No surprises from last nights Fed meeting

There was no surprise from last nights Fed meeting, as Janet Yellen announced there would be no interest rate hike in September. The rate has not moved since last December’s decision to move interest rates from 0.25% to 0.5%. Another rate hike in December 2016 is now looking a shoe in. It seems that unless global economic sentiment deteriorates in the next few months, December is seen as a good time to move again. As key data solidified in recent months, the Fed now want to see ‘economic progress’. Employment and inflation will be scrutinised until the end of the year, and the Fed members seem more aggressive as three voted to move rates, where as in July there was just the one.

UK’s public sector net borrowing falls

The UK’s Public Sector Net Borrowing fell in August, as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics were released. The Public borrowing figure has dropped to £10.5BN from July, down £0.9bn from a year earlier, but numbers had been expected to fall an additional £500M. UK Borrowing in the present economic year to date has touched £33.8BN, which is £4.9BN lower than the previous year. The ONS did say that ‘there was no clear sign of Brexit voting affecting the figures’. They also added that ‘receipts from income and corporation taxes rose strongly compared with a year ago, but VAT receipts rose at their slowest annual pace since March 2015’.

Also out yesterday was positive car production news in the UK, as car production touched a 14-year high in August. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), just over 109K vehicles were released from manufacturers grasps, up 9.1% year on year (YoY).

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