Britain

I want to pick up where I left off yesterday and highlight the growth dichotomy between Euroland on the one hand and the U.S. and the U.K. on the other. Yesterday I wrote that the risk is to the upside in the U.S. (and the U.K.) if…

The latest data out of Europe shows the economy in the euro zone continuing to expand and suggests that we are probably in a technical recovery. In Europe, however, the threat to recovery is to the downside, whereas in the U.S. the main…

The central banks in Sweden and Germany are concerned about overheating economies as the European sovereign debt crisis has led to a net inflow of investment into their housing sectors. If one looks at European economic policy, these…

Long-term interest rates may have bottomed several months ago, but rate will remain low for several more months. For good reason, many observers and investors are concerned that the dysfunctional political system in the US will renew the…

Osborne's behaviour both angers and frightens me. He is playing brinkmanship with the UK economy to achieve political ends. Nothing he does makes much sense from an economic point of view - which is why the flagship Help to Buy scheme has…

By Sober Look Today we saw another confirmation that the UK's placement on the economic cycle curve (see post) in the "recovery acceleration" section is quite reasonable. The KPMG/REC employment report for the UK showed something we haven't…

Glass-Steagall is dead. Rather like Soviet-era Communist leaders, it has been officially dead since 1999, and actually dead for much longer. Though there was no state funeral, the body was not embalmed or put on display and few people…

Fundamental and technical considerations are aligned in favor of the US dollar. The latest string of economic data, including the June employment report, is strengthening the market's conviction that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering…

Daily comments on finance, economic and market news for 6 Jun 2013

The Daily Telegraph produced this chart based on OECD data on housing markets around the world. It shows which markets are most undervalued and which are most overvalued on a price to rent and price to income ratio basis. Take a look and…