First published: Prospectmagazine.co.uk, 18/01/2016
A barrel of Brent oil cost $125 in 2013; it is now $28. Can we absorb the shocks?
Why have financial markets been so poorly behaved so far this year? Take the UK. You may not know it, but the UK is enjoying the equivalent of a £7 billion tax cut. UK motorists consume nearly 1.5 billion litres of petrol each month. The price has fallen about 30% since the peak in the spring of 2013, and half of that decline has happened since the end of 2014. You would imagine this might be a cause for economic joy here and the world over, but no.
Global financial markets are in varying degrees of turmoil. In the first two weeks of the year US equity markets dropped by eight to ten per cent, the FTSE-100 index has now fallen seven per cent, other European and world markets are down 8-11 per cent, and China’s equity market has slumped by 18%. Strategists at two large banks issued warnings last week; one said to “sell everything except high quality bonds,” the other opined that the US’ Standard and Poor stock market index in the US could drop by 75%. Estimates of economic growth are being lowered again, and some people think we are on the cusp of the next global recession….Read more:
