Britain shrugs off recession risk as economy grows – latest updates

Thanks for joining me as new data show that Britain’s economy grew in the three months to June.

Gross domestic product product expanded by 0.2pc in the second quarter of the year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

5 things to start your day 

1) Oxford Street’s demise fuelling surge in crime, says Marks & Spencer | M&S executive claims recent chaos serves stark reminder of shopping district’s decline

2) Sunak’s stealth tax raid sees burden on British households soar by 40pc | Tax payments on income and wealth hit £84bn following freeze on thresholds

3) UK stocks’ record discount fuels fears of exodus to Wall Street | Equity market trades lower than rest of the world, making it more expensive to raise capital in London

4) Sunak’s tourist tax hits luxury watch sales at Heathrow and Gatwick | Visitors to Britain have ‘no incentive’ to spend money here, says Rolex dealer

5) Bank of England rate rises push mortgage costs up by a fifth | Bleak outlook for landlords as many fall behind on repayments

What happened overnight 

Asian stocks hit a one-month low and logged a weekly loss while the dollar headed for a month of gains after US inflation came in steady.

Soft demand at a 30-year Treasury auction and a blowout in the US budget deficit also weighed on bonds, and their higher yields in turn moved the dollar higher – particularly against a yen pinned by yield control in Japan.

The yen touched a six-week low of 144.89 per dollar in early trade, though volumes were thinned owing to a public holiday in Japan. Its stock markets were closed and Treasuries went untraded in the Asia session.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7pc with stocks in Hong Kong and China the biggest drag. It was down 1.6pc for the week.

Wall Street stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday despite handing back most of earlier gains during the choppy session. 

The S&P 500 nudged up less than 0.1pc to 4,468.83, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2pc to close at 35,176.15. The Nasdaq Composite finished up 0.1pc to 13,737.99.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.09pc from 4.01pc late Wednesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, ticked up to 4.81pc from 4.80pc.