The Week

09/05/08 - Terminator V

The fiasco at Terminal 5 becomes more bizarre. British Airways Chief Executive Willie Walsh told the Commons transport committee he knew back in September that the terminal was behind schedule.
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02/05/08 - Slick publicity

Terrible news. British companies have been making large sums of money, most of it abroad. And they are likely to continue doing so.
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25/04/08 - When doves cry

The Bank of England's stance on interest rates becomes increasingly divorced from the realities of inflation. We are simply trying to tackle too many competing problems with one weapon.
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18/04/08 - Cash call waiting

Fears that a round of rights issues by UK banks will be needed to prop up their damaged balance sheets have failed to dent the stock market, which looks in remarkably good heart.
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11/04/08 - A political rally

The FTSE 100 index has topped 6,000 points twice this week. The first time was short-lived and the second attempt could not hold for long either.
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04/04/08 - Homeland insecurity

Banks are cutting back on mortgage lending while allowing customers to run up unsecured debts. It doesn't take a degree in economics to work out that this is a bad idea.
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28/03/08 - Trash and burn

No good can come of City stories appearing amongst the general news. A move to the front of the newspaper from the back will inevitably turn the details back to front.
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14/03/08 - Sense and tense stability

Something odd struck me as Alistair Darling delivered his first (and some say last) Budget: he did not seem particularly nervous.
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07/03/08 - Inflated hopes

It was rather disconcerting to see UK stocks fall sharply and the pound rising immediately after the Bank of England decided to keep rates on hold - had the markets really hoped for a cut this month?
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29/02/08 - Turbulent times: Is there a Doctor off the plane?

The gyrations on the stock exchange continue apace. This turbulence is likely to continue for some time and the Footsie seems likely to baulk at 6,000 points.
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22/02/08 - Unsafe as houses

Our two-tier banking system is now fully exposed: there are real banks and there are mortgage banks.
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15/02/08 - Boys will be boys

The banking industry has sent a boy out to do a man's job. Oh, for the good old days of Northern Rock!
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08/02/08 - The history boys

There are two things you can learn from history: one is that history does repeat itself and the other is that people never learn from history.
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01/02/08 - The blame game

Among the latest office buzzwords, it was reported this week, is blame storming. When things go wrong, staff sit around a table and debate who should cop the opprobrium.
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25/01/08 - Exit, pursued by a bear

There is no widely recognised definition of what constitutes a bear market. But, even after a week of unprecedented drama in the City, it's hard to shake the impression that we are already in one.
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18/01/08 - The price of everything

Something curious happened with UK inflation figures this week: they did not go up and on one widely accepted measure inflation actually fell.
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11/01/08 - All things in moderation

Here's hoping for a moderately good year. After the horrors that beset the second half of 2007, it would be wise not to hope for too much.
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04/01/08 - From judgement day to stag night

Investment advice for 2008: melt down your jewellery and siphon your petrol tank. Because, unless it's hard and shiny or wet and oily, nobody's interested.
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21/12/07 - Humbug

Season's greetings. The value of your house dropped more than £7,500 in a month, your savings are dwindling, your debt costs have spiralled and your haul of presents this year is likely to be meagre.
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14/12/07 - Browned off

There's no pleasing some folk and US investors have shown a great dollop of ingratitude for yet another reduction in interest rates.
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07/12/07 - Avalanche!

The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has, like dear Blanche in the film High Society, got knocked down by an avalanche.
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30/11/07 - The wild and the willing

It is hard to remember when there was so much volatility on the stockmarket over so long a period.
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23/11/07 - Optimists 1, Pessimists 1

The division of interest rate expectations into optimism and pessimism has widened with news that the Bank of England committee voted by seven to two this month to keep interest rates on hold.
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16/11/07 - King backs both horses

The November quarterly inflation report has been widely hailed as heralding an impending reduction in UK interest rates. I believe it signals a delay in any such cuts.
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09/11/07 - Week at the knees

That was a bad week. The best thing you can say about it is that we don't get many like it.
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02/11/07 - King lords it

The tables are turned as the Fed now finds itself sitting uncomfortably while the Bank of England no longer finds itself between a Northern Rock and a hard place.
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26/10/07 - No time for tears

Oil has topped $90 a barrel and metals including gold are surging in price as well. It could all end in tears - but not just yet.
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19/10/07 - Tugged both ways

