Thanks for joining me. We start the week with a look at the manufacturing sector, where thousands of jobs have been left unfilled due to Britain’s unemployment crisis.
Make UK, which represents the sector, estimated there were 64,000 factory vacancies in Britain, costing the sector £6 billion in production losses.
It comes amid a surge in economic inactivity since the pandemic, with a record number of people neither working nor looking for a job.
5 things to start your day
1) Scotland is a ‘no-go’ area for investors under the Scottish National Party’s rent controls | Concerns are growing about Labor introducing a similar policy in England and Wales
2) Shapps warns that the EU defense agreement with Labour threatens Britain’s sovereignty | The party risks relinquishing its control over key defense decisions and sowing division within NATO
3) The IFS says scrapping the two-child benefit cap would cost £3.4bn | Nigel Farage supports scrapping the policy to encourage Britons to have more children
4) British drivers pay the highest diesel prices in Europe | Motorists are getting a ‘bad deal’ as supermarkets fail to offer savings
5) How Argentina is riding the net copper boom | The President taps into the treasures of the Andes while mining giants scramble for supplies
What happened overnight
Asian stock markets were in the red as mixed Chinese economic news highlighted the difficult recovery in the world’s second-largest economy, while political uncertainty in Europe dampened risk appetite and kept the euro on the defensive.
China’s blue-chip stocks fell 0.2% after retail sales beat expectations with a 3.7% rise in May, but industrial production and fixed asset investment were disappointing.
Other data showed that home prices fell at the fastest pace in a decade in May, highlighting ongoing pressures in the real estate sector.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) kept its one-year interest rate unchanged, dashing some speculation of a cut after surprisingly weak bank lending data.
That led to cautious trading, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.9%, with investors now facing a six-week wait to hear details of the Bank of Japan’s next tightening steps.