The US economy slowed dramatically in the first three months of the year, according to official data. GDP expanded at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter – the slowest rate since the first quarter of 2014. It will be unwelcome news for President Donald Trump who, during his election campaign, made a […]

The US unemployment rate fell to its lowest in almost a decade in March, despite the economy adding a smaller than expected number of jobs. Employers added 98,000 jobs last month – far fewer than the 180,000 expected by economists and less than half the figure for January and February. However, the unemployment rate fell […]

The Bank of England has made “big improvements” in its ability to forecast the UK economy, the Bank’s chief economist has told MPs. Andy Haldane made his comment to the Treasury Select Committee. He acknowledged that “sizeable” economic forecasting errors had been made in the past, especially at the time of the 2008 financial crisis. […]

Rising fuel and food prices helped to push last month’s inflation rate to the highest since September 2013. Inflation as measured by the Office for National Statistics’ Consumer Prices Index (CPI) jumped to 2.3% in February – up from 1.8% in January. The increase has pushed the rate above the Bank of England’s 2% target. […]

Eurozone businesses grew at the fastest rate in nearly six years in March, led higher by France and Germany, a closely-watched survey has indicated. The latest Markit Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rose to 56.7 from February’s 56.0. A reading above 50 indicates growth. The findings signalled the bloc’s recovery was “surging higher”, the report’s […]

US businesses added 235,000 jobs in February, exceeding economists’ forecasts of about 200,000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday that the unemployment rate had also edged lower to 4.7%. The figures suggest that the robust US jobs market maintained its strong growth in the first full month under President Trump. Analysts said it […]

Technology giant Apple is “very optimistic” about the UK’s future post-Brexit, its boss has told the prime minister. Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook met Theresa May at Downing Street and said he thought the UK would be “just fine”‘ outside the European Union. The company plans to build a new UK headquarters in London. His […]

The Bank of England has made another dramatic rise in its growth forecast for this year. It expects the economy to grow 2% in 2017, up from a November forecast of 1.4%, which was itself an upgrade from the 0.8% forecast made in August. The Bank also made a striking forecast about the savings rate, […]

US businesses added 227,000 jobs in January, way above economists’ forecasts of about 175,000. The figure, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compares with December’s rise of 157,000, revised up slightly from last month’s first estimate. However, average pay barely rose, and the number of people working part-time but looking for full-time work rose. Even […]

The US economy grew at an annual pace of 1.9% in the fourth quarter of last year, according to official figures. That was slower than the 2.2% growth rate economists had been expecting and below third quarter growth of 3.5%. For the year, GDP rose by 1.6%, the slowest since 2011 and down on 2015 […]