Howard Archer Relatively Quotations

Future growth still depends critically on developments in consumer spending, and we suspect that this will be relatively muted over the coming months.

Relatively subdued consumer spending, intense domestic and international competition, and high input costs continue to dampen ... the sector.

While the CBI survey indicated a marked softening in consumer spending following the relatively strong December performance, it nevertheless indicated a significantly stronger performance than that seen overall in recent months.

While the February mortgage lending and approval data are relatively healthy, there are hints that housing market activity could be starting to lose momentum after several months of improvement.

While the fourth quarter GDP data and the relatively healthy mix of the components further diminishes the chances of a near-term trimming of interest rates, we still believe a 25 basis point interest rate cut is very possible in May.

We believe house price increases will be relatively muted over the coming months, given affordability constraints, increased debt levels and muted earnings growth.

This is still a pretty healthy report overall that suggests that the service sector has started 2006 relatively strongly. The report does little to change perceptions that the Bank of England will keep interest rates unchanged next week, and very probably for some time to come after then.

The Bank of England will not be happy to see that manufacturers output prices rose at an increased rate in December, as it suggests that they could be stepping up their efforts to pass on their higher input costs despite intense domestic and international competition and relatively soft demand.

Consumer confidence held up relatively well in February, following January's sharp bounce.

Consumer credit growth was again relatively muted in September, pointing to continuing consumer caution,

The February CBI survey reinforces our belief that consumer spending will be unable to sustain the relatively strong performance seen in the fourth quarter of 2005.

House prices are likely to remain relatively flat for an extended period,

The euro zone's upturn is still young and relatively fragile with significant question marks still hanging over the long-term strength of domestic demand.