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The Bank of England received some stinging criticism from a new report published by an influential House of Lords Committee on Monday.

The report, published by the Economic Affairs Committee, suggested that the Bank had been over-reliant on “inadequate” forecasts, suffered from ‘groupthink’ and argued that its remit needed “pruning”.

While it argued that the Bank of England should remain independent, it said Parliament needed to take a much more proactive role in holding it to account.

But what do economists think?

https://www.cityam.com/how-to-fix-the-bank-of-england-economists-have-their-say/

Gold surge pulls silver along with it

https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1034333/gold-surge-pulls-silver-along-with-it-1034333.html?rel=scroll

The UK government has outlined more than £2 billion of investment for the automotive industry

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/business-vehicle-manufacturing/government-outlines-more-%C2%A32bn-investment-uk-car-industry

Some of the world’s biggest businesses have committed to invest a total of nearly £30bn in Britain, the government has announced ahead of a major investment summit taking place today.

World-leading investors are set to plough tens of billions into projects up and down the UK in the country’s tech, life sciences and renewable energy sectors, creating over 12,000 new jobs.

https://www.cityam.com/boost-for-britain-as-businesses-commit-to-invest-30bn-in-uk/

The FTSE 100 is expected to open lower when trading for the week gets underway on Monday following losses in Asia.

Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index down by around 25 points

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The movement in the pound is the big story in markets today with sterling up 0.4% in the wake of yesterday’s Autumn Statement and today’s PMI.

We reported earlier how top investment banks have pushed back expectations for interest rate cuts into the third quarter of 2024 after lifting growth expectations while today’s PMI seems to be backing this argument.

Martin Beck, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said the figures offered “some encouragement,” suggesting that private sector activity flatlined rather than declined that month, in contrast to the surveys of late summer and autumn.

However, he still thinks the economy will struggle to grow in the fourth quarter.

He highlighted a slight uptick in inflationary pressures in the survey which he believes is likely to reinforce the Bank of England’s view that interest rates will have to remain at current restrictive levels for some time.

Dr John Glen, CIPS Chief Economist said:

“November’s data reveals welcome signs of calmer waters ahead for the UK economy, albeit with indications that there is still a little way to go before we are completely out of the inflationary storm.

“The overall uptick in activity was driven by the services sector, which benefited from the pause in the hiking of interest rates and improving business conditions.

However, challenges persist for UK manufacturing, with subdued demand leading to decreasing production volumes. Manufacturers will be hoping the permanent extension of the full expensing tax break and the further investment into strategic manufacturing announced in yesterday’s Autumn Statement will give the sector the timely boost it needs.

“The UK is not alone in continuing to face a challenging economic environment, and the fall in export sales for both manufacturing and services shows that UK businesses cannot rely on international sources to help them replace diminished domestic demand.

“The sticky nature of inflation will be a cause of concern for businesses. Despite headline inflation heading in the right direction, the rates of input cost and output charge inflation both increased in November, indicating that price pressures may not be on a one-way path downwards and there could still be fluctuations to come.”

Renewed service sector growth helps to stabilise UK economy, but prices

charged inflation accelerates in November

Key findings:

Flash UK PMI Composite Output Index(1) at 50.1 (Oct:

48.7). 4-month high.

Flash UK Services PMI Business Activity Index(2) at

50.5 (Oct: 49.5). 4-month high.

Flash UK Manufacturing Output Index(3) at 47.9

(Oct: 44.3). 5-month high.

Flash UK Manufacturing PMI(4) at 46.7 (Oct: 44.8). 6-

month high.

Data were collected 09-21 November

S&P Global / CIPS Flash UK PMI Composite Output Index

Sources: S&P Global PMI, CIPS, ONS via S&P Global Market Intelligence.

November data indicated a stabilisation of UK private

sector output, following marginal reductions in each of the

previous three months. This was supported by a return to

business activity expansion in the service economy,

alongside a softer downturn in manufacturing production.

However, total new order intakes decreased for the fifth

month running, which suggested that subdued underlying

demand conditions persisted.

There were renewed signs of sticky inflation in November

as both input costs and average prices charged increased

at faster rates than in October. Service providers reported

the sharpest rise in their average charges since July, which

was overwhelmingly linked to higher staff costs

The FTSE 100 is expected to post modest gains when trading starts on Thursday after US markets climbed ahead of Thanksgiving.

Spread betting companies are calling open up by around 16 points

US market's closed for Thanksgiving tomorrow 1 pm on black Friday should get a good rally, futures up 12 points

Https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67498305.amp

Https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/aston-martin-new-f1-investment-doesnt-signal-lawrence-stroll-exit/10550019/

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Https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1033852/lloyds-among-top-20-european-banks-open-to-greenwashing-calls-due-to-opaque-reporting-1033852.html

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Britain's minimum wage will increase by 9.8% to 11.44 pounds an hour from April 2024, making it one of the highest as a share of average earnings of any advanced economy

Https://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/1033782/iag-s-dividend-restart-and-new-growth-targets-fall-flat-1033782.html

The busy governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey is speaking again - this time to MPs on the Treasury committee.

He's come armed though with back up Sir Dave Ramsden, deputy governor for Markets and Banking, and two external members of the Monetary Policy Committee – Jonathan Haskel and Catherine Mann.

Bailey started by saying the fall in inflation was “obviously good news”, but news which was largely expected.

He thinks the Table Mountain analogy used by chief economist Huw Pill in August for interest rates is good because: "There is a case now, I personally think, for holding the rate where it is… for an extended period."

Bailey also highlighted two main upside risks to inflation .

First, that domestic inflation remains high, partly due to inefficiencies in the jobs market leading to higher wages.

Second, the risk that turmoil in the Middle East drives up the oil price. So far, that hasn’t happened, but it could happen “if there was a wider regional engagement”.

But, he thinks the UK is on target to come back to 2%.

The FTSE 100 is expected to open little changed despite a strong showing in the US on Monday which saw Microsoft and Nvidia hit new highs.

Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index up by around 8 points

Https://www.cityam.com/british-airways-chief-new-red-tape-puts-uk-aviation-competitive-disadvantage/