The Great Debate UK
A tough spring in store for the pound
- Jane Foley is research director at Forex.com. The opinions expressed are her own.-
The pound has started the year on a negative note. Ongoing concerns over the budget deficit, an impending general election, the prospect that the Bank of England (BoE) may yet increase quantitative easing (QE) and a drop in consumer confidence are all clouding the outlook.
That said, sterling has already paid a high price for its weak fundamentals. In 2009 EUR/GBP averaged 0.8909, this is 17 percent higher than its average in the 12 months leading to the Northern Rock crisis and 35 percent above the average rate between 2000-07.
A lot of bad news is in the price but a sustained sterling recovery is unlikely until there are concrete signs of resolution to the UK’s deficit problem.
The truth about house prices
- David Kuo is director of financial website The Motley Fool. The opinions expressed are his own.-
The housing market is probably one of the most keenly followed markets in Britain. Every month we are hit between the eyes with no fewer than eight separate indices that provide pointers to the state of play in the property market. These include supply side figures from Rightmove, demand side numbers from Nationwide and mixed-adjusted indices from the Department of Communities and Local Government.
