"As the Financial Conduct Authority opens a study into the credit card market, we look at how the UK has created a credit card debt mountain"
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"The Financial Conduct Authority is launching a study into the credit card market, amid fears that consumers are losing out.
"... Compared to other forms of credit such as overdrafts, purchase loans and so on, credit card lending has grown substantially.
"According to Bank of England figures, there is currently £39bn of gross credit card lending in the UK. Unlike other forms of short term credit, it is above pre-crisis highs."
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The Guardian:
"Bailouts, bail-ins and the banks: why we can't afford another financial crisis"
"A look into the future: David Cameron's nightmare has come true; the slowdown in the global economy has turned into a second major recession within a decade.
"In those circumstances, there would be two massive policy challenges. The first would be how to prevent the recession turning into a global slump. The second would be how to prevent the financial system from imploding.
"These are the same challenges as in 2008, but this time they would be magnified. Zero interest rates and quantitative easing have already been used extensively to support activity, which would leave policymakers with a dilemma. Should they double down on QE or come up with more radical proposals – drops of helicopter money or using QE for specified purposes, such as investment in green energy?
"For now, the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England prefer not to contemplate this dire possibility. They will deal with it if it happens, but are assuming it won't."
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| Link to The Guardian |
"Final Act of the economic crisis is upon us. There's every chance of a tragic ending"
"The past week has shown that international co-operation, while not as strong as in 2008-09, is still there. The G20 in Brisbane was one modest expression of solidarity. Perhaps more meaningful was the US-China deal on climate change, which did include quantifiable targets. India’s decision to sign up to the World Trade Organisation agreement on streamlining procedures for the passage of goods across national borders kept hopes of a multilateral trade agreement alive.(Heading and image above are from print edition, not on-line)
"In the other, a heavy price is paid for attempting to muddle through. The second leg of the crisis begins in the Far East, with Japan using aggressive QE to drive down the value of the yen. This makes Japanese goods cheaper on global markets. China responds by driving down the value of its currency. A new wave of deflation is exported to the rest of the global economy, with particularly grievous consequences for Europe. Falling prices make debt servicing more expensive and the number of defaults increases. Hedge funds collapse and there are fears for the banks.
"It emerges that the G20 plan for ensuring that systemically-important banks are not “too big to fail” only works in individual cases not when there is a generalised panic. With policymakers wondering what they have left in the locker, Vladimir Putin decides it is the time to cut up rough over Ukraine. Act 5 ends not with the players waking up to find the crisis was all a bad dream but instead with Shakespeare’s most famous stage direction: exit pursued by a bear."
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The Independent:
"David Blanchflower: Yet more evidence that pay is going nowhere fast"
"The first chart shows the growth in earnings in current and constant (2014) prices. It shows that real earnings are down 8.8 per cent since 2010, using the Consumer Price Index as a deflator. No sign of any real wage growth there. As the ONS noted, real wages have continued to fall every year since 2008, including every year of the Coalition Government.
"There were also sharp declines in annual earnings growth by industry, as the second chart illustrates. In 10 of the 19 sectors wage growth was 1 per cent or lower. In 13 of the sectors wage growth in 2014 was lower than it was in 2013. In only three industry sectors was wage growth above 2 per cent.
"But the most interesting evidence from ASHE was provided by the ONS at my request, by firm size. This is of particular interest because the AWE excludes workers in firms of under 20 employees and then is adjusted retrospectively based on the ASHE findings. My claim for some time has been that wages in the smallest workplaces are likely to have grown much less recently than in the bigger firms, and so it has turned out."
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Hammerson:
"The outlook for retail is looking distinctly sunnier"
21.11.2014
While sentiment surrounding the Eurozone economy at the start of MAPIC this week might be muted, retailer confidence continues to emerge – perhaps not quite enough to flood the Croisette with popping champagne corks, but this optimism will mean visitors will turn up to Cannes this year with a sunnier disposition, and that’s nothing to do with avoiding the UK November rain and a couple of days by the Mediterranean Sea.
"Despite a muted consumer backdrop across the Channel, we have already seen in the second half of this year a growing desire from retailers to be in the best retail destinations. The outperformance of our newly opened Les Terrasses Du Port development in Marseille, just along the coast from Cannes is a prime example, with brands including the Kooples, Princesse tam-tam and Michal Kors, reporting their new Marseille stores as one of their best performing from a sales perspective, within their French portfolios."
... David Atkins
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