Interactive Investor

Markets: Miners offset retailers to lift FTSE 100

14th January 2010

13:45 – UK businesses are bracing themselves for a bumpy ride, according to the last Bank of England Roundtable of 2009.
Minutes released today show that economists believed many small and medium businesses had continued to be hit with highly-restrictive credit conditions and would continue to find it hard to raise the necessary funds to increase their stocks.

Paddy Earnshaw, director at Travelex, commented: “Despite the fact that billions have been injected into the financial system through the Bank’s quantitative easing programme, this is still being used to build up balance sheets and asset prices.
“Relatively little credit has filtered through to the UK’s businesses, particularly SMEs, who are struggling to stay afloat and borrowing remains both restricted and problematic.”