Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news as online retailers swoop in on two of Britain’s major high street brands2.56pm GMTWe started Monday morning with news that online retailers Boohoo and Asos are swooping in on two of Britain’s major high street brands:2.33pm GMTUS markets are open for trading and the Nasdaq had already hit a record high.U.S. markets open higher https://t.co/LiUQbJIBO3 pic.twitter.com/Tq2QIn34dL2.24pm GMTChinese President Xi Jinping has used his speech at the digital Davos meeting to call for greater global cooperation, and - without naming names - warn that countries that decide to go-it-alone “will always fail”We should build an open world economy ... discard discriminatory and exclusionary standards, rules and systems, and take down barriers to trade, investment and technological exchanges.To build small circles or start a new Cold War, to reject, threaten or intimidate others, to wilfully impose decoupling, supply disruption or sanctions, and to create isolation or estrangement will only push the world into division and even confrontation.We cannot tackle common challenges in a divided world, and confrontation will lead us to a dead end.1.59pm GMTBREAKING: Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group have announced they will close the House of Fraser store at the Jenners building in Edinburgh in May, leading to 200 job losses, according to Reuters.1.43pm GMTCineworld has been dealt a blow after nearly a third of investors voted against a controversial pay plan for its senior bosses.We acknowledge that there were a significant number of votes cast against the plan and the board will continue to engage with shareholders on remuneration matters in the coming months in light of the feedback received during our consultation.1.20pm GMTThe economic blow from Covid-19 has cost workers around the world $3.7tn (£2.7tn) in lost earnings, after the pandemic wiped out four times the number of working hours lost in the 2008 financial crisis, according to the UN’s labour body.The International Labour Organization (ILO) said women and younger workers had borne the brunt of job losses and reductions in hours, and warned that people in sectors hardest-hit by the crisis – such as hospitality and retail – risked being left behind when the economy recovers.Related: Covid-19 has cost global workers $3.7tn in lost earnings, says ILO1.07pm GMTStocks have fallen further in the past two hours, with most major indices down more than 1%, as the prospect of extended or tougher Covid lockdowns threatens economic growth in the short term.It would appear that European markets are not enjoying the benefits of the Biden spending hopes like their US counterparts as restriction fears are the dominant story on this side of the Atlantic.There has been little in the way of fresh news to spark excitement. Last week, US stocks set fresh records on account of President Biden’s stimulus plans, which influenced the positive moves we saw in Asia overnight but the mood is a little duller in this part of the world.France already has tough restrictions in place but there is speculation the country is heading for a renewed lockdown.12.22pm GMTRetail trade union Usdaw is seeking urgent meetings with Debenhams’ administrators and calling on the government to do more to save high streets after the failed department store said it would close all stores following the brand’s sale to Boohoo.Dave Gill, Usdaw National Officer, said:It is devastating news for our high streets that Debenhams’ administrators have sold the company brand to an online only retailer.Throughout Debenhams’ difficulties the company and then administrators have refused to engage with Usdaw, the staff are being treated appallingly.12.07pm GMTSpringboard data released this morning shows that footfall across UK retail destinations (at least the ones that are open during lockdown) rose 9% in the week to 23 January.Despite rain and snow last week across much of the UK, footfall rose in retail destinations last week from the week before for the first time in five weeks; perhaps providing the first indications of lockdown fatigue emerging once again.The last rise in footfall was in the peak Christmas trading week beginning 13th December, and even then the rise was only a third as large as last week’s; since then there has been a double digit drop in footfall in each week.11.58am GMTGordon Fletcher of the University of Salford Business School says the Boohoo deal is proof that shoppers are becoming less tied to the brick and mortar presence of their favourite brands:A very clear message is being broadcast. Brands are still important. Brands have credibility and reputation.Consumers have strong emotional connections with brands. However, the importance of the bricks and mortar traditionally associated with retail brands has now fully waned.11.20am GMTThe FT’s retail correspondent Jonathan Eley reflects on how fortunes have changed for Boohoo, Asos, Debenhams and Arcadia over the past 15 years:Quite a year, was 2006:

Women and young workers bear brunt of job losses and reductions in hours, says UN labour body

Committee urges governor to ‘show leadership’ on climate change and forge new path to net zero goal

The prime minister’s promise to level up the UK north will be four times more difficult, warns thinktank

Kristalina Georgieva says investing to create resilient economies is a ‘win-win-win-win’ scenarioHelping the most vulnerable people to cope with the climate crisis can boost the global economy during the Covid crisis and governments should make this a priority, the head of the International Monetary Fund has said.Kristalina Georgieva said international responses to the pandemic must urgently take account of the need to adapt to the impacts of extreme weather and other climate shocks, as well as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.Related: Road to net zero: what the Committee on Climate Change recommends Continue reading...

Never mind being big and bold, Keir Starmer and Anneliese Dodds want to be seen as competent managers

The paralysis at Britain’s new borders was wholly foreseeable to those not led astray by zealotry and ignorance in high officeTeething troubles? Bumps in the road? Pull the other one, Mr Gove. As the daily news from fishing crews, farmers, road hauliers, wine merchants, musicians and thousands of businesses up and down the land – not least in Northern Ireland – confirms, Brexit tier 3 is indeed a disaster. Far from having teething troubles that disappear, many of these businesses are having their commercial teeth extracted.It becomes increasingly manifest by the day that this is a Conservative act of conscious economic self-harm which, in an ideal world, would be rescinded before things get a lot worse. Not to put too fine a point upon it, Brexit is not only a disaster: it is also plain stupid.Leaving perfectly sensible trading arrangements was always guaranteed to end in tears. We – or some of us – have done it to ourselves Continue reading...

Former prime minister calls for total rethink on support for unemployed and assessment of data after new reportThe full scale of Britain’s jobs crisis is being underestimated because hundreds of thousands of people are being missed by official unemployment figures, Gordon Brown has warned.At least 300,000 out-of-work people across the UK are being missed by official figures, according to a study backed by the former prime minister. He warned that it meant Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was at risk of drawing up a financial rescue package that failed to address the impact of the pandemic’s economic fallout.Related: UK economy facing its 'darkest hour' due to lockdown, warns Bank governor Continue reading...

Less than a month after leaving the EU, trade is flowing so badly that small firms are moving operations abroad to survive

The leader has declared victory over the virus, but a fresh outbreak is complicating the narrativeWhen Britain was in its second lockdown last November and the economy was contracting, China’s quarterly growth rate was hitting 6.5%. Figures last week showed that for the full year, the world’s second-largest economy could boast a growth rate of 2.3% while all its rivals in Europe and the Americas were going backwards.The trend could be traced back to Beijing’s efforts to tackle the virus – albeit after a period of denial – and keep infection rates among the lowest in the world. Continue reading...

Philipp Wilhelm knows local people rely on forum’s revenue – but still thinks world must changeIn his youth, Philipp Wilhelm was at the forefront of protests against the World Economic Forum’s annual “extreme capitalism” gathering of the business and political elite in Davos, the Swiss mountain resort where he grew up.Now, however, Wilhelm is the mayor of the town and his central mission is to ensure the return of the WEF jamboree, which had been scheduled to start next week but was cancelled this year due to the pandemic. Continue reading...

Actions aim to help American families and workers struggling with economic toll of Covid-19Declaring the US government had a “moral obligation” to act, Joe Biden signed a pair of executive orders meant to provide emergency relief to millions of American families grappling with the economic toll of the Covid-19 pandemic.Related: Biden warns Covid will 'get worse before it gets better' as he unveils strategy Continue reading...

Service sector hit hard by closure of shops and restaurants as manufacturing also suffersCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFears that the UK economy is facing a double-dip recession have intensified after a poor Christmas for retailers was followed by a slump in activity in January as tougher lockdown measures took effect.In a triple-whammy of bad news for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, official figures showing weak consumer spending and the third highest monthly borrowing on record were accompanied by evidence that the UK’s private sector had fallen this month to its lowest level since May. Continue reading...

For an emirate dependent on trade, transport and tourism, vaccination, not lockdown, is key to keeping its economy goingAs if the Boohoo online fashion company had not generated enough controversy in recent months, its bosses once again found themselves in the headlines last week for hosting a four-day meeting with suppliers in the luxurious surroundings of a Dubai hotel.The company’s top executives had taken a private jet to the emirate for the get-together with the businessmen and women who supply their fabrics and manufacture their fashions, despite Foreign Office guidance that advises against all but essential travel. Continue reading...

Increase of £34.1bn last month takes budget deficit to nearly £271bn for the first nine months of financial year

Job opportunities increasing for higher-paid staff in sign of growing inequalityThe UK’s lowest-paid workers are more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs in the coronavirus pandemic than higher-paid employees, according to a study revealing rising inequality amid the crisis.The Institute for Employment Studies said one in 20 low-paid workers had fallen out of a job in each quarter since the pandemic struck – equivalent to 250,000 workers across Britain – compared with one in 50 of those on higher wages. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Heather Stewart and Peter Walker discuss the latest on the vaccine rollout and universal credit. Severin Carrell examines the upcoming Scottish Labour leadership contest. Plus, Miatta Fahnbulleh and Will Tanner discuss ‘levelling up’On Monday night, six Tory MPs defied calls from the prime minister to abstain from a Labour opposition day debate on the planned removal of a £20-a-week increase in universal credit for millions of people.Boris Johnson called the vote a “stunt”, and then through his new press secretary asked for people in political debate to be nicer to each other, with some calling him a hypocrite.

