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\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see the size of the economy back to\npre-pandemic levels\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n A raft of economic news landed in the last week or so, one of the most prominent\nbeing the latest UK gross domestic product (GDP) statistics from the Office for\nNational Statistics (ONS), which highlighted that the UK economy surpassed\npre-COVID levels for the first time in November \u2013 a significant milestone. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Recording stronger-than-expected growth between October and November, UK GDP expanded by 0.9%, ahead of economists\u2019 expectations of 0.4% growth, buoyed by services, production and construction output, which all increased over the month. Rishi Sunak commented on the data, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see the size of the economy back to pre-pandemic levels in November \u2013 a testament to the grit and determination of the British people<\/em>.\u201d Expectations signal lower subsequent growth following the spread of the Omicron variant and introduction of Plan B measures in England in December. Provided the December estimate does not fall by over 0.2%, and there are no data revisions made, Q4 2021 GDP will either reach or surpass its pre-COVID level.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n ONS labour statistics released this week showed that the unemployment rate fell to\n4.1% between September and November, close to pre-pandemic levels, while UK job vacancies reached a record high of 1.24 million\nbetween October and December. As inflation continues to bite, average pay rises are not keeping pace with the rise in the cost\nof living, the data revels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n \u2018The\nglobal economy is set to decelerate\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n From a global growth perspective, World Bank expectations released\nlast week warn of slowing growth into 2023 as financial support is wound down\nand pent-up consumer demand disperses. Following anticipated GDP of 4.1% in\n2022, the Bank expects it to slow to 3.2% the following year. The outlook\nhighlights that the main threats to growth this year will be virus variants,\nincluding Omicron, supply bottlenecks and declining fiscal support. One of the\nkey points emphasises the need for strengthening global cooperation to attain\nequitable vaccine distribution, address climate change and improve debt\nsustainability. The report goes on to summarise, \u2018The outlook is clouded by various downside\nrisks, including new virus variants, unanchored inflation expectations, and\nfinancial stress. If some countries eventually require debt restructuring, the\nrecovery will be more difficult to achieve than in the past\u2026 Social tensions\nmay heighten as a result of the increase in inequality caused by the pandemic.\nThese challenges underscore the need to foster widespread vaccination, enhance\ndebt sustainability, tackle climate change and inequality, and diversify\neconomic activity.\u2019<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n UK\nand India trade talks commence<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Trade\ntalks kicked off last week between India and Britain, with UK Trade Minister\nAnne-Marie Trevelyan and her Indian counterpart Piyush Goyal meeting in New\nDelhi. It is intended that a free trade agreement will be\nsigned by the end of the year, but a limited agreement could be finalised in\nthe next few months. With India set\nto become the third\nlargest global economy by 2050, Trevelyan has called the prospect of a free\ntrade deal with India “an opportunity\nthat we must seize to steer our partnership along the track of mutual\nprosperity for the decades to come.” <\/em>Although the UK has made a\npost-Brexit deal with India, a free trade deal could almost double British\nexports to India and boost total trade between the countries by \u00a328bn per year\nby 2035, it is estimated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Markets<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n The strong November GDP growth supported\nthe FTSE last week, with sterling also climbing on the news. As the week progressed, some indices including those in the US,\nedged lower following remarks from Federal Reserve officials who signalled\nexpectations that US interest rates could rise around March time, leaving\nmarkets considering tighter monetary conditions. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Building\non the previous week\u2019s gains, the FTSE 100 reached a two-year high on Monday,\nprimarily driven by banking, energy and basic resource stocks. GlaxoSmithKline also\nled UK stocks higher following the rejection of a third offer for its consumer\nhealthcare division from Unilever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n On\nTuesday, oil prices climbed to their highest since 2014 amid supply fears caused\nby global political tensions involving major producers such as Russia and the\nUnited Arab Emirates. Brent Crude closed the day trading at around $87 a\nbarrel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Here to help<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n Financial\nadvice is key, so please do not hesitate to get in contact with any questions\nor concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n The value of investments can\ngo down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested.\nThe past is not a guide to future performance and past performance may not\nnecessarily be repeated.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIt\u2019s amazing to see the size of the economy back to pre-pandemic levels\u201d A raft of economic news landed in the last week or so, one of the most prominent being the latest UK gross domestic product (GDP) statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which highlighted that the UK economy surpassed pre-COVID levels […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4174,"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\/4173"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4173"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4176,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4173\/revisions\/4176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4173"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=4173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}