Week Ending 23rd July 2021 Another raft of blockbuster corporate profits pushed stocks to a record at the end of a week that started with concern about a peak in earnings and a coronavirus resurgence. About 87% of the S&P 500 companies reporting results so far this season have beaten Wall Street estimates, according to […]

Nissan announces £1bn ‘gigafactory’ boosting electric car production and creating thousands of jobs Nissan has announced details of a new battery “gigafactory” that will enable its Sunderland car plant to massively increase production of electric vehicles. The Japanese manufacturer said the £1bn battery plant, built in partnership with Chinese manufacturer Envision, will create 900 jobs […]

Bank of England sees higher inflation peak but plays down risk to economy  The Bank of England has raised its expectations for inflation but reiterated its view that the coronavirus crisis-linked spike in price rises of recent months does not represent a looming crisis for the economy. Minutes of the latest meeting of the Bank’s […]

The UK’s economy will bounce back to pre-COVID levels by the end of 2021 despite the end of lockdown being delayed, the CBI has forecast – a year earlier than expected. However, the business group has warned of devastation for some still-closed sectors if they are not given more support. The CBI has upgraded its […]

France in double-dip recession as figures show first quarter worse than thought Europe’s second biggest economy is emerging from a third lockdown which has taken a renewed toll on spending this spring. France has suffered a double-dip recession according to revised official figures that showed it had a worse start to the year than previously […]

A closely-watched survey of business activity has shown its best reading on record as a vaccine-driven reopening of the economy gets into gear. The IHS Markit/CIPS flash composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for May, which covers both manufacturing and services and is updated later in the month, credited a surge in growth and employment to […]

The Bank of England has upgraded its growth forecast for the coronavirus-hit UK economy and signalled it will not raise interest rates in the near term – despite seeing a looming spike in inflation ahead. The latest meeting of the central bank’s interest rate-setting committee left policy unchanged, with rates remaining at their COVID-19 crisis […]

The latest figures show the pace of growth continuing to accelerate as the economy bounces back from its COVID recession in 2020. The US economy grew at its fastest rate since 2003 in the first quarter of the year, according to preliminary figures, as households and businesses lapped up government stimulus. The Commerce Department reported […]

Australia and Britain are heading towards a free trade deal during two days of talks in London. This is despite British trade secretary Liz Truss having to apologise to her Australian counterpart as talks began. Her staff had briefed against Dan Tehan saying he was inexperienced and holding up progress, despite having 20 years experience […]

China’s economic growth slowed at the start of this year as its post-pandemic rebound began to level off, official figures showed. GDP grew by just 0.6% in the first quarter, missing expectations of a 1.5% increase and down from 3.2% in the last three months of 2020. But the figures also showed that the world’s […]