{"id":1121,"date":"2021-07-28T11:29:49","date_gmt":"2021-07-28T10:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:11:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:11:07","slug":"news-in-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2021\/07\/28\/news-in-review\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cThe current approach to\nself-isolation is closing down the economy\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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During a\nweek which saw the delayed Tokyo Olympics finally get underway, the news agenda\non these shores was largely dominated by the so-called \u2018pingdemic\u2019. After it\nwas revealed that almost 620,000 alerts were sent to Test and Trace app users in\nEngland and Wales<\/strong>\nduring\nthe second week of July,<\/strong>\nthe\nConfederation of British Industry (CBI) warned that the sharp rise in\nself-isolations was threatening the economy. CBI Director-General Tony Danker\nsaid, \u201cThe current approach to\nself-isolation is closing down the economy rather than opening it up.\nBusinesses have exhausted their contingency plans and are at risk of grinding\nto a halt in the next few weeks.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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On\nThursday evening, the government responded by announcing plans to roll out\ndaily contact testing for supermarket depots and food manufacturers, to prevent up to 10,000 workers having to isolate when \u2018pinged\u2019.\nMore critical workers, including police, firefighters and workers in some other\nindustries, have subsequently been added to the daily testing programme. However,\non Sunday, CBI Director of Policy John Foster said the exemption list \u201cwon’t\nget us where we need to be\u201d <\/em>and added, \u201cIf we want the economy to stay\nopen, we need a confident but balanced plan. We should bring forward the date\nfrom 16 August when those who have been double-jabbed no longer need to\nself-isolate if they test negative once contacted.\u201d<\/em>  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UK growth slows down<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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A closely watched\neconomic survey released on Friday suggests that the \u2018pingdemic\u2019 has already\nbegun to impact on business activity levels. The IHS Markit\/CIPS flash\ncomposite Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index (PMI) fell to 57.7 in July from 62.2 in June, the\nlowest reading since March and significantly below market expectations.\nCommenting on the survey\u2019s findings, IHS Markit Chief Business Economist Chris\nWilliamson said, \u201cJuly saw the UK economy’s recent growth spurt stifled by the rising\nwave of virus infections, which subdued customer demand, disrupted supply\nchains and caused widespread staff shortages, and also cast a darkening shadow\nover the outlook.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Policymakers feel inflation tide will ebb<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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July\u2019s PMI data also highlighted intensifying inflationary pressures,\nwith input costs hitting an all-time high and output charges rising at a\nnear-record rate. However, despite the continuing surge in inflation, during the past\nseven days, two Bank of England policymakers have reaffirmed their view that\nthe current spike in prices is unlikely to persist, and that the central bank\nshould not rush to remove stimulus for the economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Last Thursday, Deputy Governor Ben Broadbent said, “While we know it’s going to go further over the next few months,\nI’m not convinced that the current inflation in retail goods prices should in\nand of itself mean higher inflation 18 to 24 months ahead.”<\/em>  On Monday, Gertjan Vlieghe, one of four external\nmembers of the Bank\u2019s interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee, said he\nfelt the recent rise in inflation is likely to prove temporary, adding \u201cI think it will remain appropriate to keep\nthe current monetary stimulus in place for several quarters at least, and\nprobably longer.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Retail sales growth in June<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Last Friday saw\npublication of the latest official retail sales statistics, which were boosted\nby strong demand for food and drink as fans watched Euro 2020. According to Office\nfor National Statistics (ONS) data, total sales volumes rose by 0.5% between\nMay and June, with food sales the main driving force behind the growth. ONS\nsaid, \u2018Feedback from some retailers suggested that sales were positively\nboosted in June by the start of the Euro 2020 football championship.\u2019  <\/em>In contrast, overall sales at non-food\nshops declined, largely due to weak demand for furniture and clothing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Government debt\ncosts rise<\/strong> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Public sector\nfinance statistics were also\npublished last week and showed that borrowing continues to ease from the\nmammoth levels witnessed last year. In June, the government borrowed \u00a322.8bn;\nalthough this was a fifth lower than the equivalent month\u2019s figure in 2020, it\nstill represents the second-highest June number ever recorded. The data also\nrevealed upward pressure on debt costs, as rising inflation increased the value of\nindex-linked government bonds. As a result, a record \u00a38.7bn was spent on\ninterest payments last month, more\nthan three times the amount paid in June 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Here to help<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Financial advice is key, so please do not\nhesitate to get in contact with any questions or concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get\nback the full amount you invested. The past is not a guide to future\nperformance and past performance may not necessarily be repeated.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe current approach to self-isolation is closing down the economy\u201d During a week which saw the delayed Tokyo Olympics finally get underway, the news agenda on these shores was largely dominated by the so-called \u2018pingdemic\u2019. After it was revealed that almost 620,000 alerts were sent to Test and Trace app users in England and Wales […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1122,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}