Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- Latest: US inflation drops to 5.3%
- Core inflation slows to 4.0% as pandemic price pressures relax
- Core inflation up just 0.1% in August…
- …used car prices and airline fares fall
- Dollar drops as tapering worries ease
Earlier:
- Covid-19 outbreaks hit oil demand
- FULL STORY: UK job vacancies hit record high of 1m as payrolls rebound to pre-Covid levels
- BREAKING: UK jobs data shows recovery
- Vacancies hit record as hospitality and transport firms struggle to hire
- Average total pay up 8.3%…but pensioners won’t benefit
Here’s today’s main stories so far:
Related: UK job vacancies hit record high of 1m as payrolls rebound to pre-Covid levels
Related: UK supermarket shoppers hit by price rises amid supply crisis
Related: China property giant Evergrande admits debt crisis as protesters besiege HQ
Related: Ocado to spend extra £5m on drivers amid Brexit-related shortage
Related: JD Sports owner expects £150m more profit as US sneaker sales soar
Related: Most plans for new coal plants scrapped since Paris agreement
Related: UK government fund invests in Kombucha and luxury ship builder
Related: Channel 4 privatisation ‘could shut up to 60 production companies’
Back in the UK, wholesale energy prices have surged again to fresh records amid the scramble to buy power.
⚡⚡CRAZY POWER PRICES⚡⚡ UK day-ahead electricity prices climb further, much further, setting a fresh and eye-watering all-time high of £424 per MWh on the N2EX platform (up ~20% from yesterday's already record high). UK power prices tomorrow at 7-8pm will reach £2,500 per MWh pic.twitter.com/maiQN72DTN
In international markets, economic recovery in China and parts of Asia has accelerated demand for LNG (liquified natural gas). US shale gas producers, now under political pressure to curb fracking, are not producing the same volumes as of old. Russia, some argue, is underproducing gas ahead of the opening of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany. The UK is certainly not alone in experiencing the storm in the fossil gas market.
A few factors – wind speeds, for example – could reverse to relieve the immediate pressure. But one can also diagnose a basic overreliance in the UK on gas as the “transition” source of fossil fuel energy on the way to net zero. There’s not much resilience in the system, with so many nuclear plants due to come offline this decade. The Bank of England may even been obliged to take notice: we’re now at the point where the year-on-year hikes in consumers’ energy bills have a meaningful impact on overall inflation numbers.
Related: Politicians should take note: an energy crisis is quietly building | Nils Pratley