Closing post
Time to wrap up…
The sale of Royal Mail’s parent company to the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský has been approved by the UK government after a review under national security laws.
The £3.6bn takeover of International Distribution Services (IDS) – the owner of the 508-year-old Royal Mail – by Křetínský’s EP Group was confirmed on Monday morning.
It will be the first time Royal Mail has been controlled by an overseas owner in its history, which can be traced as far back as 1516 under Henry VIII.
The government will retain a “golden share” in IDS, which means any changes to Royal Mail’s ownership, tax residency or headquarters will need its assent. The Royal Mail brand will also be protected for as long as EP owns the company.
EP has also reached agreement with the Royal Mail’s unions, having offered guarantees on job security, and the corporate governance of the company.
Britain’s private-sector firms are cutting jobs at the fastest pace since the Covid-19 pandemic, as they reacts to the tax rises in October’s budget.
Footfall at UK shops has slowed in the last fortnight, suggesting a poor Christmas in on the cards for shops.
But the picture is brighter in the US, where private sector growth is running at a 33-month high.
Canada’s finance minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned, in an apparent policy clash with prime minister Justin Trudeau over how to response to Donald Trump.
Shares in French broadcaster Canal+ have dropped by 20% after making its market debut in London this morning.
US private sector growth fastest since Covid-19 reopening
America’s economy is ending the year much stronger than the UK, it seems.
Data firm S&P Global reports that US private sector output growth is running at a 33-month high in December, amid a service sector surge.
Its Flash US PMI composite output index has jumped to 56.6 this month, up from November’s 54.9, which shows the fastest expansion since the reopening of the economy from COVID lockdowns in 2021.
The latest poll of purchasing managers also found that expectations of output in the coming year have hit a two-and-a-half year high, reflecting growing optimism about business conditions under the incoming Trump administration.
Employment also edged higher, up for the first time in five months, as firms expanded workforce numbers amid the brighter outlook.
Encouragingly for US central bankers, firms also reported that inflationary pressures cooled again this month, with the average prices charged for goods and services rising at the slowest rate since June 2020.
But while the service sector appears to be booming, manufacturers are report falling output and higher prices.
Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, explains:
The service sector expansion is helping drive overall growth in the economy to its fastest for nearly three years, consistent with GDP rising at an annualized rate of just over 3% in December.
It’s a different picture in manufacturing, however, where output is falling sharply and at an increased rate, in part due to weak export demand.
Encouragingly, confidence in the 12-month outlook has lifted to a two-and-a-half year high, suggesting the robust economic upturn will persist into the new year and could also become more broad-based by sector. However, some of the high spirits seen after the election in the manufacturing sector have been checked over concerns surrounding tariffs and the potential impact on inflation resulting from the higher cost of imported materials. December saw raw material prices spike sharply higher amid supplier-led price rises and higher shipping costs,
