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UK Consumer Confidence Hits Record Low, Says Nationwide
Tuesday, 06 January 2009 01:11:07 GMT  |  Ilya Spivak, Currency Analyst
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Nationwide Consumer Confidence fell to 47 in December, the worst reading on record and the lowest in over 4 years. Consumer sentiment has been pressured lower as economic growth turned sluggish, sending unemployment higher all the while tumbling home values and stock prices produced large negative wealth effects. Private consumption is the single largest contributing factor to overall economic growth. Indeed, a survey of economists’ polled by Bloomberg suggests GDP shrink in the fourth quarter of 2008 as well as the first three months of 2009, formally confirming that the UK is in recession. This will surely see the Bank of England continue to loosen benchmark borrowing costs, with traders pricing in a 0.25% - 0.50% cut when policymakers announce rates later this week.

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