Julian Harris

1 month ago | bloomberg.com | Julian Harris

This article is for subscribers only. “We are a small economy in quite a stormy global sea, and that sea may be getting more stormy of late.”So said the Bank of England’s chief economist Huw Pill today, with a textbook example of the kind of understated metaphor beloved by central bankers. Pill was giving a speech at the University of Leeds about the BOE’s balance sheet (more on that later) rather than the state of the economy.

1 month ago | bloomberg.com | Julian Harris

This article is for subscribers only. Ahead of the last Bank of England interest rate decision, I quietly predicted an 8-1 vote against a cut and suspected that the MPC would start preparing markets for a possible hold in May, too. So I felt quite smug when the decision and accompanying comments from Andrew Bailey came in pretty much on the money. But things can change rapidly and it’s dangerous to rest on one’s laurels (just ask Real Madrid).

1 month ago | bloomberg.com | Julian Harris

This article is for subscribers only. At the time of writing, markets are not entirely convinced that the Bank of England will cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point next month. It’s quite a change from yesterday morning, when pricing suggested that a whopping half-point reduction might be on the cards. This slightly geeky example, based on the swaps market, shows the extent to which the British economy is hurled around by forces beyond the control of anyone here on our islands.

2 months ago | bloomberg.com | Julian Harris

This article is for subscribers only. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is an affable chap. Remember that cliché used to describe belligerent footballers over the decades — “he could start a fight in an empty room”? Well, Reynolds is the polar opposite: he’s a man who could quieten down a disagreement in a debating chamber.

2 months ago | bloomberg.com | Julian Harris |Francine Lacqua

Britain’s trade secretary expressed confidence in reducing the new 10% tariff imposed on the country’s exports by Donald Trump, putting pressure on UK officials locked in talks with the White House over a deal to bring the two economies closer. “I believe they can do,” Jonathan Reynolds told Bloomberg TV on Thursday morning, when asked if the US rates could ever be removed or reduced.