UK ‘the golden child of Europe’ as stocks rally in London; US goods trade deficit widens as tariffs backfire – business live | Business

Another sign of economic angst – Homebuyers in the US canceled purchase contracts at a record pace last month.

About 14.3% of sales agreements fell through in January, up from 13.4% a year earlier and the highest level for the month in data going back to 2017, according to data from brokerage Redfin Corp reported by Bloomberg.

It suggests economic and political uncertainty gave buyers cold feet.

Bloomberg adds:

House hunters face an ever-growing list of pressures, from high mortgage rates and prices to concerns about how trade wars and federal government cutbacks may ripple through the economy. The high rate of cancellations casts a pall over prospects for the key spring sales season, which is just getting underway.

The surge in US goods imports in January (see earlier post) is a sign that Trump policy ‘negatives’ are outweighing the ‘positives’, warns ING.

James Knightley, ING’s chief international economist, fears that the White House’s focus on policies such as tariffs, and cuts to government departments, mean the US economy has started 2025 on a weak footing.

Knightley is also concerned by today’s data showing that US consumer spending fell last month.

He tells clients:

At the start of the year there was optimism that President Trump’s policy mix of light-touch regulation and lower taxes would turbo charge growth in an already solid looking economy. However, there has been little progress made on the ‘positives’ for growth – tax cuts and deregulation. Instead, the administration has been focusing on policies that yield ‘negative’ outcomes. Government austerity, as being initiated by DOGE, is prompting concerns in both the public and private sectors about job security and also entitlements while already financially-stressed lower- and middle-income households are not seeing any relief in the form of the lower prices they were promised. There is possibly also a growing awareness that tariffs will put up costs even more.

Another headwind for 1Q GDP growth has come from the advanced January goods trade report, which showed the merchandised trade gap widening to a record deficit of $153.3bn in January from $116.6bn in December. This is clear evidence that importers have tried to front run tariffs with imports surging 11.9% MoM. Industrial supply imports jumped from $67bn in December to $89.3bn in January with consumer goods imports jumping $6bn to $78.2bn. Interestingly automotive didn’t move much. Exports rose 2% MoM, but this did follow a 3.8% drop in December.

Over in the technology world, Microsoft is shutting down Skype, the once-pioneering calling and messaging service.

Fourteen years after buying Skype for $8.5bn, in its biggest-ever acquisition, Microsoft is shutting it down and migrating users to its Teams app.

Jeff Teper, president of Microsoft 365 collaborative apps and platforms, told CNBC:

“We’ve learned a lot from Skype over the years that we’ve put into Teams as we’ve evolved teams over the last seven to eight years.

“But we felt like now is the time because we can be simpler for the market, for our customer base, and we can deliver more innovation faster just by being focused on Teams.”

This is the end of an era, really. Skype, which was founded in 2003, was a major player in the voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) world, allowing users to make phone calls for free over the internet.

But the service has dwindled, as MS has prioritised Teams, as was illustrated when Skype didn’t benefit from the surge in demand for video group chats in the pandemic.

America’s trade deficit in goods has widened sharply in January, amid anxiety about new tariffs making it more expensive to import goods.

The US goods trade gap surged to $153.3bn last month, new data from the Commerce Department’s Census Bureau shows, an increase of $31.2bn compared with December’s $122.0bn deficit.

The increase was driven by a chunky surge in goods imports – which rose by more than 10% in the month to $325.4bn, $34.6bn more than December imports.

US goods exports rose by much less, only up $3.3bn to $172.2bn.

This will do nothing to address Donald Trump’s concerns about the US trade deficit.

But it may be a sign that US businesses have been trying to avoid the president’s new tariffs on goods from China, Mexico and Canada – and possibly Europe too – by buying more from abroad before new levies kick in.

Over in the United States, an important measure of inflation has eased slightly.

The PCE price index, which tracks the costs of a range of goods and services, slowed to a 2.5% rise in the year to January, down from 2.6% in December.

Core PCE, which excludes the price of food and energy, eased to 2.6% per year – down from 2.9% in the 12 months to December.

PCE is the preferred inflation measure of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, so this may reassure policymakers that inflationary pressures are easing….

In the UK media world, GB News has racked up another annual loss despite a rise in revenues.

The right-leaning TV channel lost £33.4m in theyear to May 2024, an improvement on the £42.3m loss incurred in 2023. That, Press Gazette has calculated, takes its total losses since it launched in 2021 to over £100m.

GB News’s annual report, released today, show that revenues more than doubled last year, from £6.68m to £15.77m.

It can also boast a 53% increase in viewing figures, with its annual monthly reach up to 3.12m continuous views of at least thre minutes, from 2.73m in 2023.

However, that only lifts its ‘average linear share’ of the market, according to BARB audience figures, to 0.69% from 0.45% in 2023.

The report also outlines how GB News champions “robust, balanced debate”, giving a range of perspectives on issues, adding:

Hosts of shows on the channel come from a range of backgrounds and, where a viewpoint is stated, a broad church of opinion, faith, and politics. Presenters include Eamonn Holmes, Stephen Dixon, Anne Diamond, Ellie Costello, Andrew Pierce, Bev Turner, Emily Carver, Tom Harwood, Martin Daubney, Michelle Dewberry, Nigel Farage, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Patrick Christys, Andrew Doyle, Nana Akua, Camilla Tominey and Michael Portillo.

Last March, GB News was found to have repeatedly breached impartiality rules by allowing Conservative MPs to serve as news presenters in March last year.

UPDATE: However, Ofcom’s decisions that GB News twice broke impartiality rules during shows hosted by Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg when he was an MP have just been quashed at the High Court today!

In a judgment on Friday, Mrs Justice Collins Rice said the regulator’s decisions were “vitiated by error of law” and that Ofcom “conflated a news programme and a current affairs programme”.

In October, it was fined £100,000 for “breaking due impartiality rules” after an interview with the former prime minister Rishi Sunak earlier this year.

GB News is owned by Paul Marshall, whose hedge fund also suffered a tumble in profits last year:

The problems at Nationwide appear to be fixed too!

Its status page now reads: Our services are working normally

[It had previously warned of delays to incoming and outgoing payments]

Lloyds: Services are working normally again

Mabel Banfield-Nwachi

Lloyds Bank tell us that their app and online banking services are now working as normal for Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland customers.