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Persistent supply chain disruptions have left supermarkets with empty shelves, forcing some BP and Tesco gas stations to temporarily close this week.
Amid the UK’s supply chain problems and rising prices that weighed on the economic recovery, the Bank of England stuck to its monetary policy stance. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve has given strong signals that the throttling will begin later this year, with more of its members planning to hike rates as early as next year.
There was also record demand for the UK government‘s first green guild, and the ailing travel sector received a boost when the US eased its Covid travel ban on UK and EU visitors.
Below is a roundup of key events, and click through the slides above to find out what investment managers think this means for portfolios.
Monday 20th September
– Top executives at FTSE 250 companies saw wages slump a fifth to an average of £ 1.3 million last year as bonuses were cut and salaries were frozen during the pandemic, according to an analysis by PwC
-Pfizer and BioNTech say their Covid vaccination is safe and effective for children ages five and up
-The NHS starts giving Covid vaccinations to 12-15 year olds
-The US announces that it will lift travel restrictions on Covid-19 for fully vaccinated passengers from the UK and the EU from early November
-Employees and visitors to the Vatican must present a negative Covid test result or proof of vaccination to enter the city-state
-Johns Hopkins University reveals Covid-19 killed as many Americans as the Spanish flu did in 1918
Tuesday, September 21
-The UK will receive £ 10bn from its first green government bond issue
-The OECD warns that inflation will persist for the next two years, with the UK forecasting an inflation rate of 3% by the end of 2022
-Virgin Atlantic reports a 600 percent increase in flight bookings to the US overnight after the US government lifted its 18-month travel ban on the UK and EU, while British Airways reports a 900 percent increase in searches for package tours to popular American ones Destinations around Christmas listed
Catering company Compass expects revenue to reach 86% of pre-pandemic levels by the fourth quarter after live sporting events return
– UK public debt rose higher than expected in August as rising inflation increased interest payments on government debt by 84%, according to the National Statistics Office
-B & Q owner Kingfisher increases its interim dividend by 40% and plans a £ 300 million share buyback program thanks to rising profits during the pandemic
-HM Revenue & Customs estimates UK public companies have paid back £ 1.3bn in vacation pay since July 2020
-Despite an end to stamp duty, UK home sales rose 21% year over year to 98,300 in August
-Labor shortage pushes Fedex earnings to $ 1.4 billion in fiscal first quarter
Wednesday September 22nd
-Nine members of the Federal Open Monetary Committee expect a rate hike in the US in 2022 as central banks announce that the cut will begin by November
Travel and cruise company Saga announces that bookings for the next fiscal year are already £ 109m, surpassing pre-pandemic levels
-England’s chief medical officer says half of all UK school children are already sick with Covid
Thursday, September 23
-BP is forced to close some of its gas stations across the UK as the shortage of truck drivers affects fuel supplies
-The Bank of England predicts inflation will hit 4% this winter. In August, annual inflation jumped from 2% in July to 3.2%
– The Norwegian Norges Bank is raising rates from zero to 0.25%, making it the first major central bank in the world to raise rates during the pandemic
– According to DFS, sales growth of 47% last fiscal year could have been higher had it not been for supply chain disruptions, including the Ever Given cargo ship that blocked the Suez Canal in March
-Royal Mail says it is “increasingly confident” that increasing domestic parcel volume will boost profits despite rising labor shortage costs
– Rising costs weigh on companies in the Eurozone again as the production index of Flash IHS purchasing managers falls to an eight-month low of 55.6 in September
-Initial UK estimates paint a similarly bleak picture as Flash PMI data fell to 54.1 for the fourth straight month in September, fueling stagflation fears
-Astrazeneca signs an agreement with VaxEquity to research, develop and commercialize new treatments with its self-amplifying RNA therapeutics platform
Friday September 24th
Long lines form in front of certain BP and Tesco petrol stations after comments from Secretary of Transportation Grant Shapps that drivers should “carry on as usual” trigger a panic-buying frenzy
– One in six Britons says they haven’t been able to buy essential groceries in the past two weeks as supply chain disruptions leave some supermarkets with empty shelves and missing items
-GfK’s UK consumer confidence index slipped to -13 in September, five points less than in August
