Week Ending 17th August 2018 U.S. stocks rose in light summer trading Friday on strength in technology hardware shares and optimism for a resolution in America’s trade dispute with China amid reports that President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in November in an attempt to end the roadblock. Crude climbed to […]

Japan’s economy rebounded in the second quarter, returning to growth despite growing global trade tensions. The economy expanded by a faster-than-expected annualised pace of 1.9%, supported by private consumption. The growth came after Japan’s economy shrank in the first quarter of 2018 for the first time in two years. The release of the data comes […]

The US economy added fewer jobs than expected in July after a surge of hiring in the previous months. Employers added 157,000 jobs in July – 33,000 fewer than expected and well below the 248,000 created in June. Economists had forecast that the number of jobs created would be close to 190,000 for the month. […]

The Bank of England has raised the interest rate for only the second time in a decade. The rate has risen by a quarter of a percentage point, from 0.5% to 0.75% – the highest level since March 2009. While the decision means that the 3.5 million people with variable or tracker mortgages will pay […]

The US economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly four years in the second quarter, expanding at an annualised rate of 4.1%, official figures show. The gains were driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports as firms rushed to beat new trade tariffs. US President Donald Trump described the acceleration as […]

Government borrowing in the April-to-June period fell to its lowest level since 2007, official figures show. Borrowing for the financial year so far has reached £16.8bn, £5.4bn less than in the same period in 2017, the Office for National Statistics said. June’s borrowing figure fell to £5.4bn, which was down from £6.2bn a year ago […]

China’s monthly trade surplus with the US hit a record high of nearly $29bn (£22bn) in June as exports to America remained strong. The figures come a week after the trade war between the two began, with the US imposing tariffs on $34bn of Chinese goods, and China retaliating. This week, Washington threatened to impose […]

US employers added a higher-than-expected 213,000 jobs last month, extending the US economy’s long-running growth streak. The manufacturing sector helped power the gains, adding 36,000 jobs, but the retail sector shed 22,000 positions. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4% from 3.8%, as the strong labour market encouraged more people to look for work. However, […]

The UK’s economic growth has been revised up for the first quarter of the year after construction data was found to be stronger than earlier estimates. Growth for the three months to March was 0.2%, the Office for National Statistics said, a surprise upgrade from the earlier estimate of 0.1%. The pound jumped as speculation […]

The 35 largest banks operating in the US have enough money on hand to withstand a severe financial crisis despite rising levels of credit card debt. That was the finding of the annual “stress tests” conducted by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve. The US introduced the tests after the financial crisis to monitor […]