Retail sales were flat last month in the U.K., limiting the boost to wider economic growth at the start of the year. Total sales volumes were no higher in March than in February, according to figures released Friday by the Office for National Statistics. This was a weaker reading than had been forecast, with economists polled by The Wall Street Journal expecting sales to climb 0.3% on month. February's total was revised slightly higher, however. For the quarter as a whole, sales were 1.9% higher than in the previous three months, which were marked by a disappointing Christmas sales season....
The number of job openings on the last business day of June stood at 9.58 million, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported in the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) on Tuesday. This reading followed 9.82 million openings in May and came in slightly below the market expectation of 9.62 million. "Over the month, the number of hires and total separations decreased to 5.9 million and 5.6 million, respectively," the BLS further added in the press release. "Within separations, quits (3.8 million) decreased, while layoffs and discharges (1.5 million) changed little." The US...
US factory activity contracted in July for a ninth-straight month, reflecting tepid demand for American merchandise at home and abroad. The Institute for Supply Management's gauge of factory activity edged up to 46.4 last month, according to data released Tuesday. Readings less than 50 indicate contraction, and the latest figure came in just below expectations. Measures of new orders and production improved in July, with the former rebounding to a nine-month high. Even so, both remained in contractionary territory. The group's gauge of exports, meanwhile, fell to its lowest level...
Euro zone inflation fell in July, and new growth figures showed economic activity picking up in the second quarter of this year bringing some positive news to the region. Headline inflation in the euro area was 5.3% in July, according to preliminary data released Monday, lower than the 5.5% registered in June. However, it remains well above the European Central Bank's 2% target for the 20-member bloc. The euro area has been battling high inflation for the past year, leading the ECB to undergo a full year of consecutive rate hikes in an effort to bring prices down. Last week, the central...
Chinese manufacturing activity contracted for a fourth straight month in July, data showed on Monday, as the country's biggest economic engines continued to grapple with weak demand and laggard private spending. The official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was 49.3 in July, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. The reading was slightly higher than expectations of 49.2 and the prior month's reading of 49.0. A reading below 50 indicates contraction, with manufacturing activity now having shrank for a fourth consecutive month. Still, the reading showed some...
Japan's industrial production rebounded in June amid a resilient economic recovery, capping a quarterly gain. Factory output rose 2% from the previous month, when it dropped 2.2%, according to the industry ministry Monday. Economists had forecast a 2.4% gain. The gauge rose 1.3% in the second quarter from the first one. The data points to an ongoing recovery in the world's third largest economy, despite slowdown signs abroad. The nation's trade balance swung to its first surplus since July 2021 last month, with exports holding up while imports slid on the back of falling fuel...
Asia-Pacific markets tumbled after U.S. inflation for March came in hotter than expected, stoking worries that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer.
U.S. consumer price...
Stocks tanked on Wednesday after March inflation data came in hotter than expected, likely pushing off interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve that investors have been anticipating.
Investor...
U.K. consumer prices accelerated well beyond the Bank of England's target for a second month, propelled by the global disruption in supply chains that pushed up transport costs.
Consumer prices...
Australian inflation eased from 33-year highs in the first quarter as the cost of living saw the smallest rise in more than a year, while core inflation dipped below forecasts suggesting less...