Closing post
Time to wrap up……
The World Trade Organization has halved its forecast for exports growth around the world this year, blaming a slowdown in manufacturing and rising geopolitical tensions.
The WTO also flagged that trade through European ports has slowed this year, and that trade in intermediate goods (used to make final products for sale) has weakened – as supply chains fragment.
UK construction firms have suffered their steepest decline in output since May 2020, with housebuilding work slumping last month.
Several experts warned that the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 to Manchester will further hurt construction firms.
The UK’s competition watchdog has launched an investigation into cloud computing, after Ofcom concluded that Amazon and Microsoft’s dominance was a concern.
In the economic world, fewer Americans filed new jobless claims than expected last week, which could encourage the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in November.
But bond markets have been calmer today, after yesterday’s selloff sent government borrowing costs to multi-year highs.
While shares in Metro Bank have tumbled by a quarter, as it seeks to raise funds – perhaps up to £600m – to shore up its balance sheet.
Here are today’s main stories:
Firms will hesitate to invest in UK after Sunak’s climate U-turns, says Mark Carney
Rishi Sunak watering down the UK’s climate commitments has damaged Britain’s position on the world stage for business investment, according to the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
In highly critical comments, Carney indicated that global companies would now think twice about locating their activities in the UK after Sunak pushed back key net zero deadlines and sanctioned new oil and gas drilling.
Speaking to Nick Macpherson, a former permanent secretary to the Treasury, at an online event, Carney said major businesses he had spoken to prioritised countries with clear environmental commitments before making investment decisions.
He said:
“In my conversations with companies around the world, their first conversation about location is: ‘Am I getting clean power?’ It doesn’t make sense to relocate without green power. You start throwing that into doubt, [and] it becomes a lot more complicated discussion.”
Citing several countries that have highlighted the availability of clean power to international businesses, the former Bank governor added: “The UK was in that camp, now it’s blurred around it.”
