ECB President Mme Lagarde (finally) promised to acknowledge the rising cost of living led by food and energy prices by saying yesterday that the ECB was now minded to raise interest rates higher than was expected for the first time for 10 years citing higher inflation and lower growth expectations.
Shortage of battery supplies are hampering efforts in the USA to move towards a world of cleaner energy by embracing wind and solar power which after all requires the ability to both store the resulting clean energy and also to make use of that clean energy in for example transportation. Oil firm with Nymex WTI $121
Airports and airlines across Europe are experiencing staff shortages which will lead to delays and flight cancellations for holiday makers both into and within Europe this summer. EUR/USD 1.0620
An increasingly strident rhetoric from President Erdogan as he ratchets up the tension in Turkey’s relationship with Greece. Yesterday he was calling on Greece not to arm the demilitarised Aegean Islands. The most dangerous weapon that I have encountered in those islands has been the combination of Domestika Red Wine and Ouzo, but maybe the Greeks have a hidden and more dangerous agenda for those islands of sunshine, bouzouki music and Lotus Eaters. Definitely very well hidden. Distraction not working internationally for TRL at its weakest:
USD/TRL 17.25
It was this day in 1978 that Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta made this song which enjoyed 9 solid weeks at Number One and also made them a ton of money.
I got chills, they’re multiplying
And I’m losing control
‘Cause the power you’re supplying
It’s electrifying
You better shape up
‘Cause I need a man
And my heart is set on you
You better shape up
You better understand
To my heart I must be true
Nothin’ left, nothin’ left for me to do
You’re the one that I want (you are the one I want)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want (you are the one I want)
Ooh, ooh, ooh, honey
The one that I want (you are the one I want)
Ooh, ooh, ooh
The one I need (the one I need)
Oh, yes indeed (yes, indeed)
If you’re filled with affection
You’re too shy to convey
Meditate in my direction
Feel your way
Have a Great Weekend!
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
UK Housing Market Plenty of comment about the UK’s housing market and where it is headed, but maybe it’s time to boil down the essentials for the next year: with rates higher and unemployment likely to rise, conventional wisdom suggests that the housing market will fall. However, there are two key differences to recent previous […]
US Economy The US job figures on Friday most certainly set the cat among the pigeons: with non farm payrolls expected to be up by 187,000 and the market’s expectation that Chairman Powell of the Federal Reserve was talking the talk rather than walking the walk when he had said last Wednesday that rates were […]
Central Banks and Cost of Borrowing Drivers The two principal levers used by central Banks are monetary policy and the setting of interest rates and the management of their balance sheets. With a move towards tightening ie higher interest rates and the reduction in balance sheet holdings, the snag is that despite some encouraging signs […]