When will the FTSE hit 6000?

Trollslayer

Due to a big oil surplus (three billion barrels).
It's the headline (oil) companies that are driving the drop, others are doing OK.
The question is why was that big a surplus such a surprise? Do so many of these people specialise in sticking their heads in the sand trying to squeeze the last penny out of a tock?

johntheexpat

The low petrol and diesel prices must be starting to hurt governments though.  Not just HMG and its take from the production but also the loss of VAT.  The price here is now below one euro per litre for diesel, which I thought I would never see again.  But coming down from 1.50 € per litre it means the gov here are losing ( or not collecting) 10 CTS per litre on vat.  That's quite a chunk when taken across the whole of France.
And the low fuel price doesn't seem to have done anything for the economy, either.

Philly112

I think that some would have been expecting OPEC to cut production, which they don't seem capable of agreeing on.
The UK economy is actually doing reasonably well (at least, relative to it's Western world peers). It just shows the disconnect between the stock market and the economy.
This is a good article on the recent 'problems'.

Russia plans $40 a barrel oil for next seven years as Saudi showdown intensifies

Trollslayer

The low fuel price will help businesses and families but yes, revenues are affected.

domtheone

Which, given the UK's addiction to spending, the extra cash saved on the pump prices may well be spent on xmas presents, shopping/restaurants etc etc.  All (well chunks) going to support UK PLC.

No idea how much revenue the Treasury is losing.  Just a bit of VAT since most of it (Duty) is fixed.

Purchased a few more shares today.  Bargaintastic.

That's not to say they won't be even more bargaintastic in the coming weeks/months if the hedge funds and such like continue their attack on the FTSE100.

Trollslayer

Oil went up a bit today, a change from down.

domtheone

US markets took this evening long overdue rise in interest rates in their strides.

Hopefully they stick to their forecasts and we see 3-4 further rises next year.

Fngers crossed that compels the government/BOE (same thing) to finally see the light and raise our stupidly low rates here too.

Years too late but hey ho.

Trollslayer

Not stupidly low, it would be easy to trigger significant deflation.

domtheone

Deflation lol.

What's a little deflation when you've had mid-high single figure inflation over the last decade.

Philly112

Dom, UK inflation over the last 10 years. There have been 3 months when inflation was 5% or just over. I've not averaged the whole 10 years, but it's going to be under 3%.