Economic commentary from Mark Berrisford-Smith Head of Economics, UK commercial Banking The US economy is doing a lot better than either the UK or the Eurozone. But it's unlikely to be the engine of global growth that it was back in the days of the dotcom boom.
16/05/12
The political landscape in the Eurozone has changed markedly following last weekend's elections in Greece and France, which saw big gains for 'anti-austerity' candidates. In France, Francois Hollande defeated Nicolas Sarkozy, as opinion polls had indicated, to become the first Socialist President in seventeen years.
11/05/12
Economic commentary from Mark Berrisford-Smith Head of Economics, UK commercial Banking Voters in France and Greece have sent a clear signal: they've had enough of austerity. In the coming days and weeks the Eurozone will have to face up to difficult decisions and dilemmas on two fronts.
10/05/12
With opinion polls showing Francois Hollande more than six percentage points ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy in the French presidential election, the outcome of this Sunday's second round of voting is generally considered to be a foregone conclusion; and if indeed M. Hollande is the victor...
08/05/12
HSBC today hosts a debate on the hot topics for the housing market with industry leaders and experts. Topics include the future of housing prices, lending and transaction trends, strength of the buy-to-let market, stamp duty and how the UK's under 30's will be able to get on the housing ladder.
19/04/12
Follow this blog for a live update from the HSBC Great Housing Market Debate 2012 being held this morning in Westminster. To see all the tweets from the debate...
19/04/12
This week's economic data from the UK provided mixed messages. The latest PMI surveys were pretty encouraging, but some of the shine was taken off this by official figures showing an unexpected - and disturbingly large - fall in manufacturing output during February.
05/04/12
HSBC today reveals that it approved £4.9 billion in mortgages to UK borrowers during the first three months of 2012, 9% more than a year previously and the highest quarterly amount it has ever approved. Of this figure, £1.2 billion was approved for first time buyers...
02/04/12
A mood of caution returned to financial markets this week as concerns began to re-surface about the Eurozone debt crisis. The focus last week has been largely on Spain...
02/04/12
From Greece to oil Economists and analysts love to have something to worry about. Even before the ‘I’s had been dotted and the ‘T’s crossed on Greece’s debt swap and its second international rescue package, markets had started to fret about something else: that old chestnut, oil prices.
27/03/12
