Worst food price rises revealed as PM urged to intervene
Public sector workers saw pay rises of 5.6 percent in the first three months of the year – the highest wage increase since 2003.
According to the Office for National Statistics, 556,000 workdays were lost to strikes in March, compared to 332,000 in February.
The UK unemployment rate rose to 3.9 percent in the three months to March from 3.8 percent in the previous three months.
5 things to start your day
1) Brussels has fallen out with Britain over a $69 billion Microsoft deal | The EU decision contradicts the competition fears that led UK regulators to block the merger
2) “I had to sleep in the car”: unshaven Elon Musk storms into a meeting with Macron after a club night | The billionaire hopes Tesla will make “significant” investments in France in the future
3) Elon Musk ordered the release of documents in the Epstein case | The court says Musk may have been referred by Epstein to JP Morgan in a lawsuit accusing the bank of enabling the late financier’s sexual abuse
4) North Sea ‘taxed to death’, warns Sir Jim Ratcliffe | Billionaire claims windfall tax threatens UK’s energy security
5) After experiencing its worst late delivery ever, Royal Mail faces a fine | The company suffers from staff shortages as bosses try to streamline mail rounds
What happened overnight?
Asian stocks rose for the most part, despite recent data showing that China’s economy is weaker than expected and domestic demand has not recovered as much as hoped after the pandemic.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.9 percentage points to 29,899.83, continuing its climb towards its highest level since the early 1990s, helped by strong corporate earnings and signs that inflationary pressures may be easing.
Benchmarks also rose in Hong Kong and Seoul, but fell in Shanghai and Sydney.
China’s industrial production rose 5.6 percent yoy in April, while January-April investment grew 4.7 percent yoy.
But those increases also reflected a large gap from slow activity at the peak of China’s zero Covid restrictions, which Beijing abandoned in late 2022.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 percent to 20,044.72, while the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed at 3,311.06.
In Seoul, the Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 2,485.58, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 7,251.20.
Wall Street stocks ended Monday with modest gains after manufacturing data raised fears of a slowdown in the US economy, which could help lower inflation amid ongoing debt ceiling negotiations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1 percent to 33,348.60, while the broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 4,136.28.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped to 12,365.21 after a 0.7 percentage point gain in Meta shares.
The price of benchmark 10-year Treasuries fell to a yield of 3.496 percent from 3.463 percent late Friday.