So as Britain's youngest chancellor delivered his first (emergency) budget, was it as painful as expected. The general consensus is that it was not quite as bad as had been expected; perhaps helped by some careful PR in the run up designed to build up 'doom and gloom' expectations only to discover just gloom and not so much doom. The expected VAT rise was in there and Tax Credits and Child Benefit were also targeted as expected. Businesses received a boost in the form of NI and Corporation tax assistance (and they'll need all the help they can get if they are to help absorb the jobless that are sure to fall-out from the public spending cuts!) As expected the Banks are to be hit with a 'Balance Sheet Levy' that will see banks and building societies paying around £2bn annually. However, analysts felt this came in at the lower end of expectations and will be partially offset by the the reduction in Corporation Tax. Banking shares did fall though this was in line with global stocks. As an aside, interest rates are the one to watch going forward. The minutes from the last Bank of England monetary policy committee revealed that it was not a unanimous decision for interest rates to be held at their all time low of 0.5%. The money markets will be watching inflation closely.