Fears that political uncertainty will hurt consumer spending have hit shares in UK retailers and housebuilders. The prospect of a hung parliament and speculation about the election result’s impact on Brexit saw the value of sterling slide against the dollar. Although the FTSE 100 closed 1% up – boosted by companies that earn profits in […]

The European Central Bank (ECB) has increased its forecasts for economic growth in the eurozone but kept interest rates on hold. ECB president Mario Draghi also hinted that there was no need to cut rates further. He told a press conference: “We are now confident that inflation will converge with our objectives.” The ECB now […]

US employers added fewer jobs than expected in May, but the unemployment rate dipped further as the economy headed toward full employment. The unemployment rate last month was 4.3%, falling a 10th of a percentage point to its lowest level since 2001, the US Labor Department said on Friday. But payrolls increased by just 138,000. […]

The US economy grew at a faster pace than initially thought in the first three months of the year. The latest official figures indicated the economy expanded at an annual pace of 1.2% in the quarter, up from the previous estimate of 0.7%. The change came after upward revisions to business and consumer spending. The […]

London’s main share index has notched up its fourth straight week of gains. having recovered some of the ground lost in the past two days. At the close on Friday, the FTSE 100 was up 34.29 points at 7,470.71. The FTSE fell on Wednesday and Thursday as markets were hit by the uncertainty surrounding the […]

US retail sales rose by 4.5% in April compared with the same month last year, but department store chains continue to struggle. JC Penney said like-for-like sales fell by 3.5% in its first quarter, against the same period last year. Earlier this week rival retailers, including Macy’s and Nordstrom, also reported declining sales. Meanwhile the […]

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. […]