Alistair left with egg on his chin as he adjusts his forecast for 2009

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Alistair left with egg on his chin as he adjusts his forecast for 2009

British chancellor Alistair Darling was looking and sounding somewhat sheepish as he was forced to admit over the weekend that what was already obvious to everyone. The chances of their being resurgence in the UK economy IN 2009 is non-existent.

The not so eagerly awaited budget speech by Darling on the 22nd of April 22 will begin with his prediction that the UK economy will shrink by at least 3 per cent in 2009 and that budget deficits will amount for more than 10 per cent of national income.

No simple admission to make, as the prediction turnaround is regarded by financial analysts as the most radical modification of any debt forecasts in modern history. In real terms the three percent slide in growth deterioration is three hundred percent higher than the Chancellor predicted in his pre-Budget report in November, which also pointed to a turn around that would begin in late summer 2009.

Signs that all is far from well with the UK economy came with a recent report that British companies made the highest number of profit warnings in the first quarter since 2001. A total of 117 British companies issued forecasts of profit reductions, making it the third quarter in a row when profit warnings have been in three figures. Struggling particularly are companies in the support services followed by media and industry.

While there is a level of optimism around after the positive decisions arrived at during the G20 conference, the fact remains that the British economy Is still very much in the doldrums, Recent figures have shown that the economy contracted in the fourth quarter at the highest level since 1980 with indication that the first quarter of 2009 will show some improvement but will be far from encouraging.

Banks enjoyed some good and bad publicity over the weekend. Predictions made at the AGM of the Royal Bank of Scotland held on Friday that the bank will take a minimum of three years and probably five to recover from the myriad of mistakes made BT the former management, with the disastrous acquisition of ABN Amro assets being the most prominent. The message at the meeting was that there was optimism for the future, and that previous mistakes should erased from the stockholder's memories. Easier said than done it seemed, according to the reportedly turgid reactions of the stockholders who attended the AGM in Edinburgh.

Much loved by their shareholders is Europe’s biggest bank, HSBC Holding as investors bought 97 percent of the U.K.’s largest-ever rights offer., with the banker succeeding in raising around $17.7 billion The shares went for sold 254 pence each, 41 percent less than their value at the close of the FTSE on April 3 in London. Early indications that they will recover to their pre-rights issue value came from Asia where HSBC shares have already risen by more than three percent on early trading.

Bank officials stated that the London-based bank is now “well-positioned for the uncertain economic environment and for growth opportunities.

Meanwhile the BT Group, the World's long established communications company in the world announced that they are considering including their remaining property assets, which include the London landmark BT Tower as well at their high value office headquarters situated adjacent to St Paul's Cathedral into their pension fund to tackle a deficit running close to excess of 5 billion pounds. With the properties valued at about 300 million pounds it might make some difference, but not a lot.

All seems well at BG Group, at least if you consider what the group's chief executive Frank Chapman, took home last year. Frank earned a total of £10.9million in 2008, putting him well into the bracket of being amongst Britain's highest salary earners. To be fair, Mr. Chapman did lead the company through a year of profitability and rapid expansion.

BG's 2008 earnings beat analysts' expectations following astute negotiations supervised by Chapman, which saw BG achieve high profit margins in its liquefied natural gas (LNG) business.

In a recent announcement, Mr. Chapman announced that BG was slated to become the world's third-largest producer of LNG by 2015, behind Exxon and Shell.

The FTSE 250 index rose by 1.49% or 93.35 points to 6351.92 while the FTSE 100 finished Friday's session up 46.56 points, at 4,076

Sterling rose slightly against the dollar and the Euro and rose slightly against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc:

Pound/US dollar 1.493
Pound/Euro 1.1028
Pound/Japanese Yen 150.93
Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6849

Wall Street shares had a another solid day on Friday's trading

The Dow Jones Average rose 39.51. To creep over the eight thousand mark at 8017.59. Nasdaq also rose 19.24points to close at 1621.87

The market was obviously dampened by news that US unemployment had reached its highest level since 1983, arriving at 8.5 per cent of the work force
In March, industry and commerce shed 663,000 jobs, bringing job losses since December 2007 to 5.1m, with around three and a half million jobs being lost since October 2008 alone.

In Asian markets moved higher for a fourth consecutive session on early trading on Monday. By the 11am break in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 had risen 2.3 per cent

At close of business on Friday European stocks had also risen, reaching their highest level for eighteen months, a sure sign that coincidence was on the rise aft the G20 conference