EvilEdna

I hold a degree in Design Communication and Media and I've picked fruit for a living.

Spew

Yet in the heading of the article it says: The number of home owners unable to keep up with their loan repayments is expected to rise, the Bank of England has warned. So it was unexpected but is now expected or what?

Portugal's also been downgraded again again

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/29/banco-base-seeks-bailout A country undergoing drastic reductions in public expenditure, with zero growth and a troubled bank sector holding unrecognised housing debts.

Agreed but it's still not going to get them a job if there aren't any jobs.

Yes quite

Socrates has resigned and elections are likely within months. Not that there's much point really as they have lost their sovereignty now anyway.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/mar/22/portugal-edges-towards-eu-imf-bailout Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank, said that while there was "a real risk the Portuguese minority government could fall apart this week", fears that the crisis would spread to neighbouring Spain had abated. "The general consensus is that, irrespective of who is leading the Portuguese government, and whether or not the country bows to an EU bailout, this is an isolated crisis which will not bring EMU to its knees." Don't worry it's contained

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12755569 Why do they bother to keep pretending they're not going to need a bailout - better to get it over with surely?

Is that from Citizen Kane?

You've got to wonder. I think the thing is that so much currency trading is micro-second stuff that people taking long-term positions just get lost amongst the weight of other trades.

I have that as pound up 0.2% against the Euro. Euro down against everything. Lots of press articles recently about Iberia particularly Portugal - little market reaction as yet.

I wonder what proportion of those are interest only...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12697397 "Spain debt rating downgraded by Moody's Spain's debt has been downgraded by one notch to Aa2 by ratings agency Moody's. It raised concerns over the Spanish government's ability to improve its finances against a backdrop of "moderate" economic growth. The cost of bank restructuring could "considerably exceed" current government projections, Moody's said. Spain, which has the highest rate of unemployment in the eurozone at about 20%, is seen as one the region's weaker economies. The economy expanded by 0.2% in the fourth quarter last year, but contracted by 0.1% over the whole of 2010, according to official estimates from the National Statistics Institute." It's like watching a slow motion car crash. Also, I love the po-faced reporting. Spain is "seen as one of the region's weaker economies." Apparently "reforms designed to reduce the budget deficit have proved unpopular." Bank restructuring could "considerably exceed current government predictions." How about some strong and honest language for a change.

And oil exports are up.

How one earth do you work that out Nostradamus?

Good luck with it - I guess they must be very desperate. There'll be far more people who'll be far more desperate in a couple of years time though.

I suppose your chum was "just following orders" then when ramping property to mugs and indebting the nation a few years back. Incidentally, why are you buying a house if you think it's all about to go pear-shaped? Hold your fire for a couple of years and wait till there's blood on the streets.

I can't believe this thread has got so far without a mention for "no more boom and bust."

Of interest to me is his comment that: "There are differences of view on the Committee. But these are relatively small." It chimes with David Blanchflower's comments on leaving. I get the feeling that Mervyn King brooks no dissent and that rate rises will be over his dead body.

I like number 5, apparently the banks have returned to rude health

I see your point about interest rates, however, I don't see what there is to stop them printing more and more money. In fact, now it's all there is left to do it seems more and more inevitable. Am I missing something?

Love the cement garden, real serial killer chic.