Finishing the week at its best levels for some time with the market anticipating a clear Conservative majority. Fully priced for where we are with 6 days to the Election and 7 until we get the result.
Not unreasonably President Macron is attempting to introduce economic reforms and this time it is to do with pensions. If you are a sailor, a ballet dancer at the Paris Opera House or a rail worker, you can retire up to 10 years earlier than others workers.Le President is attempting to standardize pension age and retirement enefits which would then be predicated by individual contributions. The rail workers do not agree and have not only suspended train and metro services, the union has successfully brought traffic in central Paris to a standstill. Who will blink first? Parisians and French citizens are impatient when it comes to traffic jams. The beleaguered French high street retail trade is already suffering badly and this latest unrest will be terminal for some shops. Meanwhile the French police are deploying water cannon and tear gas. Not exactly festive and our money is on the unions…..
What do the French eat 300,000 tons of between Christmas and New Year? The answer is oysters. There are 4 unshucked oysters to a pound and 2,240 pounds in a ton and so 300,000 tons means that 2.7 billion oysters are required to satisfy demand in the Christmas week. Remarkably that means that every citizen of France consumes 36 oysters. Whatever those stats mean,given that all citizens most certainly do not like oysters, oysters are big business, and the festive season represents a major payday for the oyster trade. Break out Le Muscadet or the Laurent Perrier and get stuck in mes braves!
Dancing Queen, Super Trouper, Thank You For The Music: channel your inner ABBA
The Benny Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstado memorabilia museum fest opens today at the O2 in Greenwich, London. It promises to be a sell out as middle aged pop fans drag their children and grandchildren along whether they are willing or not, to show them just why after winning Eurovision in 1974 ABBA went on to become a truly global phenomenon. With films, stageshows, souvenirs and of course the music which goes on and on…..and on, ABBA is a money machine. The band members are worth conservatively around $250Million each…..which means that the group is collectively worth more than $1 Billion.
Discussion and Analysis by Humphrey Percy, Chairman and Founder
British Pound With GBP back to where it started the year pretty much, there are some stories starting to appear along the lines that while that may be the case, GBP is still up 18% from a year ago following the Truss/Kwarteng mini Budget fall out. That comparison while of course true is not a […]
GBP While the Bank of England’s decision to pause on raising rates by the narrowest of margins with voting 5-4, that resulted in GBP being sold sharply which reflects the market’s view that while inflation at 6.7% looked better than expected yesterday, the effect of higher oil prices and petrol and diesel at the pumps […]
Bank of England It is the big week in UK markets not because there is much doubt in the minds of economists that rates will go up once again on Thursday, but rather more because the “clever” money is predicting that this increase will be the last. What could go wrong? Assuming rates go up […]