Big news this week has been the fallback in oil prices to WTI at $61. All eyes in the US and globally on the tea leaves following the Fed’s remarks this week and of course the forthcoming employment data. Bank of England upbeat about UK employment and Governor Carney said yesterday that once Brexit resolved(sic) rates may rise faster than anticipated thereby skirting around the uncomfortable fact that the BoE has been consistent-that is consistent to date in overstating the economic downturn following the EU Referendum 3 years ago.
The Role of Belgium in Europe – hold the front page!
This is, we stress, not a Jeremy Clarkson type diatribe (!) on Belgium’s role other than that of hosting the European parliament, Charles Michel the Belgian PM is setting out his stall as the bridge or le pont between Germany and France plus if that was not enough, positioning Belgian as the EU member that calls for a common European vision to counter populism. On top of that Belgium advocates peer group reviews for each country to evaluate the other EU members for their respect of the rule of law for the rights of their citizens and the health of their democracies. Phew! Does one detect a whiff of management consultants par excellence McKinsey?!
Call in their most famous export, Hercule Poirot tout de suite!
Blame it on Brexit journalism suggests that fewer Brits are going abroad this year. Top foreign holiday destinations remain:
1.Spain
2. Turkey
3. Greece
4. USA
5. Cyprus
Heady excitement from the lady on the counter that the sales of Egyptian Pounds through the Post Office have increased 687% in the past year. From a low base and still a small slice of the tourism pie however…..
Walk like an Egyptian….
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
Germany With the increasingly uncomfortable news for Germany that German inflation is running at almost a 50 year high at 8.8%, it is becoming clear that calls for a modest rise in Euro interest rates in September are not going to cut it for the more hawkish Northern European members of the ECB who […]
UK Retail Sales Up 2.3% in July breaking the previous 3 month down trend due to purchases of summer clothes, picnic equipment and electric fans to cool consumers down. The last category could usefully be directed towards inflation which now stands at 9.4%. GBP/USD 1.2110. Spain As some of our readers will […]
A little sensitive Last week saw some of the most volatile conditions for the Euro we’ve seen in a long time. During the stronger than expected interest rate hike announced on Thursday the Euro spiked reclaiming recently lost ground versus the US Dollar. However, the fun didn’t last long. During the press conference the […]