Cast your mind back to the early 1990s, if you can. John Major was Prime Minister and his successor as Chancellor, Norman Lamont, ran a distinctly different income tax strategy from the current incumbents of 10 and 11 Downing Street. Just how different was highlighted in recent research published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
While markets were panicking about the US debt ceiling last month, they temporarily forgot about interest rates and inflation (phew..!). Now that this issue has been resolved market focus has moved back onto the macro-economic environment.
The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Gardening and investing do have something in common!
Inflation in the US and Europe has been dropping at an increasing pace while in the UK inflation is still in double digits.
Investors’ optimism has started to wane as inflation expectations have once again changed – as an example, the latest US jobs report shows that hiring activity was three times stronger than the market expected. Big business leaders have also commented, highlighting that while the labour market is tight, they are not finding hiring as hard as expected.
Investors’ optimism has started to wane as inflation expectations have once again changed – as an example, the latest US jobs report shows that hiring activity was three times stronger than the market expected. Big business leaders have also commented, highlighting that while the labour market is tight, they are not finding hiring as hard as expected.