UK Highlights
- GDP growth 0.60% Quarter on Quarter growth 2016 Q2
- CPI inflation has been recorded at 0.50% in June 2016, an increase of 0.30% from May over 12 months
- RPI All Items has been recorded at 1.60% for June, an increase of 0.20% from May
- For March to May 2016, 74.4% of people aged from 16 to 64 were in work, the highest employment rate since comparable records began in 1971.
- There were 1.65 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 54,000 fewer than for the 3 months to February 2016, 201,000 fewer than for a year earlier and the lowest since March to May 2008.
- The unemployment rate for March 2016 to May 2016 was 4.9% lower than a year earlier (5.6%). The last time it was lower was for July to September 2005. The unemployment rate is the proportion of the labour force (those in work plus those unemployed) that were unemployed.
GDP quarter on quarter growth
We show the long-term trend in the first chart and the last 10 years in the second chart:
Investment Markets – Update
In July, All Unit Trust and OEIC sectors posted significant positive returns, following the EU Referendum Vote to leave. These gains were largely driven by the fall in Sterling. We expect the theme of increased volatility across markets to continue throughout the remainder of 2016, as the political landscape moves along with the next steps in formalising our exit from the EU.
Below we provide a table of the major sectors that we allocate to when constructing our client portfolios. The data has been sorted over 1 month in order of best to worst returns. We have shown returns on an annualised basis for 1 year and above.
| Sector | 1m | 3m | 6m | 1yr | Ann. 3yr | Ann. 5yr | Ann. 10yr |
| UT North American Smaller Companies Retail TR in GB | 8.98 | 16.98 | 30.57 | 16.92 | 11.05 | 13.36 | 10.71 |
| UT Asia Pacific Excluding Japan Retail TR in GB | 7.95 | 18.01 | 27.27 | 18.7 | 7.9 | 5.39 | 9.7 |
| UT Japan Retail TR in GB | 7.54 | 14.76 | 18.57 | 14.43 | 9.57 | 9.58 | 3.98 |
| UT European Smaller Companies Retail TR in GB | 7.47 | 9.59 | 14.56 | 15.37 | 11.7 | 11.69 | 9.54 |
| UT UK Smaller Companies Retail TR in GB | 7.35 | -1.17 | 2.25 | -1.44 | 8.46 | 9.73 | 7.76 |
| UT Global Emerging Markets Retail TR in GB | 7.33 | 16.4 | 30.5 | 17.88 | 3.85 | 1.38 | 6.56 |
| UT North America Retail TR in GB | 7.27 | 15.05 | 23.95 | 18.69 | 13.53 | 14.86 | 9.52 |
| UT UK All Companies Retail TR in GB | 6.35 | 4.3 | 8.92 | 0.89 | 5.26 | 7.84 | 5.4 |
| UT Europe Excluding UK Retail TR in GB | 6.11 | 7.85 | 12.84 | 7.74 | 7.16 | 8.43 | 6.04 |
| UT Sterling Corporate Bond Retail TR in GB | 3.7 | 6.25 | 8.47 | 8.44 | 5.79 | 6.02 | 4.46 |
| UT Sterling High Yield Retail TR in GB | 2.66 | 2.66 | 7.66 | 3.05 | 3.6 | 4.99 | 5.34 |
| UT UK Gilts Retail TR in GB | 2.05 | 9.3 | 9.21 | 13.66 | 7.49 | 6.25 | 5.52 |
| UT Global Bonds Retail TR in GB | 2.03 | 6.74 | 10 | 12.98 | 3.4 | 3.56 | 5.02 |
| UT Property Retail TR in GB | 1.92 | 2.89 | 6.32 | 7.69 | 7.68 | 6.32 | 1.55 |
| UT Targeted Absolute Return Retail TR in GB | 1 | 0.58 | 0.37 | -0.51 | 2.34 | 2.46 | 3.82 |
| UT UK Index–Linked Gilts Retail TR in GB | 0.96 | 12.62 | 10.76 | 12.69 | 9.72 | 8.13 | 7.37 |
Source: FE Analytics – % growth to last month end 31.07.2016
