SUPERMARKET INFLATION SLOWS TO 6.7 PER CENT 

Supermarket inflation fell at its fastest monthly rate on record in December as household spending on groceries rose to a new high, according to the market researcher Kantar (The Times). 

A record £13.7 billion passed through the tills last month, with the average household spending an all-time high of £477 (The Guardian). Grocery prices last month were 6.7 per cent higher than a year earlier, well down from a 9.1 per cent rise in November and the lowest level of inflation since April 2022, its latest survey showed. 

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE HITS HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE EARLY 2022 

UK business confidence has hit its highest level since the first quarter of 2022, according to the British Chamber of Commerce quarterly economic survey (City AM). 

56 per cent of firms surveyed expect turnover to increase over the next year, up from 53 per cent in the previous quarter. Despite this improvement, firms are still not investing in new technologies. Only 24 per cent of firms reported an increase in investment over the final quarter of 2023 while nearly 60 per cent said the level of investment had remained constant. 

The hospitality sector reported the worst performance, with a third of companies in the industry suffering drops in sales and investment in the last three months of 2023. Consumer-facing industries enjoyed the best performance, with just under half of companies surveyed saying that their sales had increased in the fourth quarter (The Times).

NEWS IN BRIEF 

The number of people buying gold and precious metal bars and coins has jumped by seven per cent year-on-year, surpassing the highs of the 2020 lockdown investing boom (The Telegraph). 

UK long-end bonds are among the hardest hit by the downturn in global debt markets, as investors make room for a slate of gilt sales later this month (Bloomberg). 

Oil prices have risen today, fuelled by growing fears of disruptions in Middle Eastern oil supply (City AM). 

FTSE 100 chiefs were paid more in three days than the average UK yearly wage, according to The High Pay Centre (The Guardian).