Monty’s Mortgage Blog

Category Archives: The Economy

Half A Glass…

At a time when negative headlines dominate the economic landscape it is hard not to notice that consumer confidence has taken a battering in recent weeks. Talk of a double-dip recession is on many economists’ lips and whether this is caused by a struggling manufacturing sector, a European crisis that is nowhere near over or issues in the US, China or whatever, the myriad of reasons being thrown up by all and sundry has almost become unimportant to the consumer.

In truth the average consumer still feels like nothing has really changed, the technicalities of a recession are unimportant, it is how they feel and for most, things still feel tight.

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Inflation, Stagflation, Low Rate Nation…

As another Middle East country looks like it has undergone a regime change things in the UK seem to be quiet for once. Oil prices have fallen on the expectation that the end of the Libyan conflict could mean a return to oil production soon which should in time play through to inflationary figures.

Not that inflation is worrying the Bank of England as all 9 members of their committee that sets interest rates decided unanimously to keep rates on hold last month. This represents a small sea-change as at one stage at least 3 of the members were voting for an immediate rise, (although the main protagonist calling for rises has now left the committee of course).

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Don’t Panic, Pike!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the financial markets…!

The news headlines are screaming from this morning papers that all is not well, traders are pictured with head-in-hands alongside graphs dropping off a cliff and Mr Peston is everywhere again – sounds like a preview of Credit Crunch 2 – Revenge of the Markets?

Looking back at the blog postings that were written during the heady days of the 1st crises there are many similarities. Back then the speculation went from bank to bank until the pressure became too much and one by one banks were rescued. There was then a brief lull, some began to believe we were out of the woods and then there was Lehman’s.

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What Is A “Mortgage TweetMeet” ?

Since engaging with the Twittersphere back in early February 2009 I have been amazed at how far it has come and the amount of people I have conversed with. True, it took me a long time to get to grips with and to understand how it can be used properly for business purposes, but a bit of perseverance is now paying off.

Of course there have been many detractors, the piss-takers and technologically inept who continue to see social media as a waste of time.

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Bank Base Rate Decision

Although the Bank of England’s’ Monetary Policy Committee, (MPC) have yet again decided to keep Base Rate on hold, the internal splits within the committee seem to remain with a 4 way split according to the minutes of the last meeting.

Whilst the debate rages on, recent research conducted by the BBC reflected the differences within the MPC. Of 22 economists who were asked “In which month do you think the MPC will raise interest rates?”, 14 said August, 4 plumped for May and 1 each reckoned on June, July, November and February.

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