{"id":6027,"date":"2022-05-18T10:33:51","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T09:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/05\/18\/news-in-review-56\/"},"modified":"2022-07-05T14:09:48","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:09:48","slug":"news-in-review-56","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/05\/18\/news-in-review-56\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cElectric car\nsales are energising the market\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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With challenging\nfinancial and economic news in abundance, there are some good signs at least\nfor the UK car industry. Recent analysis from the Society of Motor Manufacturers\nand Traders (SMMT) has shown that <\/strong>sales\nof used cars <\/strong>in the UK increased by 5.1% in Q1, with\n1,774,351 cars changing hands. <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Breaking it down month by month, auto\nsales were up 17.7% in January and by 7.4% in February, but down in March\n(-6.8%). Interestingly, as consumers look to buy more environmentally friendly\nvehicles, the market for second hand electric cars is seeing immense growth,\nwith sales\nof used battery electric vehicles (BEVs) growing from 6,625 to 14,586 in Q1, a\nrise of 120.2% from a year earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Chief Executive of the SMMT Mike Hawes\ncommented,<\/strong> <\/strong>\u201cWith the new car market hampered by\nongoing global supply shortages, growth in the used car market is welcome, if\nunsurprising especially given we were in lockdown last year. Electric car sales\nare energising the market, with zero emission vehicles starting to filter through\nin larger numbers to consumers looking forward to driving the latest and\ngreenest vehicles. Although there is some way to go before we see the recent\ngrowth in new EVs replicated in the used market, a buoyant new car market will\nbe vital to help drive fleet renewal which is essential to the delivery of\ncarbon savings.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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As used car prices soar, there are expectations that cost-of-living\nissues are likely to have an impact on the used car market, but that demand\ncould stay high and \u201cis likely to continue until\nthe issues impacting new car production are resolved and more supply enters the\nused car market. That is unlikely to be this year,”<\/em> according to UK Head of Automotive at KPMG,\nRichard Peberdy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UK economy grew in Q1, but contracted in March<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS)\nshowed the UK economy grew by 0.8% in Q1, primarily because activity rebounded\nstrongly in January as some Omicron-related restrictions lifted. However, the\neconomy contracted unexpectedly in March, as consumers started to rein in\nspending. GDP fell by 0.1% in March, predominantly led by a 0.2%\nfall in output from the service sector. A Reuters poll of economists expected\nGDP to be flat in March and to have grown by 1.0% during Q1. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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ONS Director of Economic Statistics Darren Morgan commented, \u201cThe\nUK economy grew for the fourth consecutive quarter and is now clearly above\npre-pandemic levels, although growth in the latest three months was the lowest\nfor a year.\u201d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Summer support package on the cards?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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It has been reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is intending\nto make an announcement in August, around the time when the\nenergy regulator Ofgem prepares the next price cap, amid mounting pressure for\nthe government to act to support households with their finances. A package\nto expand cost-of-living support measures to buffer households from a further\njump in energy bills, when the revised price cap takes effect in October is\nhoped for. Speaking this week, Andrew Bailey Governor of the Bank of England\nsaid Britain faces an \u201capocalyptic\u201d<\/em> rise in food prices caused by\nRussia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine as households continue to be impacted by\nescalating costs. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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

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Last week there was a sharp sell-off\nof shares following the surprise news of an economic contraction, with the FTSE losing ground as the GDP\nnews weighed. This week, the FTSE 100 entered positive territory as investors\ndigested the most recent Labour Force Survey data from ONS. The\nunemployment rate fell to 3.7% between January and March, the lowest for almost\n50 years, as job openings rose to a new high of 1.3 million. For the first time since records began, there are more job\nvacancies than unemployed people in the UK.<\/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\nto get in contact with any questions or concerns you may have.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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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><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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All details are\ncorrect at time of writing (18 May 2022)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cElectric car sales are energising the market\u201d With challenging financial and economic news in abundance, there are some good signs at least for the UK car industry. Recent analysis from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has shown that sales of used cars in the UK increased by 5.1% in Q1, with 1,774,351 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6030,"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\/6027"}],"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=6027"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6032,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6027\/revisions\/6032"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6027"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=6027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}