Summary
Time for a recap.
Growth at UK factories has slowed, with bosses reporting a slowdown in output and new orders. With demand cooling, fewer manufacturers expect to raise prices over the next quarter.
British consumers have been hit by the sharpest increase in grocery bills in 13 years. Supermarkets are around 8.3% more expensive than a year ago, adding £380 to the average spend on food this year.
Tesla’s Elon Musk has said it is ‘more likely than not’ that the US will enter recession soon. Economist Nouriel Roubini, and Goldman Sachs, have also voiced concerns that a downturn could be near.
-Home sales fell in May for the fourth straight month.
— Christopher Salas (@ChristopherS_DC) June 21, 2022
-At $407,600, the median existing-home sales price exceeded $400,000 for the first time.
-Month-over-month home sales fell in three out of four U.S. regions, year-over-year sales fell in all four regions.@NAR_Research pic.twitter.com/HsNbk4QddU
Food giant Kellogg Co is splitting into three companies, sending its shares up almost 3%. Kellogg plans to focus on snacks, and will spin off its North American cereals division, and its plant-based foods.
The hospitality industry has warned that today’s UK rail strikes will cost restaurants, pubs and other businesses £500m in revenue.
'Fragile' hospitality industry 'cannot withstand economic shock' of rail strikes https://t.co/rz2tCab4s9
— Sky News Business (@SkyNewsBiz) June 21, 2022
Footfall in central London to 1pm today has been 27% lower than last Tuesday and in city centres outside of the capital it was down by 11.2%, according to retail analysts Springboard.
The commodity trader Glencore has pleaded guilty in a London court to seven counts of bribery related to its oil operations in several African countries.
Rolls-Royce is to give more than 14,000 staff a £2,000 payment to help them cope with the soaring cost of living, the first time the engineering firm has made such a move.
EasyJet cabin crew unions in Spain have called nine days of strikes in July, threatening to add to a summer of disruption for airline passengers.
Stock markets have clawed back some of last week’s heavy losses, with the UK’s FTSE 100 up 30 points or 0.4% in late trading, and solid gains on Wall Street.
We’ll be back tomorrow morning, when UK inflation could climb to a new 40-year high.... GW
Updated
US home sales drop
Just in: Sales of US homes fell last month as the once red-hot housing market cools.
Sales of existing US homes (excluding new builds) dropped by 3.4% in May to the lowest rate since June 2020, during the first wave of Covid-19.
That follows a 2.6% drop in April, as rising US interest rates deter potential buyers.
Existing home sales in the US declined by 3.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.41 million in May of 2022 (5.6 million In April), the lowest since June of 2020 and slightly above forecasts of 5.39 million. pic.twitter.com/eRkFzVVLx2
— FTMO.com (@FTMO_com) June 21, 2022
Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the National Association of Realtors, predicted that home sales would fall further:
“The impact of higher mortgage rates are not yet fully reflected in the data.”
“Home sales have essentially returned to the levels seen in 2019 – prior to the pandemic – after two years of gangbuster performance,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. #NAREHS
— NAR Research (@NAR_Research) June 21, 2022
Prices kept rising, though, supported by a lack of supply. The median house price hit $407,600 in May, up 14.8% on May 2021.
