As the UK’s emergence from the recession gains slow but steady momentum recent predictions from the Bank of England show that the number of jobs available on the market are unlikely to deteriorate any further, Reasons given are that most UK companies are doing the maximum to maintain current staff levels to cope with the anticipated upturn in demand.

According to spokesman for the BOE, the banks findings were that although employment had fallen during the recession, it was much less than the comparative fall in output. Figure confirm that although unemployment had risen in the last two years, it was much less pronounced than during the previous two periods of recession in the 1980s and 1990s, although the current recession was much more severe. Despite that slightly rosy report, the fact remains that unemployment benefit claims jumped in January to the highest level since Labour rose to power almost 13 years ago.

According to a European Commission (EC) report due to be published later this week, the UK government’s plans to reduce their budget deficit are far from being realistic as well as lacking in ambition

The EC report went on to warns hand out a warning that if the UK continues on their current path, the will not be able to cut their deficit to meet the deadline set by the EU rules by 2015. The EU are insisting that

Deficits in their member countries must be less than three percent of their gross domestic production (GDP) by then. To show how far the UK is lagging behind is that the GDP in the UK is expected to be as high as 12.6% or £178 billion.

British Airways, facing imminent strike action from their cabin crew, have revealed their contingency plans to cope with the crisis. The plans, if they need arises to put them into action, will allow it to the airline to handle around 60% of its scheduled flights, with 45,000 passengers taking their seats during the first stage of the strike, due to begin on the 20th of March, .

Those who BA will be unable to transport will be given the option of flying with other airlines. Meanwhile plans for the second round of strikes will be announced nearer the date. Of the almost two thousand flights scheduled during the strike dates, more than half will need to be cancelled. However BA expects that all of their long-haul flights and more than half of short-haul flights taking off from Gatwick airport will take place.

Another sign that all is not well with the UK travel industry is the news that UK’s airports handled 7.4% fewer passengers in 2009 than in the previous year, making for the largest decline in traffic in history

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also announced that this was the first time that passenger traffic had fallen for two consecutive years, with charter flights being especially hit, down by 17%, in total more than two hundred million passengers passed through UK airports in 2009, the lowest number

since 2004. Overall scheduled airline traffic fell by six percent while.

domestic flight traffic was down by eight percent.

Telecommunications companies are getting hot under the collar about the government’s plans to increase the availability of internet access on mobile phones, with some of them going as far as threatening legal action. Among the companies who are investigating legal action are O2 and Vodafone upset, after UK government ministers finally submitted their proposals designed to end the long-standing dispute between mobile phone operators over radio spectrum. Hopes are that the law will be passed by the government before the end of March and they will give the green light to plans to hold a large air wave auction in early 2011. However UK telecommunications companies with O2 and Vodafone leading the way hope that they will be delay the auction.

On the money markets, Sterling continues to be in the doldrums, sitting on $1.5228 and €1.1046 with no signs or reasons for a recovery in sight. The pound ended two days of minimal gains against the dollar after a private report showed U.K. home sellers raised asking prices by the smallest amount for March on record as the supply of available properties increased.

On the FTSE, things were looking a lot more optimistic, with the 100 index rising 26 points to 5620.43.

In the US, the big news was that industrial production has again increased in February, making it for the eighth consecutive, despite analysts’ predictions that it was likely to fall. According to the Federal Reserve who produces the figure, production would have been even higher had it not been affected by severe winter storms that had plagued the industrialized zones in the North East of the Country in February

Overall industrial output rose by 0.1% in February, from January’s figures while the manufacturing sector dropped by 0.2%. Production in consumer goods fell by 0.4% in February, much of it because of a drop in new car sales.

On Wall Street optimism was in the air, with the Dow Jones rising again, this time by 43.83 points to close on 10658.98. The NASDAQ showed a very commendable rise or 15 points to 2378.01.

The US Federal Reserve has again repeated their pledge to hold interest rates at record lows in order to allow the continuation of the economic recovery. Main interest rate would be kept at the current 0% to 0.25% range, news that was widely expected.

