However small, there are definite signs of improvement in investor confidence. In May our IC/Confidence Index rose by four points and it was last at this level around this time last year.
Both the UK and the US stock markets took off in May and the FTSE 100 wasn’t far short of attaining an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Index, on the other hand, powered through its previous high and continued upwards into uncharted territory. The consequence was to lift the stock market category of our confidence index.
The number of unemployed people rose by 15,000 between October to December 2012 and January to March 2013 to 2.52m. However there were 92,000 fewer unemployed people compared with a year earlier. The unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent of the economically active population for January to March 2013. Looking at unemployment by duration, 18 per cent had been looking for work for over two years, but almost half (47 per cent) had been unemployed for six months or less. The last time it was at this level was in November 2008. This caused the unemployment factor to lift away from the lowest score possible and to -4. That now leaves only wages, new issues and oil price factors on -5 scores.
