London, England -- (SBWire) -- 01/26/2011 -- Financial spread betting expert Joshua Raymond of City Index (http://www.cityindex.co.uk/) takes a look at market activity on 25th January, including news around the fourth quarter GDP.

“UK fourth quarter GDP shocked investors today by posting a contraction in growth to -0.5% a full 1% worse than the market had expected and this sent the pound sterling sharply lower.

The GDP figure is quite simply a shock to the system and heightens fears that the coalition governments’ austerity plan may well curb growth too excessively and send the UK into a double dip recession.

Today's Q4 GDP reading creates a huge problem for the Bank of England in their attempt to curtail spiralling inflation which hit 3.7% last month as it lessens any room for flexibility on hiking rates earlier than possible. Perversely therefore, home owners may look upon today’s GDP reading with some positivity.

That said, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves with this contraction in fourth quarter GDP just yet. This is only a preliminary reading and is liable to change next month, given the public admission of the difficulty the ONS had in attaining the number, whilst this may also tell more of a story about how the harsh weather over December affected business activity than of one about declining core strength in the UK economy. This view is reinforced by the Office of National Statistics who said that the bad weather contributed to most or all of the quarterly fall.”

Learn more about trading with a free spread betting seminar at City Index. Visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/learn-to-trade/seminars.aspx for details.

Alternatively, you can keep on top of market happenings with City Index’s mobile trading platform, now available on iPhone, Blackberry, Java, Windows and Android. Learn more at http://www.cityindex.co.uk/trading-platform/mobile-trading-platform.aspx.

About City Index
Today more and more individual traders are discovering the benefits of derivatives, and many of them are discovering them through a City Index trading platform.
As a group, we transact in excess of 1.5 million trades every month for individuals in over 50 countries worldwide. We provide access to a wide range of instruments including margined foreign exchange, CFD trading and in the UK spread betting.
We constantly look to widen the range of assets we offer, improve the performance of our platforms and expand the range of services we provide. The result is that our customers benefit from innovative iPhone spread betting and CFD trading tools with transparent pricing, competitive spreads, and a high standard of customer service and support.
Spread bets and CFDs are leveraged products which can result in losses greater than your initial investment. These products may not be suitable for all investors and you should ensure you fully understand the risks involved.

For more information, visit http://www.cityindex.co.uk/.