Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Are there green shoots out there or not?

I suppose that the famous green shoots are out there in the UK economy but don't tell
anybody in the car industry. However, retail sales are doing well and house prices have not collapsed, although there is not the same size of market. British house prices are still discouraging the first-time buyer and mortgage lenders still want outsize deposits but physical assets retain their allure, if there is going to be major inflation.
Commentators say that the UK banks have stabilised but the spotlight has fallen on the state of the building societies with the West Brom considered to be in trouble. Then, there is the UK property sector, which is in a dire state. Apparently, the banks don't want to pull the plug and make the situation worse. The wheels have fallen off at Brixton Estate and there are mutterings about
Land Securities.
The Bank of England governor Mervyn King is not very upbeat about the short-term outlook to the consternation of the Brown regime. However, the medicine of low interest rates, a weak currency could be helped further if there was a sense of political stability.

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