Posts Tagged ‘GDP’
Budget to be held on March 24
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has confirmed the date of the Budget as March 24 with speculation mounting that the general election will be 6 weeks after – on May 6.
The Treasury is set to confirm the Budget date later in a written statement to MPs.
Meanwhile, in the build-up to the budget, Chancellor Alistair Darling [...]
US unemployment rate holds steady at 9.7%
The Labor Department has today revealed the US unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.7% in February and lower than the 10% rate reported in December.
According to the Labor Department, employers cut 36,000 jobs last month – fewer than the 50,000 analysts had been expecting and compares to a revised 26,000 job cuts in January.
In [...]
US Fed’s influential Beige Book sees modest growth
The latest publication of the US Federal Reserve’s influential Beige Book reported that the world’s largest economy has continued to grow this year but at a “modest” pace.
The Beige Book, which is compiled eight times a year, is based on reports and comments from businesses throughout the US.
It said despite a pick up in consumer [...]
BoE keeps interest rates and QE on hold
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has today elected to keep UK interest rates on hold at the historically low level of 0.5% for the 12th consecutive month.
In addition, it has opted not to inject any more funds into the economy via its quantitative easing (QE) scheme – introduced to stimulate growth [...]
UK service sector recovers after snowy January
The UK’s closely-watched service sector recovered in February after experiencing a dip in January as a result of bad weather disrupting services, as well as the VAT rise.
The latest activity index from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS)/Markit PMI showed a reading of 58.4 in February, up from 54.5 in January.
Any reading above [...]