The Feds rate-setting committee announced that the data being gatherer on the US economy described a mixed picture of the recovery from recession.

The troubled Euro succeeded in reaching a five-week high against the yen in money markets over the last two days. The rise was caused by increased speculation that the European Union will announce their bail out plans for Greece. When the plans are eventually released, anticipations are that there will be an increase in demand for the Eurozone currency.

On concerns that the Bank of Japan will announce extra credit-easing steps at its two-day policy meeting, the yen was close to a three-week low versus the dollar. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had sown some seeds of doubt regarding the strength of the currency when he announced last week that his government needed to take steps to arrest the currency’s rise.

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Tags: BA, Bank, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Banking, BOE, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, Civil Aviation Authority, Credit Crunch, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Employment, European Commission, Financial News, FTSE, Gatwick, GDP, Global Credit Crisis, Money, Money Management, NASDAQ, O2, Recession, Stocks and shares, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK Recession, UK travel, US economy, US Federal Reserve, Vodafone, Wall Street, Yukio Hatoyama

Heathrow baggage handlers and Eurostar train drivers have said they are ready to join British Airways cabin crew and strike in the lead-up to Christmas. Following a breakdown in talks with managers over pay, British Eurostar drivers announced they will go on strike on Friday and Saturday. Unite, the union representing BA cabin crew, said the 500 baggage handlers and check-in staff it covered at Heathrow and Aberdeen airports also planned to strike over pay from Tuesday 24th December, the same day that BA cabin crew are set to commence their 12-day strike action.

Meanwhile an operation is under way to recover the UK thousands of people left stranded after Flyglobespan, Scotland’s biggest airline, collapsed. After their parent company, Globespan, entered administration on Wednesday. Around 4,500 passengers were stranded by the airline’s collapse, mostly in Spain, Portugal, Cyprus and Egypt, with the Civil Aviation Authority expected to be repatriating about 1,100 of those stuck overseas.

A recent poll has shown that UK business leaders have become more gloomy about the recovery of the British economy over the last month, with only 36 percent of business leaders sensing that a financial recovery is in the offing, down from 49 percent in November.

The survey, taken in the five days after Finance Minister Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report last week, found the number of business leaders who had confidence in Darling had fallen five percentage points to 20 percent following the statement. Almost three-quarters of businessmen reckoned that Darling was "out of his depth" while less than a quarter believed he "understands business".

Public sector net borrowing in the UKs hit a record high of £20.3 billion in November, according to figures issued by the Office for National Statistics.

The public sector net debt as a percentage of overall UK economic output now stands at 60.2%, a considerably rise since the start of the financial crisis.

UK insurance companies also have little positive to report about, with worldwide premium income plunging 18% in 2008 to £215.3 billion, with 2009 also looking to be a fairly tough year. The financial crisis has had a definite effect on insurance rates, with premium income it falling almost 25% to £168.1 billion in 2008. The first nine months of this year, however, do show some promise. Long-term premium income was off 35% relative to the same period in 2008, but general insurance premiums gained 8% to £47.2 billion, mostly due to overseas business.

Virgin Group controlled by billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson have announced the launch of a new company, designed to come to the rescue of consumers experiencing technical problems with their such as PCs as well as wireless networks not connecting. The opening of this new company, to be known as Virgin Digital Help, is Virgin’s up’s first new UK company in three years offers free online self-help guides such as "speed up" to make computers go faster, or "get connected" to fix links to printers or wireless networks .

Shareholders in Punch Taverns revolted on Wednesday over the pay for executives at Britain’s largest pub owner, voting against its remuneration policies, in one of the biggest shareholder protests over pay this year. 55 per cent of votes on the remuneration policies of the heavily indebted company were cast against them as shareholders objected to the scale of the awards given to executives in a year in which the group suspended dividend payments after its annual pre-tax loss quintupled to £406 million. While the vote on pay was advisory only, a spokesman for Punch announced that they are to conduct “a full review of the remuneration policy and its future implementation” in the wake of the result. The ABI, which represents shareholders that account for about 20 per cent of investments in the UK stock market, signalled its objection to the pay policies by issuing a “red top” alert to its members. Under a long-term incentive plan, Giles Thorley, chief executive, and three other executives were awarded shares worth 200 per cent of their base salary that would vest if total shareholder returns were in the top quartile of the company’s peers over three years. Mr Thorley earned a base salary of £525,000 during the 2008 financial year to August 23. The vote at the annual meeting came after the company warned slowing food sales and patchy trading at its leased estate were depressing profits. Punch shares fell 4.7 per cent to 77.3 pence.

