Luke Springthorpe

Articles by Luke Springthorpe

£1.7 Billion EU Bill Shows We Need Radical Reform

The EU’s announcement that it expects an additional £1.7 billion from the UK is both reasonable on a pan-European level, but unreasonable in the context of the UK. Crucially, it acts as a poignant reminder as to why the UK

£1.7 Billion EU Bill Shows We Need Radical Reform

Financial Week in Preview: US Consumer Confidence is Rising

Tuesday June 24th, US consumer confidence expected to rise (to 83.5 from 83) Although confidence is expected to pick up, it should come as no surprise that US consumers are still less chirpy than they were before the crash of

Financial Week in Preview: US Consumer Confidence is Rising

Week Ahead in Finance: UK Earnings Decreasing

This week we can look forward to a decrease in UK earnings, a forecast increase in Eurozone industrial production and a rise in Spanish CPI inflation.  Tuesday 10th June, Italian GDP for Q1 forecast at -0.1 percent and -0.5 percent

Week Ahead in Finance: UK Earnings Decreasing

Negative Interest Rates Explained in Five Graphs

Why did the European Central Bank cut rates and introduce a negative overnight deposit rate which will essentially charge European Banks for the privilege of avoiding risk and depositing cash with the European Central Bank? This is best explained through

Negative Interest Rates Explained in Five Graphs

Conservative and UKIP Councillors Must Work Together

Following last week’s local elections, 32 local councils were left with no one party able to control the council.  Of these, a fifth (seven councils in total*) would have a working majority if UKIP and Conservatives were able to come

Conservative and UKIP Councillors Must Work Together

Why Britain Should Celebrate the AstraZeneca Takeover

The recent furore over the prospective takeover of AstraZeneca by US pharmaceutical conglomerate, Pfizer, for approximately $100 billion was to be expected. Having initially, and rightly, proclaimed the proposed takeover as a vote of confidence in the UK as a

Why Britain Should Celebrate the AstraZeneca Takeover

UK House Prices Still Rising, EU Unemployment Remains High

In our weekly preview of the financial markets we look at US home sales, the growth of the EU money supply, Eurozone inflation and unemployment, and rising UK house prices. Monday 28th April, US Pending home sales forecast to rise

UK House Prices Still Rising, EU Unemployment Remains High

Valuable Economic Lessons Can Be Learned from Sir John Major

Former Bank of England Governor,  Mervyn King, was yesterday awarded the UK’s highest honour in his appointment to the Order of the Garter. The honour, which is given annually on St.George’s day, sees Sir Mervyn join only 22 other Knights

Valuable Economic Lessons Can Be Learned from Sir John Major

Why Inflation is Falling Despite Quantitative Easing

We are likely to see economic data to take a backseat if the Ukrainian situation takes a turn for the worst, with European markets wobbling in morning trading (the FTSE 250 down 1.6 percent at noon GMT). With a Monday

Why Inflation is Falling Despite Quantitative Easing

The Week Ahead in Finance

Another week, and another raft of data that will attempt to give some direction to these otherwise directionless markets. Over in the UK, the FTSE 100 has been ‘range bound’ (meaning it struggled to get any real momentum behind it).

The Week Ahead in Finance

The Week Ahead for Financial Markets

An interesting week last week saw February non-farm payrolls beat expectations, potentially suggesting that the US recovery is on a firm footing in the medium term. Similar to the UK, however, we saw that the unemployment rate actually went up

The Week Ahead for Financial Markets

The Week Ahead in Financial Markets

With much of the news flow likely to be dictated by events as they unfold in the Ukraine, the markets are most likely going to be highly volatile and responsive to every new major development. This has already been evidenced

The Week Ahead in Financial Markets

The Week Ahead in Financial Markets: 24 February 2014

Last week’s economic data confirmed an emerging trend, with inflation in the developed world consistently falling. Meanwhile, US Housing Starts fell off rather sharply. While the powers that be were keen to peddle the idea that it was down to

The Week Ahead in Financial Markets: 24 February 2014

Did Facebook Pay Too Much for WhatsApp?

At a glance, Facebook’s swoop to purchase WhatsApp for $19 billion appears eye watering, even if much of it is in stock (or funny money). The cash being paid still amounts to $4 billion, which eclipses Google’s $1.6 billion takeover

Did Facebook Pay Too Much for WhatsApp?

The Implications of Low Inflation

As had been predicted, the UK Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined once again — this time to 1.9 percent, down from 2.03 percent. The likelihood of CPI falling short of the two percent forecasts was something I alluded to in my

The Implications of Low Inflation