Any lingering hopes of a pre-Christmas cut in interest rates were dashed today by figures showing an acceleration in wage growth. The Bank of England’s concerns about a resurgence in inflation will have been stoked by the 5.2% rise in quarterly earnings.
Meanwhile, Hollywood Bowl said national insurance changes will add more than £750 a year to the average cost of employing a team member. The contrast with tech-focused New York was on show again today as old economy stocks dragged the FTSE 100 index to a one-month low.
The strength of Magnificent Seven companies including Tesla and Amazon meant the S&P 500 index rose 0.4% to the brink of record territory. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite also jumped 1.2% to a fresh all-time high, although the poor run for the Dow Jones Industrial Average continued.
The FTSE 100 index hit a record of 8474 in May but trends since then have been disappointing, with the top flight down by 0.8% or 62.87 points to 8199.18 in today’s session. Demand fears caused by the uncertain outlook for China’s economy meant commodity-focused stocks were among today’s heavy fallers.
Shell weakened 40.5p to 2418p, silver miner Fresnillo dropped 9.5p to 647p and Glencore fell 4.4p to 363.95p. Other heavyweight strugglers included BAE Systems, which continued its retreat from November’s record level near 1400p by dropping 22.5p to 1174.5p.
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