“We’ve had yet another record employment rate, while the number of job vacancies is also a new record,” said ONS statistician Matt Hughes.
“From this, it’s clear that the labour market is still growing strongly.”
However, Ben Brettell, senior economist at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:
“All in all, these numbers don’t alter the economic picture of anaemic growth, a relatively tight labour market and under-control inflation,” he said.
“Markets are still expecting the Bank of England to raise interest rates in August. But given the increasingly uncertain climate, I think there’s a real chance policymakers will sit on their hands and wait for firmer signals the economy is on the right track before risking raising borrowing costs.”
UK wage growth slips to 2.5%
UK wages were up by around 2.5 percent in the three months through May, according to the Office for National Statistics, in line with market expectations.
The 2.5 percent rise was the slowest growth recorded over the last six months, down from 2.6 percent seen the period previously. Pay excluding bonuses came in at 2.7 percent, in line with analyst forecasts, and above the inflation rate of 2.4 percent.
The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.2 percent, with over 137,000 jobs were being created in the three months to May.
British Land Group shares down as “challenging” retail environment weighs
British Land Group (LON:BLND) reported good financial progress over the last quarter, but said that the retail environment remained “challenging”.
The group reduced its loan-to-value ratio to just 26 percent, adding that it would be increasing its first interim dividend by 3 percent to 7.75 pence.
Its offices division continues to perform well, with the group saying its portfolio was 98 percent occupied with 64 percent of its total development pipeline now let or under offer.
The company has now completed the sale of one of its biggest new developments, 5 Broadgate, for £1 billion and increased its share buybacks by £200 million.
However, the retail market continues to weigh with the company saying it had been “challenging”.
Several big retailers have entered administration of late, and the impact of that and CVAs since 1st April 2017 was 1.6 percent of total group contracted rent, up from 1 percent at the time of the company’s preliminary results in May and retail occupancy stood at 96.4 percent.
The first interim dividend payment for the quarter ended 30 June 2018 would be 7.75 pence per share.
Shares in British Land Group are currently down 1.01 percent at 645.20 (1054GMT).
Dairy Crest revenues up 6pc on cheddar cheese growth
Dairy Crest (LON:DCG) shares edged up on Tuesday morning, after reporting a 6 percent rise in revenues for the group’s key brands.
Combined sales revenues of Dairy Crest’s four key brands – Cathedral City, Clover, Frylight and Country Life – were 6 percent higher in the recent quarter. Cathedral City and Clover, its two biggest brands, were the biggest drivers of growth.
Outlook for the full year remained unchanged after the strong results.
“2018/19 has started as we expected, with our two most important brands, Cathedral City and Clover, delivering a strong performance,” said Mark Allen, Chief Executive.
“Innovation is the cornerstone of this business and we expect to announce several new product launches before the end of 2018.”
Back in May Dairy Crest sought £69.8 million from investors in order to expand, pushing up cheese production from 54,000 tonnes per year to up to 77,000 tonnes as demand soars.
Dairy Crest shares are currently trading up 2.75 percent at 481.50 (1031GMT).
Royal Mail shares boosted by parcel volume growth
Royal Mail (LON:RMG) reported a small rise in revenues on Tuesday, on the back of continued parcel volume growth and a strong performance from its international business.
The group reported a 1 percent rise in underlying first-quarter revenue, despite a 7 percent fall in revenue from letters.
Its international logistics business, GLS, reported a strong performance, with revenue up 11 percent.
“Overall, our trading performance in the first three months of the financial year was in line with our expectations,” Royal Mail said. The company have been struggling over recent years with the decline in letter posting, as well as competition from other couriers.
“Our outlook and other guidance are also unchanged from that set out in our financial report for the full year ended 25 March 2018,” they said.
The news comes ahead of the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday, after shareholder advisory firms such as ISS recommended that investors vote against the firm’s remuneration plans.
Shareholders have been unhappy with the proposed remuneration package for incoming chief executive Rico Back, which will be 16.8 per cent higher than that of outgoing boss Moya Greene.
Shares in Royal Mail are currently up 3.16 percent at 496.00 (0921GMT).
Galliford Try update markets on strong full-year performance
Galliford Try shares rose over 5 percent on Tuesday morning, after achieving significant growth in both revenue and profit across the full-year period.
In a trading update, the group said total completions are expected to increase 4.4 percent to 3,442 units from 3,296, with the contracting order book standing at £1.05 billion for the year. The landbank rose 22 percent to 3,300 plots from 2,700 plots, with revenue and profit supported by increasing demand over the period.
The construction divisions entered the new financial year with an order book of £3.3 billion, with projected revenue of 87 percent, up from 84 percent last year. This was boosted by the addition of a new £43 million residential development in Birmingham, a 304-apartment project developed by Court Collaboration.
Galliford Try are set to report strong full-year results, in line with previous guidance, and net cash at 30 June 2018 of £97 million for the year, up from £7.2 million the previous year.
Shares in Galliford Try (LON:GFRD) are currently up 5.88 percent at 882.50 (0902GMT).
TalkTalk shares up on strong performance in Q1
Shares in telecoms group TalkTalk (LON:TALK) shot up on Tuesday morning, after posting a significant rise in first quarter revenue and the addition of more customers.
Revenue rose 4.3 percent in the first three months of the financial year, and added around 80,000 more broadband customers to bring its total up to 4.2 million.
TalkTalk saw an increase of 2-3 percent in net average revenue per user (ARPU) on FLPP customers coming out of contract, which the group expects to see stabilise in the first half of the year.
