I’m dreaming of a Christmas – Monday Musings 13/12/2021

There are a few things that have or may happen this week that are worth talking about. First I think is the interest rate decision on the 16^th. I think that I have covered the various factors that will influence the committee’s decision quite a lot in the last week or so. I am now of the view that they are unlikely to make a change, and if they do it will not be to the 0.75% level that I had thought likely a few weeks ago.

I am still not convinced that our pubs, restaurants, and music venues have escaped the Omicron lockdown rules, but we should know soon how they will be impacted. Although I must confess to being biased, my son works for Weatherspoon, I do think it would a travesty if having just got going they were hit again.  We have our office Christmas lunch booked for this week so will be keeping our fingers crossed.

That brings us to Omicron in general. There seems to be a real possibility that it will lead to many more infections. As I said before, the economy is largely driven by sentiment and although the markets around the world have had a positive week it is important that we as consumers stay positive and carry on spending our filthy lucre.

Although it seems impossible, we are close to the time of year when we will be reminding you to use your various tax allowances. These include your annual ISA allowance and you Capital Gains allowance. If you want to get ahead of the game on these, do get in touch. As I said in my recent email, we are taking all steps possible to protect our clients and ourselves and think that we will be able to carry on meeting with our clients.

So, to the markets