Closing post
Time to wrap up for the weekend (!). Here’s a quick summary:
The head of the Unite union has warned that Oil workers and tanker drivers could take strike action in an effort to force UK and Scottish ministers to protect jobs threatened by the green transition.
Speaking outside Scottish Labour’s annual conference in Glasgow, Sharon Graham said Unite would now allow oil and gas workers to be the coal miners of our generation, adding:
“We will push back hard to save UK jobs. If the pumps run dry in Britain, if the pumps run dry, the public will know who to blame. It will be the Scottish government and the UK government for allowing the sale of our jobs. If politicians do not act, we will.”
The latest polls of purchasing managers around the world have painted a worrying picture.
In the UK, companies are cutting their workforce levels at the fastest rate in over four years.
In the US, private sector growth has slowed sharply as firms fear new tariffs.
The latest UK public finances brought more bad news for chancellor Rachel Reeves – although January saw a record surplus, less money came into the government’s coffers than expected.
Four banks have been fined more than £100m after their traders shared sensitive information with each other about UK government debt they were buying and selling.
And…legal filings linked to the motor finance scandal have revealed that UK lenders paid “advance commissions” to car dealers that may have encouraged them to push costlier loans on to consumers.
“Trump business honeymoon” is over as PMI falls
The surprise drop in the US PMI this month (see last post) suggests that the flurry of tariffs announced, or threatened, by the new president has hit business confidence.
Kyle Chapman, FX markets analyst at Ballinger Group, says the “Trump business honeymoon” is over.
Chapman explains:
“The US composite PMI fell to its lowest level since September 2023 (50.4) amid a shock contraction in the services sector that severely underperformed expectations at 49.7. This offset an uptick in the manufacturing index to 51.6, which was boosted by tariff front-running.
The Trump business honeymoon is over, it seems. The buoyed mood that followed the election has vanished, and instead they have now been spooked by the torrent of policy changes and the uncertainty around tariffs, government spending, and inflation. It is difficult to understate the impact: year-ahead optimism has slumped to the lowest since December 2022, around the peak of concern that rapid Fed rate hikes would trigger a recession.
