Times continue to be interesting given the problems in the US and gold and gas reaching record prices. The UK budget was held last week. Nothing much happened as the Chancellor has some fairly simple and fundamental problems. The UK economy is not growing as quickly as hoped/wished for and tax revenues are less than out goings. So the Chancellor was unable to give much away or take much more from our pockets. In the current climate sterling itself is a side show and continues to gain against the US$ and stay close to all time lows against the Euro.
The US$ sits at US$2.017/£1 inter bank. The US is in recession given every possible measure that could be used. At the beginning of last week the Fed made huge amounts of funds available as the credit market wasn't working i.e. banks are [still] not lending to each other. The final act of the week was the bailout of a US investment bank which had effectively gone bust. The Fed is expected to cut US interest rates by 0.75% this week. Can we expect more bad news from the US? I've no doubt about it. Not encouraging times.
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