Steepening yield curves have gone largely unnoticed but have a major influence on mortgage rates

The rapid roll-out of Covid vaccines in the UK has seen sterling rebound while the slow roll-out in the eurozone is proving a headwind for the single currency, given it is seen as holding back economic recovery

As noted by the ECB last week, and reflected in data for recent months, containment measures are mainly hitting the services sector of economies. 

Covid-19 vaccines becoming widely available over the course of 2021 should lay the foundations for a period of sustained, robust growth by the global economy over the next couple of years, with the US economy no longer an outperformer

Overall, the UK’s departure from the EU and its customs union and single market is viewed by many as lowering the potential growth rate of the country's economy over the medium term, via negative impacts on investment and trade. 

The global recession last year triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic saw the largest contraction in world economic activity since the Great Depression of the early 1930s.

While demand has been bolstered by improvements in the help-to-buy scheme, remote working and an increase in household savings, the market is still well short of meeting that demand

This year was always going to be challenging for investors following the stellar performance across virtually all asset classes in 2019 that yielded very handsome returns.

The UK takes close to 40% of indigenous Irish exports and much of the retail sector here is also very closely interlinked with the UK for supplies

UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak was stark in the presentation of his public spending review last week, saying the "emergency has only just begun”. It comes as the UK economy is set to contract by 11. 3% in 2020, the biggest decline for more than 300 years.