Financial Markets Jittery

Fears of global recession have given a major blow to the financial markets with around £77 billion wiped off the FTSE 100 largest companies. The drop has a direct effect on each pension holder (including plumbers and heating engineers keeping their life savings and pensions in stock linked vehicles).

The FTSE 100 share index has tumbled 5.5% on the 21st January on fears of the world sliding into a recession. The fall was mirrored around the world with other stock markets losing billions of dollars.

Plumbers and heating engineers we interviewed commented that so far the fear of recession has not filtered to the market place. Many plumbers report heavy work load primarily in boiler repair and installation. Given the wet winter and the volatile weather, many plumbers have their hands full these days.

Other plumbers report that there is however, some noticeable slow down in the solar related heating systems installations. This can be partly attributed to seasonality (less sun in the winter), and to confusion with the government’s grants scheme. Many plumbers have had a busy summer with an impressive uptake of solar thermal systems. Other plumbers have reported a healthy level of interest and large volume of calls about solar water heating systems. Other plumbers and heating engineers are ramping up their business for uptake of other renewable energy systems such as ground source heat pumps linked into under floor heating. These systems are very cost effective and yet very eco-friendly through reduced emissions of carbon dioxide.

Given the financial pressure and the worries of approaching recession, many expect the Bank of England to cut interest rates in February 2008. Many plumbers believe this will reinvigorate the housing market with more demand for new boilers and heating systems, as well as some high end energy efficient heating systems.

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This page has been written with contributions from experienced plumbers from Northamptonshire and plumbing and heating engineers from Wood-Green. Several of the company's plumbers from Buckinghamshire have worked on similar issues as well as some of our Gas Safe engineers from Finsbury Park and our Westminster experienced heating engineers.

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