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As predicted, food sales across the UK rose by 1% year on year in December, as consumers cared not for Brexit, but for spending money over the festive period. With inflation set to move closer to the 2% marker, prices are set to increase. Morrison’s and Aldi are already profiting from cheaper prices than the ‘bigger’ chains. Over the Christmas period consumers are known to ‘treat themselves’ but some investors also believe we may see a cut down in spending as political issues start to surface once more.
FTSE 100 continues to move upwards
The tube strike over the past two days in London could have a massive effect on the economy, to the tune of ‘tens of millions’. Consumer spending on travel, food and alcohol would be at the forefront of the strike, which could flag up weaker data for January. The FTSE 100 continues to move upwards, as sterling continues to depreciate after Theresa May’s interview over the weekend, with the Market Priced Index having 10 consecutive days of gains.
Mixed bag of unemployment figures for EU
The EU had a mixed bag of unemployment figures, with figures of 8.3% now in unemployment which is the lowest it’s been in since 2009. But the worrying rise was in youth unemployment. The number of younger workers out of a job rose 0.3% with Spain the biggest culprit. This is leading to an unbalance in the numbers as the younger generation is seen as key to growth in the long term future. Mario Draghi has stated that his monetary policy could be causing the delicate recovery.
Japanese consumer confidence data for December revealed its highest numbers for 2016, showing 43.1% against Novembers 40.9%, with Chinese CPI data showing a downturn of 2.1% for the same period against previous month’s marker of 2.3%.
US Wholesale Inventories data is the only data worth noting in this afternoons session.
