Supply Chain, Fuel, Jobs & Evergrande’s Debt Mountain.

Speaking at the Conservative party conference this weekend Rishi Sunak promised to ‘double down’ on support for the UK job market through the Pandemic. The speech comes amid pressure on the government over living standards. Cuts to universal credit, energy price hikes and food price inflation have left many incomes squeezed.

The impact that this squeeze will have on the economy is far more than the here and now. As incomes are squeezed individuals become more cautions with their spending. Consumer confidence and retail sales data are likely to take a hit in the coming months.

With the Autumn budget 3 weeks away market participants will be looking for clues on future taxation and whether this will place further strain on consumers.

Fuel supply chains in London and the South-East remain disrupted, with 22% of stations in the UK’s most populous region ‘dry’. The army will today start delivering fuel. The Petrol Retailers Association (PRA) have stated that the ‘crisis’ is virtually over in Scotland, Wales, the North and Midlands.

The main data release this week comes out of the US on Friday in the form of non-farm payrolls, after a figure that disappointed the market last month, they are expected to more than double with 490k new jobs expected compared to 235k last month.

Evergrande, China’s heavily indebted property development firm’s shares have this morning been suspended from trading. The suspension comes amid speculation a rival is to take a majority stake in the company’s real estate arm. Evergrande’s plight has been likened to Lehman Brothers before their demise. The development firm had defaulted on at least two payment deadlines to pay down it’s debt pile of over $305bn.

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