Forget Blue Monday, Today Is Brown Wednesday
Figures today show that unemployment rose by 131,000 in the Sep/Nov quarter, taking the number of people out of work to 1.92 million. The number claiming jobseeker's allowance increased by 77,900 to 1.16 million, according to the Office for National Statistics. Unemployment in the Sep/Nov quarter stood at 6.1%, the highest in a decade, and will surely be significantly higher now.
Meanwhile the number of job vacancies fell to 530,000 in the October-December quarter, the lowest figure since the Office for National Statistics began keeping records in 2001.
Mortgage lending fell by 30% in 2008 the Council of Mortgage Lenders said today.
Meanwhile the inflation rate declined to 3.1 percent in December from 4.1 percent the month before, the biggest drop since records began in 1997.
Gordon McBroon's £100 billion extra to bailout British Banks is already looking like a drop in the ocean.
RBS shares set the ball rolling shortly after the announcement Monday, weighing in with a £20 billion loss, and seeing it's shares fall by two-thirds. Lloyds joined the party yesterday with it's shares declining by as much as 47% at one stage.
Today it's Barclays turn, with it's shares falling as much as 35% already this morning.
Investors are panicking to get out before the whole lot get nationalised.
Analysts working for RBS told the City that "the domestic UK banks are technically insolvent on a fully marked-to-market basis".
Jim Rogers, a veteran US investor, said the UK economy was "finished". Telling Bloomberg: "I would urge you to sell any sterling. It's finished. I hate to say it, but I would not put any money in the UK."
Meanwhile the number of job vacancies fell to 530,000 in the October-December quarter, the lowest figure since the Office for National Statistics began keeping records in 2001.
Mortgage lending fell by 30% in 2008 the Council of Mortgage Lenders said today.
Meanwhile the inflation rate declined to 3.1 percent in December from 4.1 percent the month before, the biggest drop since records began in 1997.
Gordon McBroon's £100 billion extra to bailout British Banks is already looking like a drop in the ocean.
RBS shares set the ball rolling shortly after the announcement Monday, weighing in with a £20 billion loss, and seeing it's shares fall by two-thirds. Lloyds joined the party yesterday with it's shares declining by as much as 47% at one stage.
Today it's Barclays turn, with it's shares falling as much as 35% already this morning.
Investors are panicking to get out before the whole lot get nationalised.
Analysts working for RBS told the City that "the domestic UK banks are technically insolvent on a fully marked-to-market basis".
Jim Rogers, a veteran US investor, said the UK economy was "finished". Telling Bloomberg: "I would urge you to sell any sterling. It's finished. I hate to say it, but I would not put any money in the UK."