BRC Retail Sales Rise

Travel Tuesday: Philippines

The Philippines is home to the world's largest pearl. Known as the "Pearl of Lao Tzu" or the "Pearl of Allah," it was discovered by a Filipino diver in the Palawan Sea in 1934. This giant pearl weighs around 14 pounds (6.35 kg) and measures about 9.45 inches (24 cm) in diameter.

GDP $507 billion

Biggest Export Electrical machinery and equipment

Biggest Trading Partners US, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore

Political System The Philippines is a unitary presidential constitutional republic. The president serves as both the head of state and the head of government.

National Animal The carabao, also known as the water buffalo

Next Election May 12

BRC Retail Sales Rise

The British Retail Consortium’s retail sales index published this morning has indicated that sales in the UK have risen well beyond market expectations.

This comes as sales rose 2.5% on annualised basis for the month of January, surpassing expectations of just 0.2%. This figure came higher than the 3-month average of 1.1% and considerably higher than the 12-month average of 0.8%, being led by the uptick in sales of non-food items with the group citing strength in the homeware sector.

Following the print, the CEO of the BRC said that “January sales kicked off a solid month for retail with stores delivering their strongest growth in almost two years, albeit on a weak comparable”.

Nevertheless, they cautioned that “Whether this strong performance can hold out for the coming months is yet to be seen. Inflationary pressures are rising, compounded by ￡7bn of new costs facing retailers, including higher employer national insurance contributions, higher National Living Wage, and a new packaging levy. Many businesses will be left with little choice but to increase prices, and cut investment in jobs and stores.”

With the UK retail accounting for ￡112.8 billion of economic output in 2023 (or around 5% of the country’s GDP), while today’s figures will be welcome news it is evident that headwinds – necessary of government attention - remain for the sector.

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Israel – Gaza

President Donald Trump has warned Hamas that severe repercussions will take place if they do not release the remaining Israeli hostages. The President continued by telling reporters from the Oval Office that "all hell is going to break out" if Hamas continue to postpone the hostage release.

The most recent developments follow in the wake of Hamas saying yesterday that it was halting the release of hostages, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire agreement. Israel have criticised Hamas’ move, also accusing it of violating the agreement.? Some 17 hostages were due to be released during the next phase set to take place on Saturday.? The most recent episode of fragility now puts serious doubt over whether the 19th January ceasefire agreement will hold over the coming days and weeks. For example, writing on the matter, the BBC’s Paul Adam’s said that “It's too early to say whether this carefully negotiated, staged process is about to collapse, but after a mostly positive start, the ceasefire is under increasing strain”.?

As such, the stakes could not be understated. Accordingly, a spokesperson from the UN said that "we want to make sure that all parties abide by their stated agreements under the ceasefire, and it's crucial that they uphold all the relevant aspects of the agreement and all the relevant timelines".

President Trump’s warning to Hamas also follows his remarks made earlier this month, which included outlandish suggestions like his Administration taking ownership of Gaza, and redeveloping the strip. Here, the custodian of the position, which has historically been referred to as the Leader of the Free World, said ?“think of it as a big real estate site and the United States is going to own it”. He continued by stating that “We’ll own it. It’s totally demolished right now. It’s a demolition site. It’ll be reclaimed. It’ll be leveled out, and fixed up. There won’t be anybody there. Hamas won’t be there.”

Trump’s comments drew widespread criticism from across the political spectrum and all corners of the international community, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling it a “scandal”.

French Unemployment Eases

Data from across the Channel this morning indicated that French unemployment eased over the fourth quarter of 2024, coming in at 7.3% against expectations of 7.5%.

The fall in the rate of unemployment came as the number of those unemployed fell by 63,000 to 2.3m.

The easing in the level of unemployment brings the figure back in line with Q2 2024’s level, and only marginally higher than the figures seen during the first quarter of 2023 where unemployment fell to its lowest level since 1982.

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