Conflicting signals continue to beset the stockmarket and it looks as if 6,700 points on the Footsie is a ceiling too far at the moment.
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12/10/07 - Where there's a will

Where there's a will there's relations, as my old Dad used to say. I hope the furore over inheritance tax does not take attention away from wider issues.
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05/10/07 - Out of step

Has the world gone mad or is London out of step with reality?
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28/09/07 - Railtrack on bricks

Northern Rock has narrowly avoided having a Railtrack moment.
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21/09/07 - Last chance saloon

Two remarkable - and so far successful - gambles on either side of the Atlantic transformed stockmarkets this week just when it looked as if the only way was down.
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14/09/07 - A risk too far

So Northern Rock is the first real UK casualty of the credit crunch. It is unlikely to be the last.
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07/09/07 - Not my problem, Guv

Stockmarkets are particularly difficult to read these days and it's not just because of the recent turbulence. Signs point in so many different directions and the Bank of England is not helping.
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31/08/07 - Fingers crossed

As the dust settles, stockmarkets end August in remarkably good heart. Those who sold in May, in accordance with the old adage about going away and buying back after St Leger Day, are out of pocket.
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24/08/07 - Snakes and ladders

When is volatility not volatility? When stockmarkets are rising, it would seem.
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17/08/07 - I'll eat my hat

The price of hats will be up this month as replacements are bought for the ones eaten after the stunning fall in inflation.
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10/08/07 - Flying the flag

At long last the monopoly of London and major Scottish airports held by BAA is under threat. Spanish owner Ferrovial may yet regret stumping up £10bn to buy the UK company.
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03/08/07 - Storm clouds roll

The decision of the Bank of England to stick on interest rates was a beacon of stability among the stormy waters of the stock and credit markets.
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27/07/07 - Pennies and pounds

I read with some trepidation that a number of UK lenders have agreed to go to court in a test case to determine whether overdraft charges are excessive.
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20/07/07 - Might is right

Tony Blair, alleged admirer of Margaret Thatcher, has gone but his successor Gordon Brown has already scored one Thatherite achievement: the pound is back to its highest level for 26 years.
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13/07/07 - Sub prime saga

The US sub prime saga looks set to rumble on for some time yet, with a warning from Standard & Poor's earlier this week that it might downgrade $12bn sub-prime-related debt looking ominous.
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06/07/07 - Bully BT

Every job would be so much easier if it wasn't for the customers making a nuisance of themselves.
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29/06/07 - Thunder Bolt

The catalogue of disastrous overspends on large-scale programmes has claimed another victim in the form of Tube maintenance contractor Metronet. It sometimes seems that lessons are never learnt.
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25/06/07 - In the minority

So the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England recognise the need for early action on interest rates. It's a pity they are in a minority of four out of nine members.
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15/06/07 - Dutch standoff

The Dutch standoff over who will eventually gain control of ABN Amro is tilting remorselessly in favour of Royal Bank of Scotland, although Barclays shareholders may also be winners.
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08/06/07 - Pride and reticence

For sheer greed it is hard to beat the worthy directors of Cable & Wireless. At least, they think they are worthy. They think they are worth rather a lot.
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01/06/07 - Shanghai revisited

Shares have again tumbled in the Chinese financial capital but this time the effect has been considerably less dramatic than events at the end of February.
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25/05/07 - About turn

So the Bank of England really is getting tough on inflation - or at least it is talking tough.
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18/05/07 - Two is the target

We have, at last, the first real sign that interest rates are beginning to bite and I don't mean the fall in the rate of inflation, welcome though it was.
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11/05/07 - Surprise, surprise

What a week for surprises: Tony Blair says he is stepping down as prime minister, the Bank of England raises interest rates and men like to look at pictures of women.
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04/05/07 - A Browne study

The demise of BP chief executive Lord Browne over the past two years after what had been a glittering career is as sad as it has been dramatic.
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27/04/07 - Helping Hands

The barbarians are through the gates as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts becomes the first private equity house to buy one of the UK's top 100 companies. It will probably not be the last.
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20/04/07 - Rate rumble

It's all fun and games again on the interest rate front following the shock leap in inflation to 3.1%, more than a point above the government's 2% target.
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13/04/07 - Even curiouser....

