FTSE 100 rises by 1.7%
The FTSE 100 today rose by 1.7% amid signs that pressure on the UK economy may be receding and UK retail sales in June picked up by 0.7%. This is a welcome piece of good news for the UK economy and sentiment was further improved with news that car production figures were far better than analysts had expected. So what does this mean for the UK economy?
Despite the fact that the UK economy is very much in the doldrums and, according to many, on the verge of a double dip recession, there are still some positive signs for the future. When you also take into account a flurry of corporate activity with regards to UK companies there is reason to be potentially a little bit more upbeat in the short-term. However, the medium-term outlook for the UK economy is more difficult to forecast as budget cuts will inevitably have an impact upon not only the economy but unemployment and sentiment.
The very fact that the UK stock market has been very volatile over the last few months, and indeed extremely volatile over the last two weeks, perfectly illustrates the very difficult and very complicated financial scenario which the UK government finds itself facing.
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