{"id":9754,"date":"2022-11-30T13:02:33","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T13:02:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/11\/30\/news-in-review-83\/"},"modified":"2022-11-30T13:02:33","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T13:02:33","slug":"news-in-review-83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/2022\/11\/30\/news-in-review-83\/","title":{"rendered":"News in Review"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cBlack Friday is still an important milestone in the retail calendar\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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On Friday, retailers received a boost from deal-seeking shoppers who defied fears of a dampened event to spend more than in 2021. Amid inflationary pressures and cost-of-living concerns, Black Friday \u2013 historically the biggest online spending day before Christmas \u2013 saw a 3.2% increase in transactions, according to Barclaycard Payments. Footfall also increased and a record was broken for transactions-per-second between 12pm and 1pm.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Before the event, experts had predicted overall\nsales and profits to be lower than last year due to prices rising at the\nfastest rate for 41 years. As well as splurging on Christmas gifts, however, cost-conscious\nshoppers sought out deals this year that will save them money further down the\nline, with Currys naming energy-efficient products as its bestsellers on the\nday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Marc Pettican, head of Barclaycard Payments,\ncommented, \u201cBlack Friday is still an important milestone in the retail\ncalendar. This is encouraging news for retailers who will have been unsure\nabout the outcome of today, given the rising cost-of-living [\u2026] While shoppers\nmay be tightening their belts overall, it looks like some have been holding\nback on purchases to wait for the sales to start and others are likely on the\nhunt for deals for Christmas gifts.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UK\nleads global slowdown <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Last week, the Organisation for Economic\nCooperation and Development (OECD) published its November Economic Outlook, in\nwhich it forecast a \u2018significant growth slowdown\u2019<\/em> globally in 2023.\nTitled \u2018Confronting the Crisis\u2019, the report laid out the realities of slowing growth\ncombined with high and persistent inflation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The slowdown is the result of a combination of\nfactors, the OECD noted, with tighter monetary policy, persistently high energy\nprices, weak real household income growth and declining confidence all weighing\non growth. Referencing the war in Ukraine, the report highlighted how higher energy\nprices have helped trigger an increase in prices across a broad basket of goods\nand services. The intergovernmental body forecasts average inflation across the\nOECD to be 6.6% in 2023.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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The US and Europe are both expected to experience\nweak growth, but it is the UK that is forecast to suffer the biggest downturn. The\nUK economy will contract by 0.4%, according to the OECD, more than any other\nnation in the G7 group. Germany is the only other major economy expected to\nshrink, while Russia, still under Western sanctions, is the only G20 member\nexpected to perform worse than the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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One cause of the UK\u2019s below-par performance is the\nEnergy Price Guarantee, the OECD claimed. The scheme, set up to support\nhousehold and business energy bills, will reduce the immediate headline\ninflation rate but increase medium-term inflationary pressures by adding to\noverall demand in the economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Output volumes rise<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Last Thursday, the release of\nthe Confederation of British Industry (CBI)\u2019s latest Industrial Trends Survey\nbrought positive news, as it reported that UK manufacturers saw a rise in\noutput in the three months to November.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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This is the first increase\nsince the three months to July 2022, the report noted, with manufacturing\noutput volumes increasing by 18%, compared to a 4% fall in the three months to\nOctober. The increase in output was largely driven by food, drink and tobacco industries,\nas well as motor vehicles and transport equipment sectors, though output rose more\nbroadly too, with positive readings in nine out of 17 sectors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Looking ahead, however,\noutput is predicted to fall by 10% in the three months to February, with production\nalso expected to decline in the next quarter. Stocks remain broadly adequate,\nthe CBI said, but total order books and export order books are below normal.\nDespite the positive news, Anna Leach, CBI Deputy Chief Economist, highlighted \u201cbig\nquestion marks hanging over the competitiveness of UK manufacturing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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

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London stocks were mixed at close on Tuesday, with the\ntop-flight index maintaining most of its gains amid positive hopes that China\nwould soon ease its strict COVID restrictions. The FTSE 100 ended the\nsession up 0.51% at 7,512.00, while the FTSE 250 was down 0.55% at\n19,186.16.<\/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\nplease do not hesitate to get in contact with any questions or concerns you may\nhave.<\/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>\n\n

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All\ndetails are correct at time of writing (30 November 2022)<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cBlack Friday is still an important milestone in the retail calendar\u201d On Friday, retailers received a boost from deal-seeking shoppers who defied fears of a dampened event to spend more than in 2021. Amid inflationary pressures and cost-of-living concerns, Black Friday \u2013 historically the biggest online spending day before Christmas \u2013 saw a 3.2% increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":180269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32],"tags":[],"hd_content_source":[116],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754"}],"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=9754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9754"},{"taxonomy":"hd_content_source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.contentdeployment.co.uk\/tomd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hd_content_source?post=9754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}