Increase in transport costs and computer games console prices flagged up by ONS

Too many excluded from government’s furlough and other support schemes, committee says

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as European Union car sales slump 23.7% last year

Incoming Treasury secretary’s speech boosts markets with call on Republicans to back Joe Biden’s $1.9tn stimulus planJanet Yellen, the economist picked by Joe Biden to run the US Treasury, has said America needs to “act big” to revive its flagging economy and protect itself against long-term scarring with a major stimulus package.The former chairman of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, underlined the new administration’s determination to press ahead with plans to boost government spending when she told a Senate committee that the benefits of action by Washington outweighed the costs.Related: Goldman Sachs profits surge; EU car sales in record fall – business live Continue reading...

Environmental issues are biggest danger in coming years, says international organisation

CBI calls for immediate £7.6bn injection from Treasury to help economy through lockdown

Executives from 30 major firms hear about plans for ‘green industrial revolution’

Rapid economic recovery from Covid recession could help ministers avoid increasing taxes, says Jesse NormanA Treasury minister has downplayed the need for immediate tax rises to tackle record levels of government borrowing caused by the coronavirus pandemic.Jesse Norman said a rapid economic recovery from the worst recession for more than three centuries could help ministers avoid increasing the tax take in response to record borrowing levels. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Country was expanding at a faster rate than before the coronavirus pandemic at the end of 2020China’s economy has posted its strongest growth in two years after completing a rapid recovery from the slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic at the start of 2020.Although the 2.3% annual increase in activity for the world’s second biggest economy was its slowest since 1976, by the final three months of last year China was expanding at a faster rate than before the crisis. Continue reading...

Economically, 2020 was a terrible year for the UK, but the real damage will not be easy to assessNext month it will be official. Figures will provide the first estimate of how much the UK economy shrank by in 2020. Depending on what happened when lockdown restrictions were temporarily eased in December, the likelihood is that there was a fall of about 10%.That will be the signal for all sorts of comparisons. Germany, which has already released data, contracted by 5% last year. Numbers for the US are not yet out but will probably show the world’s biggest economy suffered a 4%-5% drop in gross domestic product. China grew by about 2%.Related: 'How many more lockdowns can we go through?' Bosses on Covid double-dip recession Continue reading...

The new business secretary could come up against cabinet opposition if he takes a stance against employee protectionsTensions inside the cabinet are emerging and the likelihood is that they are going to spark an almighty row about the government’s attitude to business.On one side are the free marketers and authors of Britannia Unchained: the 2012 manifesto for an economy stripped of burdensome regulations. Continue reading...

In El Salvador, violence and murders fell after rivals agreed a non-compete deal, but extortion rates soaredEconomists generally like competition. It helps consumers get a better price if sellers know they could go elsewhere. But economists aren’t usually talking about armed violence or organised crime. So those of you not regularly involved with the mafia should have lots to learn from new research examining competition between El Salvador’s criminal gangs.El Salvador is a dangerous place. The murder rate was 103 per 100,000 people in 2015, in large part due to two competing gangs: Mara Salvatrucha and Barrio 18. But in 2016 they agreed a non-aggression pact, ending competition for territory. As a result, murders fell by almost half. Beyond the violence, the other big cost of gangs is economic, via the extortion payments they rely on, estimated at more than $700m (£515m) a year, or 3% of El Salvador’s GDP. Continue reading...

Peter Turchin, an entomologist-turned-historian, offers insight into the battle between elitesPeter Turchin is not the first entomologist to cross over to human behaviour: during a lecture in 1975, famed biologist E O Wilson had a pitcher of water tipped on him for extrapolating the study of ant social structures to our own.It’s a reaction that Turchin, an expert-on-pine-beetles-turned-data-scientist and modeller, has yet to experience. But his studies at the University of Connecticut into how human societies evolve have lately gained wider currency; in particular, an analysis that interprets worsening social unrest in the 2020s as an intra-elite battle for wealth and status.Related: 'Incited by the president': politicians blame Trump for insurrection on Capitol Hill Continue reading...

Younger employees know what works in the workplace – and that outmoded ways of doing things are bad for our healthA snowflake millennial is tougher than you think, especially in the workplace. They have watched their parents cope with an increasingly insecure jobs market since the turn of the century and in growing numbers told their friends and family that long hours, short term contracts and a shouty boss is not for them.They don’t join trade unions or argue with the boss about a pay rise, though some do. Their confidence – however much they appear to quiver and quake – gives them the steel to quit and search for a different job that comes – they hope – without the debilitating stress that wrecks everyone’s physical and mental health.Stressed millennials that get a doctor’s note are as strong as those that move jobs Continue reading...

