Tag: Jobs
Defensive stocks, Imperial Tobacco, Unilever and British American Tobacco, gained between 1.0% and 3.5%, as investor sought less riskier assets
by Greg Secker on Feb.21, 2011, under Greg's Blogs
UK Stock Market Report 21st February 2011
UK markets closed mixed on Friday, as gains in retailers and defensive stocks were offset by losses in miners and banks. Retailers, Kingfisher, Next, and WM Morrison Supermarkets, climbed between 1.0% and 2.7%, as UK retail sales surged 1.9% in January, surpassing market expectations. Defensive stocks, Imperial Tobacco, Unilever and British American Tobacco, gained between 1.0% and 3.5%, as investor sought less riskier assets. However, miners, Rio Tinto, Vedanta Resource and Antofagasta, lost between 0.2% and 2.3%, after China’s central bank raised the ratio of reserves banks by 0.5% to curb inflation. Banks, Standard Chartered, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, declined between 1.0% and 1.8%, as risk appetite decreased
among investors. FTSE 100 fell 0.1% or 4.4 points to 6,083.0. FTSE 250 gained marginally to close at 11,828.3.
UK market, 4th January
by Greg Secker on Jan.04, 2011, under Greg's Blogs
The FTSE 100 is currently at 5,900 down -1.2%.
This month, a U.K. gauge of new jobs dropped as demand for workers in the public sector plunged, Reed stated. The Reed Job index dropped to 104 from 111 in November, the London-based company has stated in a report today. In December 2009, the index for public jobs dropped to 42. A gauge of salaries increased, boosted by the consultancy, retail and banking industries. Britain’s government is relying on the private sector to boost payrolls as it cuts public jobs to reduce the record budget deficit. The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that roughly 330,000 government jobs will be axed by 2015 due to the fiscal squeeze.
“There are grounds for cautious optimism about new job prospects in 2011,” Reed.co.uk Managing Director Martin Warnes said in the report. “Rising private-sector demand has been enough to create year-on-year growth in spite of steep falls in new public-sector jobs.”
The index of salaries for new jobs rose to 99 in December from 96 in November, with the measure for retailing jumping to 124 from 109. In banking, the salary gauge rose to 108 from 95.
Due for release today is the GBP Manufacturing PMI and USD FOMC Meetings Minutes.
Growth in UK jobs weakens as doubts over recovery hit
by Greg Secker on Sep.08, 2010, under Greg's Blogs
UK Stock Market Report 8th September 2010
The FTSE 100 fee -31.37 points or -0.58% on Tuesday to 5407.82
Throughout August, Britain’s struggling job market continued to suffer with the number of permanent appointments rising at the slowest rate since October 2009, against a gloomy backdrop of downbeat business confidence and public sector layoffs. Professional services firm KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) conducted a monthly survey showing that the number of people placed in new jobs by recruitment consultancies continued to increase in August, but growth slowed further from March’s peak. There was also evidence of weakening pay pressures in August with permanent staff salaries rising at the slowest rate for seven months, while temporary staff pay growth hit a five-month low. In separate news, food price inflation surged to its highest level in more than a year as rising commodity prices fed through into the supermarkets, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) will say today. The BRC’s monthly shop price index shows that annual food inflation increased from 2.5pc in July to 3.8 pc in August, the highest level since July 2009. In contrast, non-food inflation slowed to 0.5 per cent on a year earlier. Although non-food inflation eased in August, the BRC anticipates a pick-up in prices in the coming months. Nonetheless, with a third of groceries already on promotion and consumer demand likely to remain lacklustre, the BRC expects retailers to continue to use discounts and promotions to drive sales in the coming months, keeping shop price inflation low.
Due for release today BRC Shop Price Index y/y, Halifax HPI m/m, Manufacturing Production m/m, Industrial Production m/m and NIESR GDP Estimate.
