Back to Normal?
Over the course of last week it felt very much as though things were returning to normal after the short sharp shock in equity markets in early February. Stock markets in the US have returned to their previous long term trading ranges, while markets elsewhere are slowly heading into the same direction. Even the diplomatic tit-for-tat action between the UK and Russia feel strangely familiar – although that stems from a time much longer ago.
UK Budget: It’s a spring statement
Philip Hammond’s announcement of the Spring budget on Tuesday was a rather dull affair – just as the Chancellor had briefed beforehand. Hammond’s 2016 promise that the treasury would switch its biannual budget back to an annual one (like in virtually all other developed economies) and present this in the autumn rather than spring had been greeted with approval from business leaders. And as promised, this spring budget-turned-statement presented no changes to spending or taxes and only a slightly updated economic forecast from the government’s independent financial watchdog – the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).
Potential fallout from Russian recklessness
In what is probably the first time that Salisbury has made global news headlines, coverage of Sergei Skripal and his daughter’s apparent poisoning in a supermarket has dominated recent headlines in the UK and across the world.
UK property market: resilient so far but pressures remain
The UK property market has shown remarkable resilience in the face of both political and economic uncertainties over the past two years. But with rents and property values close to all-time-highs, there are growing pressures suggesting that prices and rents have the potential to retreat from today’s peak-cycle levels.
Don’t bet on China
Insight by Jim Kean – Tatton’s Head of Investment
At the start of the millenium, it was clear that China’s wish to take a full part in the global economy would have profound impacts. Its population of 1.4bn (as of now) as a new and cheap resource ensured that producers would rush to employ them. At the time, China’s government not only eased that access but actively encouraged a form of free market which released massive potential internally at the same time as they provided significant expenditure to build the infrastructure to gain global market share.
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