Mervyn King

Economic optimism is inflated and there is a deficit of clear thinking

The Guardian (Free subscription) | 23 hours ago

With no signs of green shoots, Mervyn King is right to be downbeat - whatever the Queen said So: the government has a fiscal plan, confirmed by the Queen, under which it will halve the budget deficit in four years and eliminate it in due course. It will happily be committed by legislation to do so. Of course, it may not be the government after next June. But relax, you neanderthal deficit-watchers,...

Growth outlook at 12-year high

Financial Times (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

The Bank of England's outlook for medium-term growth is now the strongest of any forecast it has made since it was granted independence in 1997, in contrast to the downbeat message delivered by governor Mervyn King a week ago

Three-way on the MPC

BBC NEWS | Stephanomics (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

The nine men and women who set British monetary policy agree that the next few years for the economy are not going to be much fun. But they don't all agree on what to do. As the minutes of the November meeting reveal , seven members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to buy another £25bn-worth of assets over the next three months. But two voted against. David Miles wanted an expansion of...

Bank of England reveals split over easy money

France 24 (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

The Bank of England said on Wednesday that its policymakers voted three ways at a recent meeting on the amount of extra new money it should pump into Britain's economy to help fight a deep recession. The BoE agreed earlier this month to pump out another 25 billion pounds of fresh cash -- a move backed by seven of the nine policymakers -- including the bank's governor Mervyn King. However one member...

BOE split 3 ways over size of asset-purchase plan

Market Watch (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee split three ways over the size of the central bank's money-creating, asset-purchase plan earlier this month, according to minutes of the Nov. 4-5 meeting released Wednesday. Seven members of the MPC, including BOE Governor Mervyn King, voted in favor of the plan to boost the size of the program by 25 billion pounds...

FX075 Foreign Exchange Daily Insight - The Pound rallies against the majors after inflation accelerates

Foreign Exchange Outlook (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

GBPEUR/GBPUSD The Pound rallied to the highest level in two months against the Euro yesterday, touching a high of 1.1317 in London, while the UK currency also made gains versus the U.S Dollar, after Bank of England policy maker Andrew Sentance said that Britain is returning to growth. He also warned that Britain runs the risk of stoking inflationary pressures if the Central Bank keeps emergency stimulus...

James Moore: Governor must get writing

The Independent (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

Outlook: Mervyn King could find himself with writer's cramp over the coming months if his predictions about inflation come to pass.

Whatever Mervyn King may say, inflation is making markets twitchy

Times Online (Free subscription) | 18/11/2009

The sharp pick-up in inflation was effectively telegraphed by the Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, at his quarterly press call last week. But even so it was notable that sterling perked up immediately on publication of the data.

The great banking stitch up

Robbie Bow (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

So a while ago I wrote up a golden opportunity about to be missed and it looks like, indeed, it shall. Despite Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, calling for exactly the same change, for exactly the same reasons, the Gubmint are going to give the FSA some illusory powers to interfere with bankers’ employment [...]

Star Trek Economics

Denverstrope (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

I heard some quietly chilling news on the radio while driving into work this morning and have just got in to find that Guido has already written an excellent post on the subject of deflation or, to be more precise, inflation. Yup, as predicted on the more sensible financial blogs for months now, it's on the rise again. Be warned, however, this is just the beginning. As Scottie would say on the starship...

The State of Banking: Banking on the State?

SeekingAlpha.com (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

The Baseline Scenario submits: By Simon Johnson “ Banking on the State ” by Andrew Haldane and Piergiorgio Alessandri is making waves in official circles. Haldane , Executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, is widely regarded as both a technical expert and as someone who can communicate his points effectively to policymakers. He is obviously closely in line –...

• America's Economic "Doom Loop" - The Plank

Banking In A State

iStockAnalyst.com (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

“Banking on the State” by Andrew Haldane and Piergiorgio Alessandri is making waves in official circles. Haldane, Executive Director for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, is widely regarded as both a technical expert and as someone who can communicate his points effectively to policymakers. He is obviously closely in line – although not in complete agreement - with the thinking...

Morals, corporations and capitalism

A WORLD TO WIN www.aworldtowin.net (Free subscription) | 17/11/2009

Arguments are flying to and fro between the experts, as the fallout continues from capitalism’s biggest crisis in living memory. The greatest issue preoccupying them is this: is it possible to tame or control today’s global economy and its financial markets by forms of legal regulation? Most critics and politicians from establishment figures such as Bank of England governor Mervyn King...

Wall Street and Carbon Trading "Wall Street Makes It Hard to Earn Legal Living"

Climateer Investing (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009

Neither of these pieces is about C&T, just the culture of corruption. Two from Bloomberg. First up a Nov. 13 op-ed by Alice Schroeder: A group of university students I spoke to recently asked if it was possible to make a living on Wall Street without compromising your values. I had to tell them no. Wall Street has many decent, honorable people, but they work in a system that fundamentally compromises...

Osborne promises tax break for new businesses

nigel hastilow (Free subscription) | 16/11/2009

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has promised tax breaks for new businesses and a simpler tax system to end the need for elaborate avoidance schemes. Mr Osborne and David Willetts, the Shadow Higher Education Secretary, were speaking to business leaders and students at Birmingham Metropolitan College. This is some of what they said: George Osborne Government has to face the fact that the economy is...