Some interesting surveys have made the timing of the next rate hike a little more difficult to gauge.
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05/04/07 - Curiouser and curiouser

Interest rates remain on hold for another month at least, making it three in a row since the quarter point rise to 5.25p in January.
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30/03/07 - Two's company

There are some things you never expect to see, such as the opening of Wembley stadium or the last sale at DFS, but occasionally the unexpected can happen and it is not always pleasant.
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23/03/07 - Now you see it, now you don't

Not so much Joseph Stalin, more like Paul Daniels as Gordon Brown delivered his last (or is that also an illusion) Budget.
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16/03/07 - Sub-prime suspect

A businessman anxious to secure a bank loan once told me: 'There is only one way to persuade a bank to give you a loan and that is to demonstrate that you don't need it.'
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09/03/07 - Inside edge

Now here's a piece of inside information: there are insiders operating with the stockmarket and they are showing little sign of going away.
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02/03/07 - Shanghaied

The centre of the world is shifting from New York to Shanghai. If you refused to believe it before, the evidence was there this week in all its gory.
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23/02/07 - Banks and grouses

Twice a year the banks pop up to be shot at like grouse being beaten out of their cover. The appearance of Barclays had all guns blazing.
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16/02/07 - Are we sitting comfortably?

Inflation has fallen back sharply from its uncomfortably high level and the cycle of interest rates here and in the US seems to be peaking but the chances of a further UK rate rise soon remain high.
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09/02/07 - The case of the committee in the lunchtime

So, my dear Watson, what can we deduce from the decision of the Bank of England to leave interest rates unchanged at its February meeting?
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02/02/07 - New dawn for Corus

Your house is, ultimately, what someone else is prepared to pay for it. So is your company.
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26/01/07 - Another rates shock

Just as we were gearing ourselves for another rise in UK interest rates in February, hard on the heels of the widely unforecast January increase, it is all up in the air again.
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19/01/07 - Vive la difference

Anglo-French cooperation does not seem to work very well. No wonder the idea of a merger of the two nations has been kept hidden from public eyes for 50 years.
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12/01/07 - Back to reality

The post-Christmas hangover is with us and the price of over-indulgence is a quarter point rise in interest rates.
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05/01/07 - The flying Footsie

Good old Santa did not disappoint us and the Footsie ended 2006 at its highest level for nearly six years. But does the top index provide an accurate reflection of the state of the stockmarket?
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22/12/06 - No Scrooge at the inn

Although the market has run out of steam this week, we have enjoyed a Santa Claus rally and a further increase in interest rates is factored in. Have a merry Christmas.
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15/12/06 - Breaking up is hard to do

Another eagerly anticipated break up of a national newspaper group has come to nothing. Meanwhile advertising revenue for the print media continues to fall alarmingly.
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08/12/06 - Green Brown blues

Rarely can a Commons speech by a Chancellor of the Exchequer have been quite so depressing as the one by Gordon Brown this week.
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01/12/06 - Double dollar

Two dollars to the pound in January. If that sounds familiar, it is. It was what many commentators, including myself, were expecting two years ago. Now the cry goes up again.
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24/11/06 - Branson pickle

Is it because they need to be heard above the sound of their own aircraft that makes some airline chiefs feels they have to shout their mouths off?
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17/11/06 - The good, the bad and the ugly

Three banking stories popped up this week, each casting a different reflection on the financial brains who shape our lives.
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10/11/06 - Thump, thump

UK borrowers and George Bush had one thing in common this week: they got a thumping.
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03/11/06 - American pie

Opinion polls and political pundits suggest that we may well have a lame duck president next week as the Republicans face up to the possibility of losing control of both halves of Congress.
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27/10/06 - Think again

What strange political circumstances we live in. Apparently no party leader wants to cut taxes.
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20/10/06 - The hawks move in

We now have a clearer picture where we stand on interest rates, not just for the coming month but for the medium term future.
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13/10/06 - In the mood

If Kim Jong-il hoped to make a lasting impression on the world stage this week with the explosion of a nuclear device he must have been disappointed with the short-lived outrage.
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06/10/06 - Come in quietly

This is the quiet period between the June first half announcements and the September first halves. So why is so much happening?
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29/09/06 - Floating on air

Conflicting signals are coming from world markets and it is particularly disconcerting to see a stockmarket flotation pulled. Investing is never dull.
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22/09/06 - It's foolish but it's fun

You don't have to be mad to invest in smaller companies - but it can help.
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15/09/06 - Read all about it

We in London have witnessed the start of an evening newspaper war that threatens to be every bit as vicious as the one that bled Robert Maxwell dry.
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08/09/06 - Future imperfect

