Britain

We received word today from the British government that GDP in the UK contracted for a record sixth quarter in Q3 2009. I like Neil Hume’s headline on this one, “GDP shock flop.”

If our response focuses only on the symptoms rather than the underlying causes of the crisis, then we shall bequeath to future generations a serious risk of another crisis even worse than the one we have experienced. -Mervyn King,…

Further proof that the reflationary efforts of policy makers is taking hold comes from London in the form of record high house prices.  The Guardian reports: Property asking prices in London have broken through the record high set…

Paul Krugman has noticed that trade has absolutely collapsed with this economic downturn. It is worse than the Great Depression. Question: is this aiding global re-balancing? Here are two data points from Europe today which lead to that…

The Halifax reports that UK house prices rose for the third consecutive month in September, up 1.6% from August levels. Key to the rise has been a lack of supply coupled with increased demand (100% mortgages have helped as well). Last week,…

Nationwide released data from its August 2009 house price index showing that house prices rose 1.6% from the previous month.  This is the fourth consecutive month in which house prices have risen in the UK, bringing the year-on-year…

UK house prices have now risen for three months consecutively and four months in five according to statistics released by Nationwide Building Society this morning. The rise for July was a very robust 1.3% month-on-month, which translates…

In the just finished second quarter of 2009, the UK economy was contracting a massive 5.6% from the year ago period.  This is the worst performance since records began in 1955. What’s more, the data surprised to the downside, with the…

The Economist released its remarkably telling Big Mac Index this past weekend.  The index looks at the relative cost of Big Mac in various countries to gauge how over- or undervalued the currencies in those locales are.  Judging…

This comes via the Telegraph: UK Financial Investments (UKFI) said in its annual report that its loss on the two stakes - 70pc of RBS and 43pc of Lloyds Banking Group - had reached £10.9bn at the end of June. The losses, which are not…