Yesterday, the Office for National Statistics released updated figures for the UK government finances in the financial year 2015/16.
Chart of the Week: Week 24, 2016: Global Government Bonds
Government bond yields in most advanced economies reached record lows this week, with ten year German bond yields entering negative territory for the first time ever.
Chart of the Week: Week 23, 2016: Oil Price
The price of a barrel of Brent Crude oil reached an eight month high yesterday, continuing the general trend we’ve seen since the beginning of the year.
Chart of the Week: Week 22, 2016: Average House Prices
The Land Registry’s data for the first quarter of the year came out recently, showing a 6.5% year-on-year growth rate in nominal prices for England and Wales, while in London, the equivalent rate was 13.8%.
Chart of the Week: Week 21, 2016: Regional Disposable Income
Data released by the ONS this morning showed that the gap in gross disposable income between the richest region of the UK (London) and the poorest (Northern Ireland) opened up to the largest it has been since records began in 1997.
Chart of the Week: Week 20, 2016: UK Labour Market
Today’s labour market statistics (for the first quarter of the year) show that the unemployment rate remained at 5.1%, where it has been since November 2015.