US consumer confidence continued to soar in March, hitting its highest level in more than 16 years, the Conference Board announced Tuesday. The index, which hit a 15-year record in February, spiked nearly 10 points, backed by the enthusiastic short-term outlook among consumers. The index now stands at 125.6, a big jump from 116.1 in … Read more
US consumer confidence rebounded in February to return to a 15-year high, the Conference Board announced Tuesday. After retreating in January, the Consumer Confidence Index jumped to 114.8, up from 111.6. The reading is now higher than at any time since July 2001. Analysts had instead expected the monthly survey report to show a drop … Read more
U. S. stock investors may look to a host of results from consumer-facing companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) next week for signs on whether the recent market rally has more room to run. The consumer names are among the last major companies of the S&P 500 earnings season to report, but the results will … Read more
Exports increased by £2bn, lifted by machinery and transport orders, while imports decreased by £1.8bn, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The ONS also made large revisions to trade figures for the period between January 2015 and September 2016. It said it had made an error in the way it had recorded trade in … Read more
Dzifa Amegashie, Head of Investor Relations at CAL Bank, has indicated that a lot of economic trends and indices, which are quite high, have negatively affected businesses in the country. Speaking at CAL Bank’s second ‘Facts behind the figures’ presentation at the Ghana Stock Exchange yesterday in Accra, Mrs Amegashie said at 15.8 percent, for … Read more
The country’s debt stock has reached GH¢112.4 billion as at September this year a summary of economic and financial data released by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has revealed. This came to the fore after BoG’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) met last week to review the health of the economy. The new amount, according to … Read more
The UK trade deficit widened to £5.2bn in September from £3.8bn in August, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Exports decreased by £0.2bn, while imports increased by £1.2bn. The widening between imports and exports was in part driven by a record £8.7bn deficit with the European Union. Although the pound fell sharply after the … Read more
Chief Executive of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, has cast doubt over government’s ability to tackle the public debt in good time to the benefit of the economy. As at July this year, the country’s total debt had hit GH¢110 billion representing about 66 percent of Gross Domestic Production (GDP). Government has downplayed suggestions this is … Read more
An advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Franklin Belnye has kicked against the placement of ban on some selected imported items as a measure of improving Ghana’s budget deficit. Government in recent times placed a ban on a number of items including the importation of cement to protect local producers and … Read more
Barely five months after a currency swap deal between Nigeria and China was enmeshed in controversy, the country’s import profile from the Far-East Asian nation has remained high and intermediated by the dollar. While government denied striking such deal, the earlier move was widely celebrated as a panacea to unending huge dollar demand and pressure … Read more