Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Trade talks between the US and China are set to resume in London today, as officials push for a breakthrough over shipments of technology and rare earth elements.
After more than six hours of talks on Monday, negotations will resume at Lancaster House later this morning. Investors are hopeful of a breakthrough that could continue to ease tensions between the two economic superpowers.
President Donald Trump has indicated that the first day of talks were encouraging. He told reporters that “We are doing well with China. China’s not easy….I’m only getting good reports.”
The US are unhappy that China has not released crucial rare earth minerals, and magnets, as rapidly as hoped since the two countries agreed an initial trade pact in Geneva a month ago.
Treasury secretaryScottBessenttold reporters in London they had a “good meeting”, Bloomberg reports, while commerce secretaryHowardLutnickcalled the discussions “fruitful.”
7am BST: UK labour market report
10.15am BST: FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi and FCA chair Ashley Adler testify to Treasury Committee
2.30pm BST: World Bank to release latest economic forecasts
Marks & Spencer has reopened its website to shoppers, six weeks after it was forced to halt online orders after a cyber-attack.
The retailer said on its website that customers “can now place online orders with standard delivery to England, Scotland and Wales”. Deliveries to Northern Ireland “will resume in the coming weeks”.
“We will resume click and collect, next-day delivery, nominated-day delivery and international ordering in the coming weeks,” it said.
Wage growth slowed over the last quarter – which could be another sign of a weakening UK jobs market.
Average regular pay rose by 5.2%, in the February-April quarter, compared with a year earlier. That’s down from 5.8% in the previous quarter.
Annual growth in total pay (including bonuses), slowed to 5.3%, down from 5.7% in November-January.
Once you adjust for CPI inflation, regular pay growth slowed to 2.1% while total pay was up 2.3%.
Monica George Michail,associate economist at theNIESReconomic research body, explains:
The number of vacancies across the UK has fallen, again, making it harder for unemployed people to find a new job.
Vacancies fell by 63,000 in the March-May quarter, to 736,000 – the 35th consecutive quarterly decline in a row.
There are now 150,000 fewer vacancies than a year ago – lifting the ratio of unemployed people per vacancy to 2.2 in February to April, up from 1.9 in the previous quarter.
Unemployment across the UK rose in the last quarter, today’s labour market data shows.
The UK unemployment rate rose to 4.6% in the February to April quarter, which is the highest rate recorded since the summer of 2021.
That’s a rise from 4.5% in January-March, and also up from 4.4% in the previous quarter.
But…. the employment rate has also risen, up 0.1 percentage point over the quarter to 75.1%.
How can employment and unemployment both go up?Because the number of people classed as economically inactive (neither in work, nor looking for a job) has dropped – pulling the UK economic inactivity rate down by 0.2 percentage points over the quarter to 21.3%.
Newsflash: The number of people on payrolls across the UK has fallen notably, in a sign that the jobs market is weakening.
The latest labour force statistics, just released, show that payrolled employment decreased by 109,000 employees (0.4%) in May, compared with April.
On an annual basis, there were 274,000 fewer employees last month, compared with May 2024, pulling total payrolls down to 30.2 million.
The Office for National Statistics does caution that these estimates are more uncertain than usual; if they’re accurate, though, it indicates that demand for workers at British firms is cooling.
The largest decrease was in the accommodation and food service activities sector, a fall of 124,000 employees in the last year, while health and social work added 62,000 employees.
ONSdirector of economic statisticsLiz McKeownsays:
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Trade talks between the US and China are set to resume in London today, as officials push for a breakthrough over shipments of technology and rare earth elements.
After more than six hours of talks on Monday, negotations will resume at Lancaster House later this morning. Investors are hopeful of a breakthrough that could continue to ease tensions between the two economic superpowers.
President Donald Trump has indicated that the first day of talks were encouraging. He told reporters that “We are doing well with China. China’s not easy….I’m only getting good reports.”
The US are unhappy that China has not released crucial rare earth minerals, and magnets, as rapidly as hoped since the two countries agreed an initial trade pact in Geneva a month ago.
Treasury secretaryScottBessenttold reporters in London they had a “good meeting”, Bloomberg reports, while commerce secretaryHowardLutnickcalled the discussions “fruitful.”
7am BST: UK labour market report
10.15am BST: FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi and FCA chair Ashley Adler testify to Treasury Committee
2.30pm BST: World Bank to release latest economic forecasts