Reasons to be cheerful

There's no shortage of doom and gloom about at the moment, says Merryn Somerset Webb. But it's not all bad news.

905-Abe-634

Good trade deals with the EU are possible
(Image credit: 朝日新聞社)

Go to the Office for National Statistics website, look for the latest UK House Price Index release, and you will see what we think is one of the most encouraging charts we've seen in a long time. It shows UK house prices flatlining. The average house price was £226,000 in May 2018, a little under 3% higher than in May 2017, and unchanged from last month. Move then to the inflation figures and you will see that annual CPI (consumer price index) inflation is sitting at 2.4% and the old RPI (retail price index) inflation measure is at 3.4% (for more, see our cover story this week on the oil price). Next, look to the latest wage numbers: regular wages are rising at an annual rate of about 2.7%.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Explore More
Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.