Proactive Investors - The UK economy grew 0.2% year on year and 0.6% sequentially in the first quarter of 2024, officially putting recession fears to rest after slipping at the end of 2023.
In fact, Britain’s economy grew at the fastest rate in two years, with the 0.6% quarter-on-quarter growth rate eclipsing market forecasts of 0.4%.
Services grew 0.7%, production 0.8% and construction 0.9%.
"Encouragingly, the UK’s economic growth seen so far this year is broad-based across both manufacturing and services. Meanwhile, confidence among both businesses and consumers has grown,” said Rob Morgan, chief investment analyst at Charles Stanley.
“Having battled the impact of stubborn inflation and high interest rates, many households are now starting to reap the benefits of inflation falling more rapidly than wage growth.”
But Morgan warned that it’s still “a lacklustre situation. Zooming out to the bigger picture, the economy is likely to continue to tread a steady but underwhelming path and requires productivity gains to set it on a steeper growth trajectory”.
Stocks to hit another record
The FTSE 100 is expected to round the week off by opening at another all-time high, with futures contracts suggesting 33 points of gains to 8,413 when markets open.
If it holds at this level until close, it will mark the sixth straight day of record highs for the blue-chip index.
Dovish undertones from the Bank of England’s interest rate hold on Thursday have put the stock market in good spirits, while today’s GDP print proved that the UK’s technical recession at the end of 2023 was as shallow as it comes.
British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG) will shortly have its first-quarter results out, as will Rightmove and Cairn Homes.