{"id":4039,"date":"2022-01-12T10:42:27","date_gmt":"2022-01-12T10:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/01\/12\/news-in-review-38\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:10:06","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:10:06","slug":"news-in-review-38","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/01\/12\/news-in-review-38\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cAlthough\nsupply chains remain severely stretched, there are at least signs that the\nsituation is stabilising\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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As the new year takes root, the\nlatest IHS Markit\/CIPS Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index has highlighted an elevated\nlevel of optimism amongst UK manufacturing firms. Although supply issues and\nstaff shortages continue to hamper growth in the sector, production rose at the\nend of last year and output ticked up across the consumer, intermediate and\ninvestment goods sectors.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Despite inflationary pressures and\nhigher prices being passed onto customers, many participating companies kicked\noff the year on a positive footing, with the majority of firms (63%) expecting\nproduction to increase in 2022, a favourable comparison to the 6% of\nrespondents predicting contraction. This largely positive outlook reflects\nexpectations of renewed global economic growth, planned investment activity and\nhopes for less disruption from the pandemic, Brexit and supply chain issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Rob Dobson, Director at IHS Markit,\ncommented on the findings, \u201cUK manufacturing production rose at the quickest\npace in four months in December, supported by increased intakes of new work,\nefforts to reduce backlogs of work and higher employment. While the uptick in\ngrowth is a positive step, the upturn remains subdued compared to the middle of\nthe year.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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He continued, \u201cAlthough supply\nchains remain severely stretched, there are at least signs that the situation\nis stabilising, with vendor delivery times lengthening to the weakest extent\nfor a year in December. This helped take some of the heat out of input price\nincreases, but cost inflation remained sufficiently steep to necessitate the\nsharpest rise in factory gate selling prices on record. With restrictions and\nOmicron cases both rising, the growth and inflation backdrops could change\nagain in the early part of 2022.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Oil on a roll<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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After the\nbrutal impact of the pandemic on oil demand and pricing, a positive stance was\nexpressed by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+)\nlast week, when it signalled an expectation that the Omicron variant will only\nhave only a \u2018mild and short-lived\u2019 <\/em>limited impact on oil demand. This\nviewpoint prompted them to continue with the planned 400,000 barrels-per-day\nproduction increase due to commence next month. Brent crude rose above $80 a\nbarrel last week for the first time since November following the announcement.\nAs OPEC maintains a firm grip on supply, it seems that many oil producers are planning to carefully\ncontrol capital spending this year despite the price rebound.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Markets update <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In the UK,\ntravel companies were lifted on last week\u2019s news that pre-departure travel\ntests will end for fully vaccinated travellers and day two PCRs will be\nreplaced by lateral flow tests. The overhaul of the system came after travel\nfirms said the measures were ineffective due to the worldwide spread of\nOmicron. After a lacklustre start to the week on Monday, the FTSE 100 closed\nTuesday on 7,488.09, led by fashion retailers, Next and JD Sports, as well as\nmining companies and gambling firms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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US indices\nclosed out the first trading week of the year in the red as investors\nconsidered the latest labour report, and the economic impact staff shortages is\nhaving. The December Federal Reserve minutes, also released last week,\nindicated that some officials were inclined to speed their asset-purchase tapering and bring\nforward an initial interest rate hike. Wall Street\u2019s main indices advanced on\nTuesday, after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told congress, \u201cIf we\nsee inflation persisting at high levels, longer than expected, if we have to\nraise interest rates more over time, then we will.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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House\nprices see fastest growth for 17 years<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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According\nto the latest data from the Halifax, UK house prices rose at a faster rate in\n2021 than in any calendar year since 2004, with prices increasing by 9.8%,\ntaking the average UK property price to \u00a3276,091, which is an increase in cash\nterms of more than \u00a324,500 compared to December 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Russell\nGalley, Halifax\u2019s Managing Director said, \u201cThe housing market defied\nexpectations in 2021, with quarterly growth reaching 3.5% in December, a level\nnot seen since November 2006. In 2021 we saw the average house price reach new\nrecord highs on eight occasions, despite the UK being subject to a lockdown for\nmuch of the first six months of the year.<\/em>\u201c<\/em><\/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 hesitate to get in contact\nwith any questions or concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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

\u201cAlthough supply chains remain severely stretched, there are at least signs that the situation is stabilising\u201d As the new year takes root, the latest IHS Markit\/CIPS Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index has highlighted an elevated level of optimism amongst UK manufacturing firms. Although supply issues and staff shortages continue to hamper growth in the sector, production rose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":4040,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,112],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039"}],"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=4039"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4041,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4039\/revisions\/4041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4039"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=4039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}