Welcome to Taking Stock Tuesday 12th September 2023
Taking Stock: Is a look at today's top business news & investment views plus we cover the winners, losers, the most read company news & the most followed. Today this includes:
VOX CONTENT
REQUESTS
Gaming Realms - Interim Results
MOST FOLLOWED
MOST READ RNS
hVIVO - Interim results
RISERS
Cornerstone FS - Interim Results
FALLERS
Ocean Harvest Technology - Interim Results
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
Pay matches price rises even as unemployment climbs
Wage growth has caught up with rising prices for the first time in nearly two years, even as unemployment goes up.
Regular pay, excluding bonuses, rose by 7.8% in May to July compared with a year earlier - matching the pace of inflation over the same period.
Not everyone's pay will be rising by that amount. The figure is an average across the economy.
There are also signs the jobs market is beginning to weaken, with fewer job vacancies and rising unemployment.
However, the headline unemployment rate in the May-to-July period was up to 4.3% for the first time in nearly two years, with the number out of work just below 1.5 million. The rate is low by historic standards, but has jumped from 3.8% in the previous three-month period.
Cost of living: Grocery price inflation at 'lowest level in more than a year'
The pace of grocery price inflation has eased to its lowest level in more than a year, according to closely watched industry data.
Kantar Worldpanel said costs for customers at the tills were 12.2% higher than a year ago over the four weeks to 3 September.
That was down from the 12.7% recorded in the previous month and represented the sixth consecutive decline since the 17.5% peak witnessed in March.
Even at the lower level, it remains well above pay awards - maintaining the squeeze on household budgets amid the evolving cost of living crisis.
Triple lock means state pension set to rise by 8.5% in April
The state pension is likely to rise by 8.5% in April after data crucial to the so-called triple lock was published.
The policy means the increase in the state pension is the highest of average earnings, inflation or 2.5%.
Those earnings - which are total pay, including bonuses - were recorded at 8.5%, and the inflation figure is unlikely to be higher.
That means the state pension is likely to rise by 8.5%, which would be a weekly increase of £13.30.