Amidst the threat of a Government shutdown, this week investors listened closely to an interview with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about the outlook for America’s economy. On Monday, Yellen reiterated the resilience of the US, stating that it would be able absorb

This week, data coming out of the UK was a mixed bag. A report on Tuesday revealed that unemployment and wages have risen, showing that unemployment increased by 159,000 in the last quarter, pushing the jobless rate higher to 4.3%. It’s not all bad news, however,

More stimulus measures, and promises of, have also been rapidly firing from China this week. On Monday, reports revealed that China has come up with ways to boost the domestic stock market and support the property sector.

Positive news emerged from China this week. The Chinese government extended tax cuts for foreign nationals, meaning they could enjoy taxable deductions on rent, language training, and children’s education, amongst other things, right through to 2027.

This week has generally been a quiet one for economic reports. On Monday, data came out that Britain’s labour market is losing its inflationary significance.

Giving the Bank of England something to think about this week, data came in on Tuesday (15 August 2023) revealing that the UK’s labour market is finally showing some signs of softening. Reports highlighted a fall of 66,000 job vacancies in the three months leading up to June

Rainy days in July kept UK shoppers indoors. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported that sales rose by 1.5% compared with July last year, which is less than half the 12-month average growth rate.

There has been plenty of economic data releases already this week for markets to digest. In the Eurozone, despite remaining higher than the European Central Bank’s target of 2%, the headline figure for the region dropped to 5.3% in July from 5.5% in June.

PMI services and manufacturing data came in this week for the UK, Eurozone and US.
With regards to the UK, manufacturing PMI reflected a decrease in production from a downturn in orders both domestic and foreign.

The news at the start of the week spoke of the noise surrounding China’s latest GDP figure. Reports noted that GDP grew 0.8% in Q2, versus 2.2% in Q1.