It is time to lay off quantitative easing?
While the Bank of England has a whistlestop tour of the UK plan for next week, where such subjects as quantitative easing and other investment strategies will be discussed, it appears that quantitative easing may itself be coming to an end. The Bank of England gave its first indication to the London markets that quantitative easing may end in the short term, despite many people assuming it would be increased between now and the next MPC meeting.
The MPC confirmed that the so-called "reverse auctions" would be downsized in the short term thereby allowing the existing £125 billion quantitative easing fund to be stretched to cover the August MPC meeting. The feeling is, completely at odds to just a few days ago, that the Bank of England is set to turn more positive on the UK economy in the short to medium term, in line with the official government version of events.
Even though there is no doubt there has been some improvement in various areas of the UK economy, a number of reports over the last few weeks have appeared to contradict each other and confused consumers, businesses and the authorities alike. While it is very easy to turn the tap off, with regards to quantitative easing, it may not be so easy to turn the tap back on if the UK economy takes another downward lurch.
Share this..
Related stories
Royal Bank of Scotland announces £1.5 billion loss
Royal Bank of Scotland has today announced a £1.5 billion loss for the third quarter after a massive jump in bad debt write-offs which saw the company receive £33.5 billion in additional state funding this week. Despite the fact the UK government has ploughed billions upon billions of pounds of taxpayer's money into Royal Bank of Scotland already it seems that the business is still struggling an...
Read MoreHas Gordon Brown saved his skin?
As the PM stood up to deliver what had to be the speech of his life he must have known from an early stage that he had the hall in his lap, they laughed at his jokes, they sighed at his woe and they cheered when he attacked the Tories. Job done Mr Brown?
Well, not quite.
There was no real mention of how he intended to turn the economy around, no meaningful help for t...
Hedge fund traders turn against Lloyds bank
Lloyds bank shares are coming under growing pressure with the revelation that a number of hedge funds in the city are staking millions of pounds on the price of Lloyds bank shares falling in the short to medium term. It would appear that many analysts now believe the market is overoptimistic about the forthcoming European competition ruling and the imminent rights issue. As a consequence, the shar...
Read MoreAre consumers moving back to the high street?
Online spending in the UK retail arena fell to its lowest annual growth level last month with many suggesting that the short-term love affair with online spending may be coming to an end. However, is this really true or are there other issues which have come into play?
Unfortunately for those who are looking towards the UK high street to pull the UK economy out of the recession, the...
Will the UK lose its place in the worldwide pecking order?
For a fairly small country the UK has always seemed to punch above its weight in the worldwide financial sector and international relations. However, as the economy continues to fall at an alarming rate and more and more taxpayer's money is poured back into the system there are concerns in some quarters that the UK's presence and strength on the international scene could be under pressure.
...