leading oil companies invest in two-year appraisal of the Clair oil field. Along with Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron BP has announced a two-year appraisal programme to look at the possibility of developing a third phase of the giant Clair field, west of the Shetland Islands at a cost of $500m The initial commitment involves a […]

LSE listed insurer Prudential has responded to a fine and censure by the UK’s Financial Services Authority saying the “investigation was into past events and does not concern the current conduct of the management of the Prudential Group”. Arguing that the “FSA accepts that Prudential did consider their obligations in forming their assessment in respect […]

The UK’s Financial Services Authority has fined insurer Prudential  £30 million for breaching FSA Principles and UKLA Listing Principles. Relating to Prudential’s failure to inform the FSA at the appropriate time that it was seeking to acquire AIA, the Asian subsidiary of AIG, in early 2010 the FSA also has also censured Tidjane Thiam, Prudential’s […]