It’s been a busy week on the economic front.
There was no major shift in the overall outlook – since Monday we’ve had it confirmed that the UK economy has lower inflation and more growth than the last two years, while wages have grown faster than the overall pace of price rises.
On the back of all that news the pound is at the highest rate since early this month against the dollar, worth $1.2882, and the highest since July when it comes to buying euro with one pound equal to €1.1733.
Signs of a recovery from the global market sell-off of Monday last week can be seen in the share prices of companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Share prices have grown among the most valuable companies on the stock exchange, those that comprise the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 100 list of most valuable companies.
Today though, this benchmark UK index fell 0.19% but finishes the week higher than the start.
Also finishing the week higher than the start are the more UK-based companies of the FTSE 250 (the 101st to the 250th most valuable firms on the London Stock Exchange).
On Friday morning that index was up 0.08%.
With tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe high as Iran mulled a retaliatory strike on Israel and Ukraine made incursions into Russian territory, there had been concern about energy price spikes.
But the benchmark oil price has remained steady at $80.13 dollars for a barrel of Brent crude oil.
Gas prices have remained below the Monday high of 100 pence a therm (the measurement for heat) and now are 94.50 pence a therm.
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