Carphone Warehouse, broadband group TalkTalk and Channel 4 have opted into a joint venture between the BBC, ITV RTL’s AUDK.LU Five and BT to install internet video on television sets. The backing from all public service broadcasters and the UK’s two biggest broadband providers for the project to be known as Project Canvas will help it "secure the future of free-to-air broadcasting" in the Internet age. The venture partners will share an estimated £115 million in yearly costs over the next four years.

Rentokil Initial was among the talking points in the London market on Wednesday, with the stock registering its biggest gain since July.

The pest control-to-package delivery group bounced 4.8 per cent to 105 pence ahead of its relegation from the FTSE 100 next week, with Rentokil management already hinting of a further £150 million of cost savings expected for next year.

Shares in the U.K.’s second-largest drug-maker AstraZeneca Plc climbed 0.5 percent to 2,843 pence after they won a U.S. panel’s backing to expand use of the cholesterol pill Crestor in the prevention of heart disease, a move that, if allowed, could add up to £300 million in annual sales.

Imperial Tobacco Group Plc Europe’s second- largest publicly traded cigarette company, lost 1 percent to 1,894 pence on threat that Japan, the fifth-largest tobacco market, are about to announce further tax increases on cigarettes . U.K. furnishings and clothes chain known for floral pattern Laura Ashley Holdings Plc added 3.8 percent to 13.75 pence, after analysts predicted a better 2010 for the company.

Barclays, Britain’s second-largest bank, slid 6.2 percent to 273.85 pence. HSBC Holdings Plc, Europe biggest, fell 3.5 percent to 684.1 pence.

Lloyds, the 43 percent government-owned bank, lost 8.1 percent to 51.1 pence, the steepest slump since May. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc fell 3.5 percent to 30.74 pence.

Sterling lost ground against the dollar and improved against the Euro in sluggish mid week trading.

• Pound/US dollar 1.6167
• Pound/Euro 1.1273

The benchmark FTSE 100 Index slid 102.65, or 1.9 percent, to 5,217.61. The index has rebounded 49 percent since March and is heading for its biggest annual gain since 1997 as central banks cut interest rates to record lows and governments worldwide committed about $12 trillion to revive the economy

As had been widely expected, the Federal Reserve have announced that US interest rates will be kept on hold at between 0% and 0.25%, despite continuing signs that the US economy is recovering. The central bank reiterated that rates would stay at the low level for an "extended period".

The Fed’s hand was strengthened by official data showing earlier on Wednesday that US inflation remains under control, rising by just 0.4% in November, as had been predicted.

With inflation continuing to be low, the Fed is not under pressure to increase interest rates as a means to tackle any inflationary pressure.

On close of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped more than 130 points to 10, 33.61 while the NASDAQ also dropped to 2,183.55.

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Tags: Alistair Darling, AstraZeneca Plc, Bank, Bank of England, Banking, Barclays, British airways, British Economy, British Pound, cabin crew, Carphone Warehouse, Christmas, Civil Aviation Authority, Credit Crunch, Crestor, Currency, Dow Jones, Economics, Economy, Eurostar, Financial News, Flyglobespan, FTSE, Globespan, Heathrow, HSBC Holdings Plc, Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, Interest Rates, Laura Ashley Holdings Plc, Lloyds, Lloyds Banking Group, Money, Money Markets, NASDAQ, Office for National Statistics, Punch Taverns, Recession, Rentokil Initial, Richard Branson, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, Stock Markets, Stocks and shares, TalkTalk, UK Banks, UK Economy, UK government, UK insurance companies, UK Recession, Virgin Digital Help, Virgin Group