FTSE 100 at six-month high; UK retail sales slide – as it happened
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as UK retail spending falls again
- Breaking: UK retail sales slump in December
- Retail sales down 1% in last quarter
- Could Bank of England cut rates this month?
Earlier:
4.53pm GMT
European stock markets have ended the day with strong gains
4.47pm GMT
Here's our full story on the Chinese growth report which appears to have lifted stocks today:
Related: Global markets rise despite slowest Chinese growth for 30 years
4.21pm GMT
With the FTSE holding onto its six-month high, and stocks up around Europe, David Madden of CMC Markets sums up the day:
The largely positive data from China combined with the dip in the pound pushed the FTSE 100 to a level last seen in July. In the final-quarter of 2019 the Chinese economy grew by 6%, meeting forecasts. The growth for the year was 6.1%, which was at the lower end of Beijing's guidance. The annual growth rate was the lowest in 29 years, but then again it is no secret that China's economy is slowing down.
The fixed asset investment, industrial output plus retail sales reports from China all topped forecasts. In recent months the Chinese authorises have been introducing measures to spur-on economic activity, such as loosening lending restrictions, and the tactics appear to be working.
3.07pm GMT
Boom! The FTSE 100 index of top UK-listed shares has just hit a new six-month high.
The Footsie has gained 70 points, or 0.9%, to 7681, its highest level since July.
2.31pm GMT
Next Monday, the World Economic Forum kicks off in Davos. Climate chance is high on the agenda -- WEF's agenda-setters and policy-makers say it's now the top threat to the global economy.
Related: Greta Thunberg: At Davos we will tell world leaders to abandon the fossil fuel economy
Dear Participant to the 2020 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
The opportunity and the need for companies and investors to show leadership on climate change is more eminent than ever before.
12.08pm GMT
Here's our news story on the retail sales slide:
High street sales in Britain slumped in December as consumers reined in their spending over the key Christmas shopping period, adding to the gloom facing embattled retailers across the country and increasing the likelihood of an interest rate cut later this month.
According to the Office for National Statistics, retail sales failed to rise for a record fifth month in a row in December as household spending in high street shops and online plunged by 0.6% from the previous month.
Related: High street gloom continues as fears grow over UK economy
12.07pm GMT
The pound has fallen almost half a cent today, back to $1.304, as the retail sales slump worries traders...and makes a rate cut more likely.
The #UK seems to be heading to a rate cut on Jan 30, after retail sales disappoint amid increasingly dovish rhetoric by MPC members. Next week's #PMI likely to be important, too, though a consensus seems to exist that quick and aggressive action is needed to arrest the slowdown.
11.56am GMT
If you strip out car sales, then UK retail sales slid by 0.8% last month -- much worse than expected, and the third decline in a row.
Wow! UK retail sales unexpectedly fell in December. Down 0.8%, instead of a gain of 0.8%. UK retail sales negative for three consecutive months. pic.twitter.com/a9IWhURtLl
10.53am GMT
Here are the key points from today's healthcheck on the UK retail industry.
10.31am GMT
December's retail sales slump follows a flurry of bad news from the sector
High street stores have struggled particularly badly, with consumers shunning physical stores in favour of web shopping.
10.14am GMT
Duncan Weldon of The Economist reckons there's a real chance that The Bank of England cuts interest rates back to 0.5% at its next meeting (the decision comes on 30th January).
Ouch those retail sales figures are grim.
Looks like a January rate cut is indeed very much in play.
10.10am GMT
Ryan Broomfield, partner at business services firm RSM, agrees that the 1.0% drop in UK retail sales in October-December is 'very disappointing'.
'This is a particularly poor result given this is meant to be the Golden Quarter where seasonal sales are supposed to provide a revenue boost. In addition, these figures will not show the potential sting in the tail - the impact of consumers returning unwanted gifts after Christmas.
'This brings to an end what has been a pretty torrid 2019 for many high street operators, described by the British Retail Consortium as the worst for 25 years. Shoppers will have noticed the impact of store vacancies in retail parks and town centres, notably in areas which have lost large department stores and with further closures expected in 2020.
10.03am GMT
Britain's retailers have suffered a grim Christmas, says Ed Monk, associate director for Personal Investing at Fidelity International.
"2019 was miserable for retailers, topped off by a dismal Christmas trading season. Today's figures will raise further questions around how robust the UK economy really is going into the year ahead.
"The picture we're seeing from trading figures is that shoppers reined in spending in the months ahead of Christmas, with the December monthly figure showing there was no festive bounce to make up for lost ground. The Government has pledged action to help retailers and calls for action are likely to grow now.
9.55am GMT
Economists and investors are alarmed by December's grim retail figures.
The 0.5% slump in retail sales has dashed hopes of a recovery, and a so-called Boris Bounce in confidence.
Looks like UK retail sales for December were truly awful, down 0.6% month on month compared to a consensus forecast of 0.9% growth. Year on year was 0.9% v 2.1% expected.
So I'll admit my bias going into UK retail sales was to find some kind of silver cloud, and so far I'm seeing nothing. Retail sales are volatile but in context this looks v bad. Unless PMIs feature mass oaths to increase production by 25% in time for Brexit MPC will cut
9.46am GMT
NEWSFLASH: UK retail sales fell unexpectedly in December, as Britain's high street crisis escalates.
Retail sales volumes fell by 0.6% in December, the fifth monthly decline in a row. Economists has expected a rise to 0.5%.
Food stores quantity bought fell by 0.6% in the three-month on three-month measure, with a strong monthly decline of 1.3% in December. This was the joint largest decline seen in food stores since December 2016 and the largest monthly decline since October 2015 of negative 1.8%. Anecdotal evidence from a number of stores stated that goods did not sell as well as expected in December 2019.
Clothing experienced strong declines both on the month at negative 2.0% and in the three months to December at negative 2.3%. This is the sixth consecutive month of no growth for clothing stores for the three-month on three-month movement.
9.36am GMT
European stock markets are rallying this morning, on hopes that China's economy could be turning a corner.
The main indices are all positive, with Britain's FTSE 100 gaining 21 points or 0.3%.
Friday's trading session began with optimism taking over the market sentiment. The positivity came mainly from China, where industrial production and retail sales both exceeded the forecast, appearing to signal the turn of a corner for the growth of the Chinese economy.
This good news, together with American retail sales above forecasts, compounded the lingering positive feeling left by the signing of a trade deal between the US and China earlier in the week.
8.58am GMT
A bit of history.
Google floated on the US stock market back in 2004 at $85 per share, valuing the firm at around $24bn.
8.20am GMT
Christopher Rossbach, CIO of private investment firm J. Stern & Co, reckons Google's value is going to keep climbing, having smashed through the $1tn barrier last night.
The company's investment in artificial intelligence and machine learning should boost its business, Rossbach says.
"As Alphabet joins Apple, Microsoft and (from time to time) Amazon among tech companies that have reached this level, it marks just the start for the company. It still has significant further room to grow, both in its core online advertising business as it innovates in advertising monetization and formats and in its cloud computing business.
"Alphabet is laying the foundations for a much larger company as it is the unequivocal leader in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
8.02am GMT
The other big news of the morning is that Alphabet, Google's parent company, is now worth a staggering one trillion dollars.
Related: Google's future is useful, creepy and everywhere: nine things learned at I/O
7.49am GMT
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
It's clear that the trade war has taken its toll on China's already decelerating economy and the deal that was signed this week may enable it to find some form, again.
Overall a strong set of December numbers came out from China pointing to a gradual recovery in economic activity.
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