{"id":4721,"date":"2022-02-16T10:29:43","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T10:29:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/02\/16\/news-in-review-43\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:43:13","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:43:13","slug":"news-in-review-43","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/02\/16\/news-in-review-43\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cGDP grew robustly across the fourth quarter as a whole\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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With\nthe dust settling on the recent rise in Bank Rate and an increase in springtime\ninflation expectations, some positive news was released at the tail end of last\nweek in the form of Q4 GDP data. The official statistics from the Office for\nNational Statistics (ONS) show that <\/strong>GDP increased by an\nestimated 7.5% in 2021, following a 9.4% fall in 2020. Despite a fall back in\nDecember due to Omicron related restrictions, this was the fastest pace of\ngrowth in over 80 years. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The estimate exceeded analysts\u2019 expectations which averaged 7.3% for Q4. However, ONS was keen to emphasise that owing to the challenges faced making estimates in the current conditions, their GDP estimate for Q4 is subject to more uncertainty than usual. Director of Economic Statistics at ONS Darren Morgan commented on the dataset, \u201cGDP fell back slightly in December as the Omicron wave hit, with retail and hospitality seeing the biggest impacts. However, these were partially offset by increases in the Test and Trace service and vaccination programmes. Despite December\u2019s setback, GDP grew robustly across the fourth quarter as a whole, with the NHS, couriers and employment agencies all helping to support the economy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The data meant the UK posted the fastest\ngrowth in the G7, beating growth in the US, which came in at 5.7%, France and\nGermany at 7% and 2.7% respectively, and Italy at 6.5%.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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BCC plea for support<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The results of a business survey\nrecently conducted by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) make compelling\nreading, with UK firms expressing concerns over an array of cost pressures –\njust as households are feeling the squeeze, so too are businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The key headline stats from the\nsurvey identify that almost three quarters (73%) of firms are increasing prices\nin response to rising costs and 62% pinpoint higher energy bills as a primary\nfactor (rising to 75% for manufacturers). Meanwhile, almost two thirds (63%)\ncite increased wage bills as a key factor driving their prices higher.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The BCC is calling on the\nChancellor to ease the mounting pressure on businesses by implementing a series\nof measures. Suggested measures include a temporary energy price cap for small\nbusinesses, a one-year delay to the planned National Insurance hike in April, a\nhalt to any potential business taxes or cost increases, and extra financial\nsupport through the expansion of the energy bills rebate scheme for households\nto also include small firms and energy intensive businesses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Director\nGeneral of the BCC Shevaun Haviland commented, \u201dWithout help from the\nTreasury to weather this storm many businesses, especially smaller ones, will\nbe faced with a nearly impossible situation that will leave them with little\nchoice but to raise prices\u2026 Unabated, the surging cost pressures produced by\nthe cost-of-doing-business crisis will continue to lead to increased prices and\nfuel the cost-of-living crisis currently being faced by people across the\ncountry.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Gradual rate increase favoured <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Speaking last week, Huw Pill, Chief\nEconomist at the Bank of England (BoE) expressed his belief that policymakers\nshould gradually increase interest rates as opposed to adopting an aggressive\napproach. When talking about the expected income squeeze in the coming months,\nhe confirmed his support for the hard-hitting message conveyed by BoE Governor\nAndrew Bailey last week, when he cautioned that wages would need to fall in\nreal terms this year to control inflation. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Job vacancies at record high<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Job vacancies in the last quarter hit\nanother record of almost 1.3 million, according to latest data from ONS. Wages\nrose by 3.7% during this period but, when taking inflation into account, fell\nby 0.8% in real terms from a year earlier. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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

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After the US and\nUK advised citizens to leave Ukraine amid fears of a Russian invasion,\nuncertainty weighed on markets. Global stocks bounced back on Tuesday as\nconcerns eased following Russian claims that 100,000 troops were returning to\nbases following training exercises. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The global benchmark for oil, Brent Crude, traded above $96 a\nbarrel on Monday, its highest in seven years, before dropping back on Tuesday\nto around $93 a barrel. Fuel prices continue to soar at the pumps, with the AA\nreporting a record high of 148p a litre on Sunday.<\/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 value of investments can go down as well\nas up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The past is not a\nguide to future performance and past performance may not necessarily be\nrepeated.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGDP grew robustly across the fourth quarter as a whole\u201d With the dust settling on the recent rise in Bank Rate and an increase in springtime inflation expectations, some positive news was released at the tail end of last week in the form of Q4 GDP data. The official statistics from the Office for National […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6803,"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\/4721"}],"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=4721"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6804,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4721\/revisions\/6804"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4721"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=4721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}