When it comes to the EU referendum we are starting to be a bit clearer on one or two things. We have a date, Thursday 23rd June. We know that Boris Johnson has joined the Leave campaign. We know that current polls are close – if they are indeed to be trusted.
Until we know the final result however, everything else remains speculation. There will be questions. Questions about business. About the window and door industry. Could the uncertainty cause the business world some problems? One DGB commenter thinks so.
Stocks, shares and currency
Here is what Mark Pearce thought in his previous comment left on Sunday’s post:
To be fair, I believe he has a point. Whenever there is a big even that affects the whole country, everything does seem to suffer. Major Olympic events like World Cups, Olympics, Royal weddings etc all seems to have a negative effect on businesses. Attention is dragged away from day to day life for a lot of people and suddenly things like windows and doors aren’t important. When it comes to staying or potentially leaving the EU, this is certainly an issue that is going to preoccupy the public’s attention.
More seriously though, the worst thing for stock markets and businesses in general is uncertainty. Businesses will be hesitant to invest until they know the result. Stocks and shares will panic, as will currencies. In fact, the BBC has reported that the moment Boris Johnson decided to join the “leave” campaign Sterling suffered. There is going to be volatility and huge swings until we know the result. And, if we do in fact decide to leave, you can almost guarantee that stocks will plunge big time as the continent and the world gets used to a new way of working. Lots of upheaval to come on that front.
The fact is, when you mix business and uncertainty, the general habit is to panic and either sell off or stop spending. If that does, big ticket items like windows, doors and glazed extensions might go on the back burner until we have a result.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree with Mark? Do you think we’ll see any effect at all? Comments welcome in the section below.
I would agree with your comments, I think we have some very worrying times ahead of us, the uncertainty over the next few months will affect stocks, shares and our currency. It will also become like a big sporting event, like the World Cup…that always seems to damage retail sales as the public become preoccupied with the vote..
I’m not sure how I will vote, I think Cameron has got this wrong. He made the decision to do this because he was scared of losing votes to UKIP at the last election. He does not want us to leave, it will cause an even bigger split in the Tory party. It’s all a very risky strategy for a sitting PM.
Personally I’m not a fan of Cameron, lots of promise and not delivered on much. Our debt continues to spiral…in fact he has personally doubled UK debt in about 6-7 years, if the last lot got it wrong, he has made it far worse. This really is make or break time for us all.
I need informing of the pros and cons before making my decision…I just hope it can be a debate without the normal politicians bull-s**t. It’s does not matter what party the represent they are mainly all the same.