{"id":1565,"date":"2021-08-18T10:30:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T09:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:11:07","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:11:07","slug":"news-in-review-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2021\/08\/18\/news-in-review-16\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cEmployers are\nkeen to re-build following an incredibly turbulent 18\nmonths for business\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

With double jabbed people, as well as those aged\nunder 18 in England and Northern Ireland, no longer legally required to self-isolate\nif they are identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case<\/strong>, many will be\nbreathing a sigh of relief, not least businesses who have struggled with staff\nshortages. A recent survey of 700 company directors conducted by the Institute\nof Directors (IoD), <\/strong>revealed that 44% of businesses are currently experiencing staff\nshortages, a situation which risks undermining the recovery and fuelling\ninflationary pressures.<\/strong> <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

While 21% of directors attribute shortages to employees forced to\nself-isolate due to COVID contacts, a massive 65% of directors said it\u2019s due to\nthe UK\u2019s long-term skills gap, with 40% struggling because of a lack\nof potential workers from the EU. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Senior Policy Advisor at the IoD, Joe\nFitzsimons, commented,<\/strong> \u201c<\/em><\/strong>Employers\nare keen to re-build following an incredibly turbulent 18\nmonths for business\u2026 the issue of labour shortages is\nproving disruptive across a huge range of sectors and at\nall levels. Ensuring that workers are available with the right\nskillset to perform effectively is a crucial pre-requisite for recovery.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

UK economic rebound confirmed in Q2<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

The easing of restrictions helped to\nsupport the UK economy, which grew by 4.8% in Q2, according to data released last week\nfrom the Office for National Statistics (ONS). In terms of output, growth was primarily\ndriven by retail trade, food service\nactivities and accommodation. Although slightly below Bank of England estimates\nfor 5% growth, the main driver of growth was\nconsumer spending, which increased by 7.3% during Q2, ahead of expectations.\nONS data highlighted that the level of GDP is currently 4.4% below where\nit was pre-pandemic Q4 2019. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Head of Economics at the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), Suren Thiru,\nreflected on the Q2 data set from the ONS, \u201cStrong growth in the second\nquarter may be the high point for the UK economy, with economic activity likely\nto moderate in the third quarter as staff shortages, supply chain disruption\nand consumer caution to spend, limits any gains from the lifting of\nrestrictions in July\u2026 Against this backdrop, policymakers must guard against\ncomplacency over the underlying strength of the recovery. A comprehensive\nrebuild strategy to turbocharge growth post-COVID is needed, alongside a clear\nplan for dealing with any future virus response, to give firms the confidence\nto start firing on all cylinders again.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Labour statistics released by ONS on Tuesday confirmed that job vacancies have hit a record high, reaching 953,000 in\nthe three months to July. The unemployment rate fell to 4.7% in the three\nmonths to June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Fund inflows bolstered by earnings strength<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

It has been reported that in the week to 11 August, global equity\nfunds registered inflows for a third consecutive week, with positive economic\ndata and strong corporate earnings from the US, supporting sentiment. Inflows\nof $10.12bn were received into global equity funds, representing an uplift of\n12% on the previous weeks\u2019 figures. The majority of the inflows ($5.6bn) were received\ninto European equity funds, with US counterparts obtaining $2.7bn. In Q2, it\nhas been reported that almost 70% of global firms have beaten analysts’ profit\nestimates, posting average growth of 143%. Leading the earnings recovery are\nfirms in cyclical sectors such as industrials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

China unveils regulatory plan <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Last week, the Chinese government announced a\nplan outlining tighter economic regulation. New rules are due to be introduced on areas including\ntechnology, national security and monopolies. The 10-point plan details the strengthening\nof laws\non science and technological innovation, culture and education. Regulations\nrelating to China’s digital economy, including internet finance, artificial\nintelligence and cloud computing are also due to be evaluated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

Oil price bounce back – US urges action <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

As countries have gradually reopened, the oil price has rebounded.\nIn July, members of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and\nits allies agreed to boost supply to help stabilise the situation, adding\n400,000 barrels a day to their output. According to the White House, this is \u2018simply\nnot enough,\u2019 <\/em>urging the world’s top oil producers to help quell\nrising fuel prices to support the global recovery. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

\n

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

\n

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

\n

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

\u201cEmployers are keen to re-build following an incredibly turbulent 18 months for business\u201d With double jabbed people, as well as those aged under 18 in England and Northern Ireland, no longer legally required to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case, many will be breathing a sigh of relief, not least businesses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":1566,"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\/1565"}],"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=1565"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1711,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1565\/revisions\/1711"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1565"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=1565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}