Events surrounding the apparently impending demise of Prime Minister Tony Blair demonstrate how history repeats itself, but usually in a different form.
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01/09/06 - A test of confidence

Have you ever wondered what consumer confidence actually is? It is a term that is so heavily bandied about yet it has no tangible meaning.
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25/08/06 - Hike Surprise

Markets and the general public were taken unawares by the quarter point increase in UK rates to 4.75% earlier this month, City economists much less so.
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18/08/06 - As normal as it gets

It has taken a full week, but some semblance of normality has returned to our airports. The surprise is that disruption was not worse.
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11/08/06 - A few points of interest

While the UK interest rate rise was a shock to most of us, markets were torn both ways on whether the Fed would stick another quarter point on US rates or leave them alone..
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04/08/06 - A nasty surprise

Oh dear. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water, up pops the Monetary Policy Committee showing its teeth and taking a sharp bite out of the economy. Ouch!
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28/07/06 - On the run

Market runs, like skirts, come in different lengths. There are runs, mini runs and micro runs.
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21/07/06 - Hedge Your Bets

Last week bankers, this week gamblers.
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14/07/06 - It could be you

Kindly fill your own name in the blank spaces below. Only then will you realise the serious implications for every citizen of the UK of what has happened this week. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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07/07/06 - Matalan in a mess

Let us take a clean sheet of paper and set down some of the prime bugbears that really aggravate investors
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03/07/06 - What might have been

Picking winners in a cup competition is a good deal more tricky than choosing shares, since one bad performance or one moment of brilliance can wreck the best laid plans.
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30/06/06 - Rate rumble

The US Federal Bank increased rates to 5.25% yesterday with its 17th consecutive quarter point hike, putting the US overnight bank lending rate at its highest since January 2001.
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23/06/06 - All fall

A curious decision was taken this week by a group of investors I know...
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21/06/06 - World Cup wobbles

The first two World Cup groups have produced the requisite leaders but while Germany get into their stride the prospects for England are deteriorating.
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19/06/06 - World Cup revisited

Of all the obstacles in the way of my prediction of a Germany v England final, I little thought that Ecuador would provide the first one.
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16/06/06 - All fall down

Wall to wall football cannot hide the serious worries about inflation that have taken hold around the world. This could be a long debilitating summer.
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12/06/06 - More dream than nightmare

It was not exactly a dream start for England at the World Cup but neither was it a nightmare. My forecast of England v Germany in the final remains a reality.
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09/06/06 - A kick in the markets

If you don't want to know that England are playing in the football World Cup starting this weekend, look away now.
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01/06/06 - Bargain basement

Two simmering takeover situations burst into life this week in dramatically different ways.
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25/05/06 - Not raining, just pouring

The banks of rain clouds that keep drifting across Britain are a reminder of many things...
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18/05/06 - Paradise lost

Will it be a bloodbath, I was asked on Monday evening.
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11/05/06 - Bitter pills

The chickens are coming home to roost. Perhaps that should read guinea pigs, but this is not a subject for cheap jokes. Someone could get killed.
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08/05/06 - In your debt

Debt has become a fashion statement.
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28/04/06 - There'll be another job along in a minute

News, even more than London buses, travels in bunches. You get one story of a dog attacking a child and suddenly it's happening every day. Then you hear nothing on the subject for years.
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21/04/06 - Spring is sprung

Easter has come and gone, if a little late this year, so it must be spring, a time for renewal, hope and optimism.
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07/04/06 - If you can't join 'em, beat 'em

Clara Furse is clearly a survivor. If she were shipwrecked on a desert island one of her eight gramophone records would surely be "I will survive".
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31/03/06 - Business as usual

Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose ... as the French put it so succinctly, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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24/03/06 - Make way for Gordon

Since the Budget speech lasted only one minute over an hour, which is pretty short shrift for a Chancellor, it is reasonable to assume that it did not amount to much and you would be right.
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17/03/06 - Feeling the squeeze

Those wicked supermarkets, destroyers of High Streets and slashers of quality in food, are once again under investigation.
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10/03/06 - So you want to be a millionaire

I decided to take a look at some serious money this week. I attended a recording of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? at Elstree studios.
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03/03/06 - Some like it cool

Minutes of the Bank of England's rate setting committee suggest that we will have to wait longer than we thought before the next move downwards.
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