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Increased lockdown measures in Germany, France and China dent prospects for rapid recovery in 2021The FTSE 100 has recorded its worst week since late October as concerns increased about the economic fallout from tougher lockdown measures around the world.The index of leading UK company shares ended the week down by 138 points compared with the previous week, a fall of about 2%, at 6,735, after official figures showed the British economy edged closer to a double-dip recession in November. After a strong start to the year, gaining by about 6% since the start of January, the performance was the worst weekly decline for the FTSE 100 since the last week of October as England headed for a second national lockdown. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as UK GDP falls for the first time in six months

Joe Biden inherits dual crises but few people a year ago would have put much money on him becoming president

From Burnley to London, those in hospitality sector tell of pressures they and staff face, and dismay at UK government

More of the economy stayed open, Brexit talks boosted stockpiling and firms are developing some immunity to lockdowns

Second national Covid lockdown in November ends six months of growth but decline not as bad as fearedThe UK economy has edged towards a double-dip recession after official figures confirmed a renewed slump in November fuelled by the second national coronavirus lockdown in England.Related: UK economy shrank 2.6% during November lockdown – business live Continue reading...

Only Joe Biden’s $2tn infrastructure plan can create the long-term demand the US economy so badly needsWith the Democrats’ stunning sweep of Georgia’s two Senate run-off elections giving them control of both houses of Congress as of 20 January, the idea of $2,000 stimulus cheques for every household is sure to be back on the agenda in the US. But although targeted relief for the unemployed should unquestionably be a priority, it is not clear that $2,000 cheques for all would in fact help to sustain the US economic recovery.One post-pandemic scenario is a vigorous demand-driven recovery as people gorge on restaurant meals and other pleasures they’ve missed for the past year. Many Americans have ample funds to finance a splurge. Personal savings rates soared following the disbursement of $1,200 cheques last spring. Many recipients now expect to save their recent $600 relief payments, either because they have been spared the worst of the recession or because spending opportunities remain locked down.Related: The US is the new focus of global instability | Nouriel Roubini Continue reading...

Lobby group calls for a new package of financial help as figures expected to confirm a double-dip recession

Manufacturing and ‘decisive’ fiscal action behind smallest anticipated fall in Europe

Fishing industry plunged into crisis as smaller firms face huge post-Brexit obstaclesDeliveries of Scottish seafood to the EU from smaller companies have been halted until Monday, 18 January, after post-Brexit problems with health checks, IT systems and customs documents caused a huge backlog.Scottish fishing has been plunged into crisis, as lorry-loads of live seafood and some fish destined for shops and restaurants in France, Spain and other countries have been rejected because they are taking too long to arrive.Related: Brexit costs and delays push Scottish seafood firms into crisis Continue reading...

Millions of jobs and drastic cuts to already struggling services on the line as health and economic crisis worsensAs the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep across the country state and local governments across the US are bracing for severe economic impacts in 2021 that could force layoffs of government employees and swingeing cuts to services.The last few months have offered a more detailed picture of what the pandemic’s economic recession will look like for state and local governments. While some have been spared the doomsday scenarios predicted at the outset of the pandemic, others have been “savaged”. On the line are millions of jobs and drastic cuts to already struggling services in the midst of a national health and economic crisis that is only getting worse.Related: 'All my plans were ruined': Covid's economic toll on young AmericansThe cutback at the state and local government level really delayed the recovery from the Great Recession Continue reading...

Joseph Rowntree Foundation says lockdowns have hit incomes of those in insecure work the hardestPeople who were trapped in poverty before the pandemic have suffered the most financial damage during the crisis, according to a report warning the government that more support is needed to help hard-pressed families.The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said those who had been struggling to make ends meet before March last year were more likely to work in precarious jobs or sectors of the economy that had been hardest hit by lockdowns.Related: Lives are falling apart. Enough talk about inequality, it’s now time to act | Kenan Malik Continue reading...

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds ‘guarantees’ value for money spending to rebuild voter trust

The underlying causes of Trump’s rise to power must be addressed, from taming social media to tackling inequalityThe assault on the US Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters, incited by the president himself, was the predictable outcome of his four-year-long assault on democratic institutions, aided and abetted by so many in the Republican party. And no one can say that Trump had not warned us: he was not committed to a peaceful transition of power.Many who benefited as he slashed taxes for corporations and the rich, rolled back environmental regulations and appointed business-friendly judges knew they were making a pact with the devil. Either they believed they could control the extremist forces he unleashed, or they didn’t care.Related: Why the Democrats should not impeach Donald Trump | Simon Jenkins Continue reading...

Andrew Bailey says unemployment thought to be over 6% and talks down prospect of negative interest rates