The Financial Times has just published an article with interesting finance news info on the economy. It says that there are still a lot of uncertainty around many areas of the economy but also that the economic recovery is picking up. One of the highlights is the fact that consumers are starting to feel more secure about their finances due to lower borrowing costs and rising wage figures. This means that many people are starting to take financial decisions again which in turn will help the economy as a whole.
Consumer attitudes towards debt have changed drastically over recent years and it can be seen by the increasing number of credit card users and the number of people without any form of savings account. This has caused many economic problems for the country and in particular the high rate of consumer debt. There are now over three million consumers with debts of more than ten thousand pounds. This is a significant increase from just a few thousand six months ago.
A key theme in the finance news report was the statement by the Bank of England that the Bank Rate will remain on hold at a record low of 0.1%. This is because since the start of the global recession many banks have been forced to cut their lending rates to try and bring consumer borrowing back to some kind of normality. In order to get this rate to remain at this low level, it is hoped that the economy will have to grow by another one percent in order to have a sustainable rate. However this growth is thought to be going to slow down rather than stopping altogether which could lead to even lower rates in coming months.
The other thing that the economic data was good for was the employment figures. This confirms that the number of people in employment has increased slightly, bringing the unemployment rate down to pre-recession levels. There has also been a surge in self-employment, which makes the job market far healthier than it would otherwise be. This bodes well for the future of the economy, since there are now more people working than are looking for jobs.
With the release of finance news such as this one it is important to remember that it is an unpredictable industry. There are always factors that can affect the data that you are reading. For example, interest rates can fluctuate up and down. At the same time it is important not to read too much into the data since a large number of individuals might be rushing to buy a property before they begin to see an increase in the value of their property. It is always a good idea to wait until a couple of months have passed so that you can see whether or not the property’s value has risen.
Overall it appears that the recent finance news is positive to the economy. The main concern that many people have is how long will it take to recover from the global recession. Some people think that it could take anywhere between five and seven years. These things do not take into consideration how long it could take the US economy to recover completely from the economic crisis, but it is safe to say that it will take quite some time.