Thread: Sterling - latest news

Hi everyone - I have created a thread which will provide updates on sterling (GBP) - thanks.

Statistics released this morning show growth in Britain's dominant services sector unexpectedly rose in September. However, firms' expectations for the next 12 months are bleak illustrated by a survey (released today) of purchasing managers.

The challenge the UK faces currently is that the economic outlook has darkened since the middle of 2011 - the main problems being slowing growth in the United States and the failure of euro zone leaders to find a solution to Greece's sovereign debt crisis.

The Bank of England today said it will inject a further £75bn into the UK economy through quantitative easing (QE). The Bank has already pumped £200bn into the economy by buying assets such as government bonds in an attempt to boost lending by commercial banks.

The last time QE took place was in 2009 – recently there have been calls for further QE to aid the fragile recovery as global growth has slackened - therefore this threatens the UK economy (e.g. exports).

Thanks

John

Interesting stuff, John. What's the chances (in your opinion) that it will work, given the situation here in the US?

short term fix that will fuel inflation, raising interest rates, = FAIL

Originally Posted by sam

Interesting stuff, John. What's the chances (in your opinion) that it will work, given the situation here in the US?

Difficult question to answer because there are so many uncertainties involved!

The injection of cash into the banks is the anticipation of a new financial crisis. Sir Mervyn King said last week it is the worst financial crisis ever, and Moody’s has followed suit by downgrading the ratings of 12 UK banks.

Part of the main reasoning behind quantitative easing is to keep interest rates low which in turn means the cost of borrowing money and loans are kept low – one of the aims is to get businesses investing/growing and this would aid with creating jobs.

QE is just part of the solution – to get back to a sense of normality it will require sound fiscal and monetary policy measures. Also, it is imperative other major nations around the world tackle their debt problems effective it is important, from a trading perspective, that these countries are financially stable.

Thanks

John

Looking ahead to this week, UK unemployment figures will be released on Wednesday.

Depending on the figures released, this could have an impact on the strength of sterling. Economists are predicting that unemployment (in Britain) is set to rise to its highest level for 17 years.