Good morning. It’s all about growth this morning as we get the June GDP numbers to round out the second quarter numbers.
Domestic output is expected to have taken a 1.2% hit in June, partly due to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Over the quarter, this is expected to result in a 0.2% decline.
Elsewhere, the FTSE 100 is on course for a flat day, after falling yesterday despite broader optimism about easing inflation.
5 things to start the day
1) British EDF customers pay twice as much as French customers for power Macron’s price cap on state supplier protects households from rising costs
2) Hong Kong suffers record population drop as people flee zero-Covid sidewalks The city lost 113,200 residents in the year to June
3) Breakup of HSBC would unlock payday of up to £29bn, says Chinese shareholder Insurer accuses lender of ‘exaggerating’ challenge to spin off its Asian business
4) Heathrow sale revives hopes of third runway under new prime minister But whoever enters No. 10 still faces environmental hurdles and an industry in flux
5) Mark Zuckerberg called ‘creepy’ by Facebook’s own chatbot Social media company ‘exploits people for money’, AI program warns
What happened during the night
Asian markets were mostly lower on Friday, paring back some of the previous day’s rally, as traders accept the likelihood that central banks will continue to raise interest rates to fight runaway inflation.
Asia struggled to maintain momentum, with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Manila, Jakarta and Wellington all slightly lower.
Tokyo, however, rose more than 2 percent as investors returned from a one-day break to catch up with Thursday’s bounce. Taipei also increased.
It arrives today
- Company: 888 Holdings, Flutter Entertainment, TBC Bank Group (Interim)
- Economy: GDP (UK), Industrial Production (UK, EU), Manufacturing Production (UK), Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index (US)