FTBagain

I think it is called an 'up side risk'! It will depend on how much the retailers pass on, but I would be surprised if inflation fell, especially as the BoE cut rates last time.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4326062.stm I particuraly like this comment at the end of the artical.

Good let's hope it keeps up. Manufacturing will never make up for the damage being done to retailing job wise so I do not believe the recession will be cancelled but if we can avoid a depression, all well and good!

homeless, Thank you for your honest post. Please accept my best wishes to for and yours in the troubled times ahead. The good times will return, in the meantime, good luck! FTBagain

Yeh! and shares kept rising for another 5 years! I feel reasured that my ISA won't tank just yet! I hope!

That pretty well shows that the tide has turned and sentiment is now very bearish!

I cannot wait to hear what Mr Coleman says after Christmas!

Nice graph! That's 3 really great bearish threads this morning. Thanks all, sat in the office with a silly grin on my face and keeping my head down.

mhifoe, Many thanks I will check them out. FTBagain

Are these people paying cash for their properties or, as I read it, are they mortgaging against existing holdings? If the latter, they do not own much at all, the bank owns most of it. All they own is risk!! And they are members of Mensa! Oh, give me strength! How human kind ever got this far is beyond me!! The sad thing is there appears to be 1000's of people like these all over the world, and they are all going to get absolutely smashed into the ground when the recession starts starts to bite!

It is all doom and gloom these days! Sentiment has turned and is chasing the economy HPC down!

surveyor, Thank you for your informative post. Honest input from the 'sharp end' makes a refeshing change from lots of stats and spin. Look forward to your next post. Thanks FTBagain

If you take the total population it is about 0.6% (60m people), but if you take the working population (28m) it is about 1.4% Assuming my estimates of population are about right.

Read it! Rubbish! Who pays these people to spout such twoddle? Wish they would pay me, I can make up some serious twoddle without even trying.

Looking to spread my savings risk. Currently I have shares, direct ownership, old pep and ISA's etc. Some in a high interest savings account, but in these troubled times looking to spread into Gold. Found this website, which at first glance looks very good. http://www.bullionvault.com/?considerationCurrency=USD I would really appreciate any comments observations you may have. Thanks in advance FTBagain

He does make a fair point about human behaviour. After all we are each responsible for our own actions. If we help create an asset bubble we must be prepared to get hurt if we move out at the wrong moment. No one forced us into investment and speculation and most of us here are speculators to a greater or lesser extent.

Durch, Very good point had not thought about it! That should encourage the foreign investors to start off loading their UK Realestate investments! Oh goody! Bring it on.

Well on the plus side he could be the Last Man In! In which case the end is nigh! Shame he is a mate though!

It is possible to look at along term averages and trends, but what you get is a prediction or probability, not a forecast! It is symantics to a certain extent but the science behind the words is very different. However, the asset markets may not realise that and if the US come out and predict a cold winter, just watch the oil futures!

High oil price, low pound against the dollar. Looks like inflationary pressures are building in tandem again. Thank GB. IR's up soon then.

I have being reading lots of threads on sentiment over the last few months, but working out how to actually spot it for real is not easy. Sure there are plenty of articals and news stories, but they are all a bit detached and averaged over wide areas and timescales. Currently if you put an offer in -20 to -30% you'd get laughed off the 'phone and, worse, labelled a time waster (you still need the EA's to be a go between in the current system). The only way I can think of is that you occationally test the market and when you get a counter offer back rather than a guffaw you know the ventdor is in a mood to negociate. Then it is time to start barginning! That is where forums like this come in very useful. The experiences of poeple like Rainbow (see thread http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=13015 ) are invaluable. Currently, in my area I sense the time is not quite right as the EA's are all sounding just a little too convident as yet, but when I do start making offers I'll keep you posted. Mean while thanks to those who are sharing their experiences. Most helpful.

On the positive side Roll Royce have just won a £1.7b order. So we can still build things if the product is right! Food for thought. Give up on wheelchairs, and build mini jet engines for them. (As a wheelchair user myself I like the sound of that )

Not that you'd catch any self respecting, self sacrificing Brit nipping over to Spain or Florida buying holidays homes.. Heard someone on the Steve Wright show boasting that they had a holiday home in Goa! Like they have not got a house shortage in India.

Maddness. More lambs being set up for a huge fall. Warn your friends.

Either that or he is managing to make a loss on a rising market!