The main news today is the release of data showing that average weekly earnings jumped 6.4%, which is higher-than-expected and is fueling worries that the Bank of England will have to implement another aggressive interest rate hike next month. A surprise rise of 27,000 in the number of people in employment also confirmed that the labour market remains tight. The FTSE 100 was down 0.1% after the reading from the Office for National Statistics.

Other figures released overnight show that Chinese growth has reached 3% in 2022, which is slightly higher than expected. But growth has not been this low since 1976, except for the lockdown year of 2020. It is both significantly below the targets set at the beginning of the year (5.5%) and well below the average of previous years.

Among stocks, Ocado Group fell 6.7% after an update from its retail joint venture with Marks and Spencer Group showed sales advanced 0.3% in the fourth quarter, but the average basket value dropped 1.3% as customers feel the pinch of inflation.

 

Things to read today:

How Apple tied its fortunes to China (Financial Times)

UK Jumps Into the Top Three Countries for Growth, Bosses Say (Bloomberg)