The head of the Bank of England and his fellow ‘Central Bankers’ around the world have been talking doom and gloom. But many, including our favoured portfolio managers, have taken some heart at this. The plan as they see it is to scare us all into spending less and not asking for pay rises, as it could be that this, with some rises in interest rates, will move things in the right direction. And it does seem to be working. They say it’s been ‘retail’ and DIY investors who’ve panicked, sold shares and brought the markets down; while the big ‘institutional’ boys have largely kept the faith. More like the run-up to the ‘Golden 50s’ in the US than the dire 1970s. Hope they’re right.
“UK slips into recession as economy contracts 0.1% in December”
This week’s big economic and bad election news is that we are, or certainly have been, officially in a recession. You may not have thought you were, or you may have thought you have been for some time, as we and its effects are all different.