Emergency measures have become the norm
The Bank rate was dropped to 0.5% five years ago as a rescue operation - it now seems normal
The Bank rate was dropped to 0.5% five years ago as a rescue operation - it now seems normal
Market sentiment in Asia appears to be improving‚ albeit with one cautious eye on tapering in the US.
Chris Iggo’s view on various fixed income asset classes in 2014 is largely similar to what actually played out last year though he does warn of some critical risks that need to be avoided.
It appears increasingly likely that 2013 marked the start of a synchronised recovery in the advanced economies, so is it now time for the Bank of England to consider hiking the base rate?
In line with our expectations, tapering did not mean tightening and in our view, yesterdays tapering announcement was orchestrated to maintain a stable market environment.
Last month was the worst November for gold prices in more than 30 years, but investors pounced on the precious metals weakness to add to their positions.
Late November 2008, and that guy with the white beard came a little early that year with a merry gift of "up to $100bn" to boost the US housing market, and so began the modern age of quantitative easing.
The US economy was buoyed by over 200k new jobs in October, but commentators are still in two minds whether QE tapering will start before the end of the year.
In February next year, Janet Yellen is expected to inherit a Federal Reserve that will have started to taper QE by the end of December although its impact on markets is likely to be minimal.
The Federal Reserve has decided to keep its bond buying programme unchanged, according to a ‘remarkable‘ statement issued last night that failed to touch on the government shutdown.
Gold has had torrid time of late, but is it about to change?
It looks increasingly likely that tapering will be off the table in the US following the weaker than expected payrolls numbers.