The International Monetary Fund calculates that Russia’s economy will expand more rapidly than all advanced economies this year. According to the latest World Economic Outlook released by the IMF, Russia’s economy is projected to expand by 3.2% in 2024. This growth outpaces the anticipated growth rates for the U.S. atRead More →
Inflation in the U.K. eased to 3.2% from 3.4% in March, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday 17th April 2024. But a higher-than-expected reading creates more concern as investors push back bets on the timing of the first Bank of England (BoE) rate cut. Economists expected 3.1% asRead More →
On a quarter-by-quarter basis, China’s GDP grew 1.6% in the first quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of around expectations of 1.4%. Beijing’s growth target for 2024 is around 5%. China’s growth was driven in part by external demand, as export volume grew by 14% year on year. Industrial output forRead More →
One tenth of 1% is very little but we can at least hope the UK is on it’s on way out of recession Let’s blame the weather The economy grew by 0.1%, figures show, boosted by production and manufacturing in areas such as the car sector. The Office for NationalRead More →
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released updated UK GDP figures, confirming that the UK entered a technical recession in the last six months of the previous year. The new data shows the economy contracted by 0.1% in the three months from June to August 2023, with a furtherRead More →
More than a fifth of working-age adults in the UK are currently not actively seeking employment, according to recent figures. The economic inactivity rate during the period from November 2023 to January 2024 stood at 21.8%, a slight increase compared to the previous year. This means that approximately 9.2 million people aged between 16 and 64 are neither employed nor activelyRead More →
The economy grew by 0.2%, ONS figures show, boosted by sales in shops and online and from more construction activity. Hopefully this means the UK is on its way out of recession. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the services sector led the bounce back. This is an earlyRead More →
According to the revised official data, the Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in the previous year. According to this revision, the economy avoided a technical recession, which is usually defined as two successive quarters of negativeRead More →
In his Capitol Hill testimony on 6th March 2024, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that was not yet time to begin cutting interest rates. To fight inflation, which reached a rate of 9% in the summer of 2022, the central bank has significantly increased interest rates in recent times. However, prices are still stubborn, especiallyRead More →
The U.S. national debt has been growing more quickly in recent months, increasing about $1 trillion nearly every 100 days. U.S. debt permanently crossed over $34 trillion on 4th January 2024 according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It reached $33 trillion on 15th September 2023, and $32 trillionRead More →
Euro zone inflation eased to 2.6% in February figures showed on Friday 1st March 2024, but both the headline and core figures were higher than expected. Core inflation Core inflation, removing the volatile elements of energy, food, alcohol and tobacco was 3.1% above the 2.9% rate expected. The February figuresRead More →
India is ‘easily’ the fastest growing economy in the world according to the IMF, as the country’s Q3 GDP growth soared past analysts’ estimates. The world’s fastest growing major economy expanded 8.4% in the last three months of 2023. 8.4% GDP growth in Q3 At 8.4%, India’s economy expanded atRead More →
Is progress on U.S. inflation stalling? That’s the fear spreading through Wall Street as another inflation reading on Friday 16th February 2024 came in hotter-than-expected. The producer price index rose 0.3% in January 2024. The largest increase since August 2024 and higher than the 0.1% forecast. Excluding food andRead More →
The UK’s inflation rate remained at 4% in January 2024, despite the first monthly fall in food prices in two years, ONS figures show. January U.K. inflation held steady at 4% year-on-year benefitting from easing prices for furniture and household goods, food and non-alcoholic beverages. According to the latest figuresRead More →
After a decade-long bull run throughout the 1980’s, the Nikkei 225 index reached an all-time high of 38,915 on December 29, 1989, the last trading day of the year. Few could have imagined, on New Year’s Eve of 1989, that the index would be lower 34 years later. As the New YearRead More →
Job creation in the U.S. surged in January 2024, as the economy continued to defy predictions of a slowdown The U.S. economy added 353,000 jobs and average hourly pay jumped, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%, the Labour Department said. The report extended more job gains that hasRead More →
The U.S. economy grew at a much faster pace than expected in the final three months of 2023. The U.S. easily avoided a recession that many had forecast as inevitable, the U.S. Commerce Department reported Thursday 25th January 2024. Gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of all the goods andRead More →
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) hit a new all-time high, on 13th December 2023. It closed at 36799 surpassing its previous record of 36585points that it had set on 4th January 2022. This was the fourth consecutive record close for the index. Record high The Dow’s record high was driven primarily by theRead More →
A Downgrade Amidst Economic Slowdown In a significant development that has raised concerns among investors and policymakers worldwide, China’s debt outlook has been downgraded as the country grapples with a slowing economy. This move reflects growing apprehensions about the sustainability of China’s economic growth and its ability to manage itsRead More →
The economy fell by 0.3% October, after growth of 0.2% in September 2023. UK GDP is 0.0% The UK economy shrank more than expected in October 2023, as higher interest rates hit consumers. The bad weather didn’t help either. Household spending has been dented by rate rises as the BankRead More →
The UK economy will grow much more slowly than expected in the next two years as inflation takes longer to fall, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) says. Are we locked in a never-ending austerity cycle? Living standards are also not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2027-28, theRead More →
China’s factory activity contracted for a second month in a row in November 2023. Non-manufacturing activity hit yet another new low this year, signalling that the world’s second-largest economy was still not out of the woods and may require more policy support. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index unexpectedly dropped slightlyRead More →
U.S. GDP figure better that forecast The U.S. economy grew even stronger than previously calculated in the third quarter, the result of better than expected business investment and stronger government spending, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported Wednesday 29th November 2023. Gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of all goodsRead More →
The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey has raised concerns over economic growth as he warned again that interest rates will not be cut in the ‘foreseeable future’. The bank boss said he was concerned over the UK economy’s potential to grow. It comes after the government’s forecasterRead More →
Fear or Fact? European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Friday 17th November 2023 reportedly said that Europe is now at a critical juncture, with deglobalization, demographics and decarbonization looming on the horizon. Fragmentation ‘There are increasing signs that the global economy is fragmenting into competing blocs’, she said at theRead More →
The U.K. economy flatlined in the third quarter, initial figures showed Friday 10th November 2023. Gross domestic product (GDP) showed zero quarterly growth in the three months to the end of September 2023, following an increase of 0.2% in the previous quarter. In annual terms, the UK’s Q3 GDP wasRead More →