Tax Boost Helps Chancellor with the Biggest January Budget Surplus on Record

Germany's all-important manufacturing sector slumped into contraction in February, exacerbating fears that the Eurozone's largest economy has been unable to extricate itself from an ongoing slump in activity.

Data out of Germany today confirms Europe's largest economy narrowly avoided falling into a technical recession at the turn of the year, but one economist tells us improvements in performance are likely in 2019.

The UK labour market appears to be in decent shape with numbers out of the ONS confirming January saw a joint record for the numbers of employed in the UK economy.

Inflation fell beneath the Bank of Engand (BoE) target in January for the first time in two years, although consumer price pressures are still too high for many economists, who say interest rates will rise in the coming months as a result.

UK retail sales rebounded in January from a steep slump in the final month of 2018, as consumers headed back to the High Street in the New Year, potentially setting the economy up for a recovery of GDP growth from a similar downturn back in December. 

The goods and services trade deficit widened in the final quarter of the year after stockpiling ahead of the UK's exit from the European Union led to a pick up in imports, which one economist says is in part responsible for Monday's poor final quarter GDP growth number.