Taking Stock on Tuesday 12th December 2023
Bad News = Good News
UK pay growth slows as jobs market stalls
Wage growth has slowed and the UK jobs market is showing signs of stalling, according to latest official figures.
Pay growth, excluding bonuses, eased to 7.3% in the three months to October while the number of vacancies dropped.
But while earnings are not rising as quickly as before, they are still outpacing inflation - which measures the rate at which prices are going up.
The number of people on payrolls eased while UK job vacancies also continued to fall, this time by 45,000 between September and November.
"This is now the longest period of decline on record, longer than in the immediate aftermath of the 2008 downturn," said Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics at the Office for National Statistics, which published the figures.
It is the 17th month in a row that the number has fallen.
Companies mentioned on today's, "Taking Stock".
00:25 & 05:00 Hargreaves Lansdown #HL.
01:10 & 11:05 Unilever #ULVR
05:00 AJ Bell #AJB
05:40 Standard Life Aberdeen #ABDN
07:50 Begbies Traynor #BEG
08:20 H&T #HAT
11:50 Future #FUTR
16:10 Yellow Cake #YCA
17:30 Cohort #CHRT
19:08 Jubilee Metals #JLP
23:20 Mobile Stream #MOS
24:14 Atlantic Lithium #ALL
25:00 Cleantech Lithium #CTL
27:00 Belluscura #BELL
27:35 Sosandar #SOS
28:40 Next #NXT
30:10 MS International #MSI
35:19 Image Scan Holdings #IGE
33:35 Headlam #HEAD
38:40 Solid State #SOLI
39:23 McBride #MCB
39:50 Good Energy #GOOD
41:40 RWS Holdings #RWS
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
Hargreaves, AJ Bell tumble as FCA warns on 'double dipping'
Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell tumbled on Tuesday after the Financial Conduct Authority said it had written to investment platforms and SIPP operators to express concerns about how they deal with interest earned on customers' cash balances.
The regulator noted that the amount of interest earned by some firms has increased as rates have risen. Having recently surveyed 42 firms, it found the majority retain some of the interest earned on these cash balances. "This may not reasonably reflect the cost to firms of managing the cash," the FCA said.
It also pointed out that many of them charge a fee to customers for the cash they hold, a practice known as "double dipping".
"The FCA is concerned these practices may not be providing fair value to customers and may not be understood by consumers or properly disclosed," it said. "The practice of double dipping has raised concerns with the regulator and firms have been told to cease this."
Unilever faces greenwashing probe by UK watchdog
Dove soap and Marmite-maker Unilever is being investigated over its environmental claims, amid concerns shoppers are being misled.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) says Unilever may be overstating how "green" certain products are.
Unilever makes household names such as Cif, Dove and the deodorant brand Lynx.
CMA boss Sarah Cardwell says she is worried consumers are being misled by "so called 'green' products that aren't what they seem".