‘We are pleased to have delivered strong customer and Headline revenue growth in the first quarter and we remain firmly on track to deliver at least 150,000 net adds this financial year,’ chief executive Tristia Harrison said.
TalkTalk confirmed its previous Ebitda guidance of 15 percent.
Shares in TalkTalk are currently trading up 7.22 percent at 117.83 (0944GMT).
IMF: Trump tariffs will hurt global economy
The International Monetary Fund has warned that growing trade tensions between the US and the rest of the world could ultimately cost the global economy $430 billion (£324 billion).
In a recent report, the IMF revealed that the escalating trade war between Donald Trump and the US’ trade partners could leave the US “especially vulnerable”.
Trump announced last week plans to impose 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods entering the country. This is in addition to the $34 billion worth of tariffs imposed on Beijing at the start of July.
China was quick to retaliate against the US and imposed similar tariffs.
As well as increase tensions with China, the US President also labelled the EU a trading “foe” on Sunday.
“Well, I think we have a lot of foes,” Trump told CBS News whilst in Scotland. “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe.”
Maurice Obstfeld, the IMF’s economic counsellor, said: “Countries must resist inward-looking thinking and remember that on a range of problems of common interest, multilateral cooperation is vital.”
Trump’s new trade tariffs also affect countries including Canada and Mexico.
As well as the tension sparked by the US, the IMF report also discussed political uncertainty in Europe surrounding Brexit.
“Financial markets seem broadly complacent in the face of these contingencies, with elevated valuations and compressed spreads in many countries,” said Obstfeld.
“Asset prices are no doubt buoyed, not only by easy financial conditions, but by the generally still satisfactory global growth picture. They therefore are susceptible to sudden re-pricing if growth and expected corporate profits stall.”
The IMF’s global growth forecast for 2018/9 remains 3.9 percent despite the growing risks for the global economy.
Netflix shares plummet 14pc on worse-than-expected Q2 results
Netflix shares plummeted 14 percent in after-hours trading after the streaming giant missed its own forecasts by over a million subscribers.
The group’s second-quarter results were announced on Monday and revealed 5.2 million new subscribers, bringing the total to 130 million customers worldwide.
Netflix revealed a profit of $384.3 million but the missed forecast sent shares tumbling to $346.05.
In a letter to shareholders, the streaming giant behind shows including The Crown and 13 Reasons Why, said it had “a strong but not stellar” second quarter.
“As a reminder, the quarterly guidance we provide is our actual internal forecast at the time we report and we strive for accuracy, meaning in some quarters we will be high and other quarters low relative to our guidance,” Netflix added.
Analyst Daniel Ives at GB Insights said: This is a clear speed bump for Netflix as the international miss was most concerning given this is the linchpin to the core growth thesis for the coming years.”
This year, the company is expected to invest as much as $12 billion into new content in order to keep competition from groups such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) at bay.
Apple is planning to increase its spending on original content in video, music and publishing from $1 billion to $4.2 billion by 2022.
“We believe that consumer appetite for great content is broad and that there is room for multiple parties to have attractive offerings,” the company said in the letter. “Our strategy is to simply keep improving, as we’ve been doing every year in the past.”
For the second quarter of 2018, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) reported a profit of 85 cents a share, which is an increase from $65.6 million, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier.
Marks & Spencer to cut 300 jobs
According to new documents, Marks & Spencer (LON: MKS) has plans for a new wave of job cuts across the country.
The group warned last week of plans to close 100 stores but attempts to streamline and restructure the high street chain could go further.
“M&S is transforming and this is a tough but necessary decision to take to ensure our stores support the future of the business and provide the best service for our customers,” said a spokesperson for the group.
The high street chain has been through a tough time, reporting a steep fall in annual profits this year. The group also announced the closure of a distribution centre in Warrington.
Marks & Spencer is not the only retailer to have been hit by the move to online shopping together. Supermarkets Sainsbury’s and Tesco have also made moves to reduce management roles in their stores.
A total of 351 redundancies have been proposed in the documents seen by The Guardian.
“This has contributed to reducing store profitability, impacting on our ability to trade our existing stores and open future stores viably,” the documents said.
Trump-Putin summit: US hopes for better relations
Before the start of his first summit with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump said he hopes for an “extraordinary relationship” with Russia.
The Presidents of the US and Russia sat down today in Helsinki, Finland where they discussed topics including nuclear power and trade.
“We have discussions on everything from trade to military, to missiles, to nuclear, to China, we’ll be talking a little bit about China – our mutual friend President Xi,” said Trump to Putin.
“I think we have great opportunities together as two countries that frankly we have not been getting along very well for the last number of years. I’ve been here not too long but it is getting close to two years, but I think we will end up having an extraordinary relationship. I’ve been saying, and I’m sure you’ve heard, over the years … that getting along with Russia is a good thing not a bad thing,” he added.
Both leaders arrived at the summit after an hour after it was due to begin. They did not discuss Syria, North Korea, the US election or Nato.
After their one-on-one meeting, The White House confirmed another bilateral meeting and a joint press conference.
The joint press conference will take place at around 4.50pm local time, (2.50pm BST).
Attending the bilateral will be the US ambassador to Russia, US secretary of state, White House chief of staff, the national security adviser, a Russia expert and Trump adviser and an interpreter.
Trump has he hopes to revive Russia-US relations, where he blamed poor relations “years of US foolishness and stupidity on and now, the Rigged Witch Hunt”.
In response, Russia’s foreign affairs ministry tweeted: “We agree.”