UK GDP report to show if economy returned to growth in May
Date:
Title: Introduction: UK's May GDP report coming up
Content: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
We're about to discover how the UK economy fared in May, the month in which Britain became the first country this year to agree a trade deal with Donald Trump.
Economists predict the UK economy grew slightly in May, by 0.1%, after a disappointing 0.3% contraction in April.
The government will be hoping for signs that activity picked up in May, given the push for growth. The data is due at 7am UK time.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, says:
April's decline was caused by a drop in legal activities linked to the stamp duty increase. Plus, higher energy bills, the National Insurance increase and tariff uncertainty took their toll.
After an unfortunately timed cluster of headwinds in April, it appears as though the only way is up. Consumer sentiment is already showing signs of improvement and Friday's GDP data could add to the cheerier mood, with the potential for a rebound in activity, particularly in the key services sector. Plus, anticipation of easier monetary policy is helping to boost sentiment and the real economy. The Bank of England lowered interest rates in May with the market anticipating two more cuts this year.'
7am BST: UK GDP report for May
7am BST: UK trade balance for May
9am BST: IEA's monthly oil market report
2pm: Russia's trade balance for May
Update:
Date: 2025-07-11T05:43:33.000Z
Title: Trump threatens 35% tariffs on Canadian goods
Content: Overnight, Donald Trump's trade war has taken another twist.
The US president has announced his will impose a 35% tariff on imports from Canada next month and threatened to impose blanket tariffs of 15% or 20% on most other trade partners.
In a letter released on his social media platform, Trump told Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, the new rate would go into effect on 1 August and would increase if Canada retaliated.
Update:
Date: 2025-07-11T05:40:15.000Z
Title: Introduction: UK's May GDP report coming up
Content: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
We're about to discover how the UK economy fared in May, the month in which Britain became the first country this year to agree a trade deal with Donald Trump.
Economists predict the UK economy grew slightly in May, by 0.1%, after a disappointing 0.3% contraction in April.
The government will be hoping for signs that activity picked up in May, given the push for growth. The data is due at 7am UK time.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, says:
April's decline was caused by a drop in legal activities linked to the stamp duty increase. Plus, higher energy bills, the National Insurance increase and tariff uncertainty took their toll.
After an unfortunately timed cluster of headwinds in April, it appears as though the only way is up. Consumer sentiment is already showing signs of improvement and Friday's GDP data could add to the cheerier mood, with the potential for a rebound in activity, particularly in the key services sector. Plus, anticipation of easier monetary policy is helping to boost sentiment and the real economy. The Bank of England lowered interest rates in May with the market anticipating two more cuts this year.'
7am BST: UK GDP report for May
7am BST: UK trade balance for May
9am BST: IEA's monthly oil market report
2pm: Russia's trade balance for May
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Why doctors are striking … again
When Labour came into power they agreed to give resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, a 22% rise over two years to end their strikes. They then turned their attention to updating the NHS, unveiling an ambitious 10-year plan to change the way the system is run. But now doctors have gone back to the ballot box. The Guardian's health policy editor, Denis Campbell, tells Helen Pidd that the British Medical Association (BMA), the doctors' union, says the value of their salaries has dropped 29% since 2008 thanks to inflation and serial low pay rises. They want this restored. But with public finances more stretched than ever, Wes Streeting is unlikely to accede. Denis explains why the BMA is saying this pay rise is 'non-negotiable', and also why it looks as if the resident doctors are losing public support. And even the support of their senior colleagues. What could this clash mean for Labour, trust in doctors – and patients?
