The bill for bailing out the banks got bigger this week as the UK government announced a further 39 billion pound potential injection into Lloyds and RBS. Ralph Silva from TowerGroup considers the outlook for the UK's banks.
UK retail sales rose at their fastest pace in two years in November, according to a CBI survey Thursday. "We're not really getting a message from this that is unusual or different from what we've been expecting for the last 6 months," Chris Tinker from ICAP said, adding that obviously the holiday period is very important for retailers.
"Whilst this liquidity is in the market, the market continues to rise, assets will continue to reflate. But it is important to get a reality check because this market will carry on until such time as we start paying the bill for that asset reflation," Andy Hartwill from Quasar said Thursday.