Housing was a leading indicator of the last recession; is it now heralding the double dip? Chancellor George Osborne could find the property market undoes his best efforts to keep the economy growing.
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If credit-card rates are at a 12-year peak but card usage is at record levels, why do we think interest rates are a tool for controlling the economy and inflation? Consumers appear insensitive to rates.
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When will UK interest rates rise? Not before the general election but they could well be increased before the end of the year. And if there is a run on the pound, the pressure will be for higher rates sooner rather than later.
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There has been a stream of stock markets for small companies over the past three decades, but with the latest, the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), in decline, is it time for another go at this problem?
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It’s a funny old world where Tesco (LON:TSCO) is the answer to a monopolies problem.
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Instead of shackling lenders, the reform of the mortgage market should concentrate on regulating borrowers. They were just as greedy and ignorant but liable to lose much more than the banks.
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What’s worse, low wages or no wages? Shouldn’t the minimum wage rise due in October be suspended for people prepared to accept less if the company pledges to employ more?
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Have the laws of supply and demand been repealed? Interest rates have come down, yet borrowing has fallen.
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Borrowing is finally getting easier, according to a CBI survey, but don’t bank on it. To shore up their own balance sheets the big banks are planning to severely reduce their lending.
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Sir Richard Branson has sold a third of his spaceship venture at a price valuing the project at $900m. What planet are the buyers on? Abu Dhabi, it seems.
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