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Top economist at anti-Trump newspaper admits he is winning the trade war - and slams cruel nickname media gave him
The Wall Street Journal's chief economics correspondent has delivered a surprise assessment of President Donald Trump 's trade policies while criticizing the cruel nickname assigned to him after he 'chickened out' of imposing extreme tariffs. Greg Ip published his latest take on Trump's tariff wars in the publication on Tuesday, sensationally noting Trump is ' winning' on trade policy. 'Trump has, by his own definition of success, already won his trade war,' Ip wrote, 'even without [the] deals' he vowed to reach with foreign allies. Trump faced harsh criticism for backing down on his 'Liberation Day' tariffs, earning him the moniker 'TACO' for 'Trump Always Chickens Out.' After threatening extraordinary reciprocal tariffs on most countries, markets crashed and doomsday economists feared a recession was inevitable. In the midst of the backlash, Trump walked back on the tariffs, instead offering countries 90 days to reach new agreements with his administration. Some within his inner circle were boasting of the possibility of achieving 90 deals in 90 days. That deadline has since passed, and Trump has inked one deal with the UK, and two more are on track with Vietnam and Indonesia. But Ip notes this is not necessarily a negative for Trump. To the contrary, Ip said Trump's behavior leading to this point suggests he was never particularly keen on making such deals to begin with. 'This narrative misconstrues Trump's goals, overstates the importance of deals and breeds complacency about his willingness to raise tariffs,' Ip wrote. When Trump backed down on his steep tariffs, markets rallied and economists breathed a sigh of relief. But he never removed the 10 percent baseline tariff which he had initially imposed on all goods coming into the United States. On the campaign trail, Ip notes, a 10 percent tariff seemed like worst-case scenario for markets. Now, in the face of Trump's brash actions and threats of tariffs as high as 145 percent (on China), the 10 percent tariff appears to have flown under the radar, now considered the best-case outcome for nations coming to the negotiating table. In June alone, Treasury pocketed $27billion in customs revenue - $20billion more than it did in the same month last year. With higher tariffs on steel and aluminum, the average tariff for all goods coming into the United States as of July 2 was 13.4 percent. Last year, it was 2.3 percent. Ip argues in his piece that Trump has no major need to forge new trade deals, because doing so would imply backing down or compromising on something he wants - which isn't often the Trump way. But while he said Trump is winning the trade war he created, Ip noted local manufacturing has not skyrocketed as Trump had hoped it would. Consumers in America are also increasingly feeling the pinch as businesses up their prices to accommodate the tariffs they're now paying on imported goods. Ip concluded: 'Trump might emerge a winner from his trade wars; it remains to be seen if the U.S. will as well.' Ip's assessment of Trump's trade policy may ruffle feathers at the publication, which has drawn Trump's ire a number of times during this administration. In May, he gave a reporter from the publication a verbal lashing after asking a question on board Air Force 1. 'Boy, you people treat us so badly,' he said of the paper Murdoch acquired in 2007. 'Wall Street Journal has truly gone to hell... Rotten newspaper. You hear me? What I said? It's a rotten newspaper.' Months earlier, he panned it as a 'globalist' rag and 'polluted' after it criticized his tariffs. In March, the paper sensationally suggested 'someone should sue' over the tariffs and said: 'He's treating the North American economy as a personal plaything, as markets gyrate with each presidential whim.'
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Singapore's exports rise 13% anually in June, stronger than forecast
SINGAPORE, July 17 (Reuters) - Singapore's non-oil domestic exports rose 13.0% in June from the same month a year earlier, government data showed on Thursday, outpacing analysts' estimates as shipments of computers, integrated circuits and non-monetary gold rose significantly. The rise compared with a Reuters poll forecast for annual growth of 5.0%, and followed a revised 3.9% fall in May. Details of the month-on-month seasonally adjusted change in exports were not included in Enterprise Singapore's statement. Exports of electronic products such as integrated circuits and computers grew an annual 53.8% and 17.5% respectively, while non-electronic products such as non-monetary gold and specialised machinery grew by 211.9% and 31.4% respectively. Exports to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea increased in annual terms in June, while shipments to Japan, Indonesia and the U.S. decreased. DBS senior economist Chua Han Teng said that although Singapore's goods exports were resilient in the first half of the year, front-loading of shipments will be followed by a deceleration in trade and manufacturing production in the latter half of the year. For the first six months of 2025, non-oil domestic exports rose 5.2% year-on-year. "The city-state's external demand will likely face downward pressures, due to still-high global trade frictions and continued uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, such as the potential imposition of U.S. sectoral tariffs on semiconductors and pharmaceutical goods," he said. U.S. President Donald Trump has notified some countries that tariffs of about 20% to 50% that will kick in from August 1, warning that any reprisals would draw a like-for-like response. Southeast Asian neighbours Vietnam and Indonesia have both struck deals with Washington for tariffs below the levels Trump had initially threatened. Trade-dependent Singapore has not yet received a letter from the Trump administration this round, and its exports are still subject to the 10% baseline tariff announced in April. Singapore's economy grew a faster-than-expected 4.3% in the second quarter from a year earlier, preliminary data showed, despite a dimming outlook due to global economic uncertainty. Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong has warned that the implementation of U.S. tariffs and a diminishing front-loading effect would weigh on growth over the next six to 12 months. Gan will visit the United States later this month to discuss tariff concessions for pharmaceutical exports as part of efforts to limit the economic impact of the trade war on Singapore.
