United Kingdom: in the crossroads about the EU Country report 23 July 2015 , No hay comentarios United Kingdom has opened widely its economy since the beginning of the conservative governments in the 80s to become a service and financial country. Canary Wharf shows daily the strength of the financial services and also the crossroads in which the country lives its relationship with the European Union. Banks prefer to stay, but some part of the population does not find the advantages of being there. That’s why Prime Minister David Cameron promised to organize a referendum about this subject. The political development has been surprising in the recent years: the first coalition government since the WWII, the creation of a far right party (UKIP) with relevant support in an always politically not radical country, the Scottish referendum about its independence from the Kingdom. Now, tories obtained recently the majority to govern alone, the UKIP lost quite a lot support and Scottish nationalists have seen how their wish to be independent disappeared with their surrender in the referendum, although they keep the strength as a party in Scotland. New Cameron’s cabinet will pass a budget with cuts on the spending side, aligned with the traditional conservative policy. UK emerged strongly from the economic crisis: there has been a hard correction in the housing market, the unemployment is very low (around 5%) and the economic outlook for this and next year proposes a GDP growth higher than 2%. Interest rates will remain low, as the Bank of England promoted exceptional monetary policies as other central banks in the world. A rate hike is only probable from 2017. What was the stock market evolution in the last five years? Volatility was high, but the evolution was very positive between May 2012 and May 2013. Then the FTSE 100, the main index, has moved between the 6.500 and 7.000 points. If we consider the evolution of the returns since 2010, the T-Advisor chart is as follows: What are the companies with higher 1-year returns in the London Stock Exchange? This is the selection of the ones with returns over 100%. All are related to the services sector: tourism, replacement vehicles, gifts, pharma, distribution and restaurants. On the other side, the main losers are mainly energy and industrial companies. The companies with 1-year loses over 70% are an investment company, a pub chain, a mobile banking service and three companies linked to energy and mining: UK is a country with a strong development in financial economy and that’s why there are several investment opportunities in the stock exchange. T-Advisor has a steady model portfolios with British assets rebalanced every second month. The portfolio has always had strong figures, as we show below: UK is a country with lots of opportunities for investors. They have a developed financial branch and markets and the economic environment is positive for this business. The only shadow is the evolution of the relationship with the EU, as it is its main market. A “Brexit” is not very probable, but it can bring uncertainties in the next months… and uncertainties are not very welcome for money.