UK factories shed workers as higher costs and weaker spending pound finances May 2, 2023 British factories are shedding workers after being pounded by soaring costs and weaker spending from customers, according to a closely-watched survey. S&P Global and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply’s (CIPS) final purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK manufacturing sector came in at 47.8 points last month, above an earlier reading of 46.6 [...]
Take your seat for the Bank of England, Federal Reserve and central banks’ final act May 2, 2023 This is the final act in central banks’ aggressive interest rate hike cycle. Well, so say most analysts at the moment.
Recession knife-edge: Consumer spending on credit at £1.3bn as house prices continue to slide May 2, 2023 Britain’s better than expected economic performance since the turn of the year is poised to have lured consumers into splashing the cash on their credit cards, new numbers out this week are tipped to show. Families are tipped by markets to have borrowed £1.3bn in March, which would signal spending in the UK is holding [...]
Recession, what recession? Firms shrug off UK economy fears to focus on growth May 2, 2023 Britain’s small businesses are turning their attention away from worrying about whether the country will slip into a recession to focus on growth, a new survey out today shows. Confidence among the country’s small firms – which drive output – climbed sharply from its depths at the end of last year, according to the Federation [...]
London rents surge to record high of more than £2,500 as experts warn of no let up in sight April 28, 2023 London rents have surged to their highest level on record and experts have warned there is little sign of the capital’s housing market improving any time soon, fresh figures out today reveal. The cost per month of renting a property in London climbed 14 per cent over the last year to £2,501, according to search [...]
UK to avoid recession but inflation won’t return to Bank of England target until end of next year April 28, 2023 Britain is poised to dodge a recession this year, but inflation will not return to the Bank of England’s two per cent target until the end of next year, new forecasts out last night revealed. The fresh projections from consultancy PwC add to the growing body of organisations who have canned their prediction that the [...]
Bank of England interest rate hikes would squeeze Jeremy Hunt’s room for tax cuts by £8bn, City economist claims April 26, 2023 The Bank of England could squeeze Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s room to cut taxes in the run up to the next general election if it keeps hiking interest rates to tame inflation, a City economist has calculated. Officials at Threadneedle Street would swell Britain’s debt interest bill by around £8bn if they send borrowing costs to [...]
Did pumping cash into the economy fuel inflation surge? Bank top official says claim ‘not well supported by evidence’ April 25, 2023 Claims the Bank of England caused the worst inflation surge in the UK for more than 40 years by printing money are “not well supported by the evidence,” one of its top officials said today. Ben Broadbent, a deputy governor at the Bank, hit back at critics in a speech at Britain’s oldest economic think [...]
Jeremy Hunt handed £13bn windfall raising chance of tax cuts ahead of election April 25, 2023 Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been handed a £13bn windfall from the UK public finances holding up better than expected, raising the chances of tax cuts ahead of the next general election, official figures out today reveal. Numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) this morning showed the UK borrowed around £139bn in the year [...]
Britain’s renters are the real victims of this inflation and interest rate crunch April 25, 2023 People doubtless would’ve gasped at headlines last week about UK interest rates being on course for five per cent. Such a path looked implausible in March when Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse and Credit Suisse’s shotgun marriage to UBS sparked fears of a financial market meltdown. After those events, traders trimmed their expectations of how much more [...]