UK sure to follow the US into recession

| 15 April 2008 07:31

I have been in Europe for a while and am back at blogging after a two-week hiatus. This morning I was listening to “Wake Up To Money,” a British finance show that one can hear via podcast. The gist of the discussion was that the UK economy is slowing markedly with consumers really pulling back. In fact, the show said that the number of profit warnings by UK companies was the largest since the dot-com boom. In particular, retailers are suffering because all the lost money goes straight to the bottom line; they have high fixed costs in terms of staff and buildings and cannot react to the downturn quickly.

What was apparent to me in Europe is the global nature of this recession: German banking, UK housing and retail sales, Spanish housing and building, Irish housing and ex-pat taxes. There are a huge number of sectors in an increasing number of economies that are being affected by the global slowdown. Stay tuned.

See also: Other posts under the label ‘UK.’

avatar About Edward Harrison

Edward Harrison is the founder of Credit Writedowns and a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty years of business experience. He is also a regular economic and financial commentator on BBC World News, CNBC Television, Business News Network, CBC, Fox Television and RT Television. He speaks six languages, a skill he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

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