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UK GDP February 2025

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1 month ago

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People browsing stalls along Portobello Road Market on Feb. 22, 2025, in Notting Hill, West London.

Mike Kemp | In Pictures | Getty Images

The U.K. economy grew by a higher-than-expected 0.5% month-on-month in February amid a jump in the services output, official data showed on Friday.

Analysts had projected a monthly gross domestic product hike of 0.1% in February, according to LSEG data.

The Office for National Statistics, which published the provisional figures, said a 0.3% expansion in the services sector had driven the surprise jump in growth. In January, services had recorded a 0.1% monthly rise.

Production output saw a substantial recovery in February, notching 1.5% month-on-month growth compared to the monthly contraction of 0.5% seen in January. Construction output also staged a recovery in February, adding 0.4% on the month after falling 0.3% in January.

The British pound jumped against the dollar after the data release, rising 0.2% against the greenback to trade at $1.2988 by 7:18 a.m. in London.

In January, an early estimate showed the U.K. economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.1% on a monthly basis. That figure was later revised upward to show that economic growth was flat in January.

The U.K. economy has struggled to gain momentum over the past year. ONS data showed earlier this year that Britain’s GDP expanded by 0.1% in the fourth quarter of last year, after flatlining in the three months prior.

Friday’s figures are released as the U.K. braces for the economic impact of new 10% tariffs on its exports to the United States.

This breaking news story is being updated.

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Economics

Trump greenlights Nippon merger with US Steel

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17 hours ago

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May 23, 2025

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A tugboat pushes a barge near the U.S. Steel Corp. Clairton Coke Works facility in Clairton, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 9, 2024.

Justin Merriman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel will form a “partnership,” after the Japanese steelmaker’s bid to acquire its U.S. rival had been blocked on national security grounds.

“This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the U.S. Economy,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.

U.S. Steel’s headquarters will remain in Pittsburgh and the bulk of the investment will take place over the next 14 months, the president said. U.S. Steel shares jumped more than 24%.

President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel from purchasing U.S. Steel for $14.9 billion in January, citing national security concerns. Biden said at the time that the acquisition would create a risk to supply chains that are critical for the U.S.

Trump, however, ordered a new review of the proposed acquisition in April, directing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to determine “whether further action in this matter may be appropriate.”

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

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Economics

A court resurrects the United States Institute of Peace

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2 days ago

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May 22, 2025

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The night the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) was taken over, March 17th, staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) walked round its headquarters smoking cigars and drinking beers while they dismantled the signage and disabled the computer systems. The takeover of the USIP building in Washington, DC, earlier that afternoon was one of the more notable moments of President Donald Trump’s revolution in the capital, because the think-tank is not actually part of the executive branch. The Institute’s board and president, George Moose, a veteran diplomat, were summarily fired. He and other senior staff were ultimately forced out of the building at the behest of three different police agencies. Then a DOGE staffer handed over the keys to the building to the federal government.

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Economics

How much worse could America’s measles outbreak get?

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2 days ago

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May 22, 2025

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AMERICA’S MEASLES outbreak is alarming for several reasons. What began as a handful of cases in Texas in January has now surpassed 800 across several states, with many more cases probably going unreported. It is the worst outbreak in 30 years and has already killed three people. Other smaller outbreaks bring the total number of cases recorded in 2025 so far to over 1,000. But above all, public-health experts worry that the situation now is a sign of worse to come. Falling vaccination rates and cuts to public-health services could make such outbreaks more frequent and impossible to curb, eventually making measles endemic in the country again.

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