Mass slaughter of millions of farm animals worldwide set to push food prices up 14%

The mass slaughter of millions of farm animals across the world is expected to push food prices to their highest ever levels. As well as hitting consumers' pockets, the predicted 14% jump in food prices will also dash the Bank of England's hopes of pushing inflation down to 2% by next year.

Farmers across the world have begun a mass slaughter of their pig and cattle herds because they cannot afford the cost of feed, which has soared following the worst US drought in living memory, according to a report published on Wednesday. Experts at investment bank Rabobank warn that the mass "herd liquidation" will contribute to a 14% jump in the price of the average basket of food by next summer.

On Tuesday, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said lower food prices had help bring inflation down to 2.5% in August. That brings it closer to the Bank's 2% target and should help consumers who have seen their spending power shrink as wages fail to match inflation. The Bank expects inflation to ease below the 2% target by early next year, but that could be scuppered by rising food, oil and commodity prices. Read more >>

Record 3 Million Unemployed in France

The number of French unemployed has broken through the 3-million barrier for the first time since 1999, the country's leaders say.

The latest total adds pressure on President Francois Hollande, whose administration is under attack for doing not doing enough to fix the economy. France's unemployment rate is currently 10 percent.

Breaking the 3 million mark carries more symbolic importance than economic but it was covered extensively in the French media over the weekend. The Ministry of Employment says the 3-million threshold was crossed in 1996 and again in 1999. Read more >>

Percentage of disposable income spent on eating-out has plunged

We have discussed this somewhat obscure indicator of our obese nation's spending comfort-factor in the past, but just as divergences from economic and non-equity market realities seem de rigeur currently, we though we'd dust it off. The percentage of disposable income spent on eating-out has plunged dramatically in the last two months (the biggest drop since Lehman!) - after running up in a well-correlated manner with stocks - from the 2009 lows. It would seem that once again, equity hopefulness-divergence is writ large here and yet consumers are not buying the hype/hope.

The ratio of eating-out to disposable income has plunged by its most in 4 years over the last two months...

Read more >>

20% British youth unemployed

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBritain is heading for another decade of youth unemployment with the related rate rising to over 20% to be unemployed, according to the ONS. Details given out by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested the number of young people who are long-term unemployed is likely to increase by 50% in 2011.

A prospectus issued by the Department for Work and Pensions predicted that between 140,000 and 200,000 young people aged from 18 to 24 will be registered as having been unemployed for at least nine months or more between 2011-12.

The statistics would simply mean that one out of five young people in Britain will have no job prospects next year. Figures also reveal that in some areas, every third young person will be without a job or the chance of a skill. More...