Low river levels have stalled German freight traffic and forced closure of nuclear plants in FranceAcross Europe this scorching summer, workers have struggled in the heat as wildfires raged and critical infrastructure was shut down.Here we look at the impact of the heatwaves on several major economies across mainland Europe – with the help of analysis from economists at the Dutch bank Triodos, who estimate a total of €180bn could be wiped off EU GDP by the heatwaves. In the UK, the green thinktank Verdant said this week that the heat had already cost the economy £4.4bn by the end of July. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 08:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Industry tracker finds ‘exceptionally warm weather’ has helped boost job listings in hospitality and tourism sectorThe summer job has staged a comeback this year thanks to the hot weather and a packed calendar of events such as the men’s football World Cup, new UK figures show.Recent months have seen a significant increase in seasonal hiring in sectors such as hospitality and tourism compared with summer 2025, said the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), which runs a monthly labour market tracker. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 23:01 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

The Federal Reserve, the ECB and the Bank of England appear unclear on how to tackle inflation amid the Iran warNew UK cost of living crisis looms as rising energy bills lift inflationInflation rates have been falling across the industrialised world, but fears that the Middle East war will raise oil prices means central banks are sitting on their hands when they should be raising interest rates to subdue inflationary pressures.The US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank are still smarting from the criticism of their inaction in 2022 when inflation soared above 10% in the UK and eurozone, and over 9% in the US. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 14:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Assessment’s finding of a jump in UK productivity emphasises urgent need to appoint a national statisticianThe keen new chancellor, John Healey, responded to last week’s better-than-expected economic news by claiming the government was “bringing hope back”. Growth did not plunge as feared after Donald Trump unleashed war on Iran – with GDP expanding at a pretty decent 0.4% in the second quarter.But what if we should have held on to a bit more hope all along? A new assessment of the UK’s recent productivity suggests this critical measure of the country’s economic strength may have been systematically underestimated. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 09:30 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Latest reading on Wednesday likely to frame scale of challenge for new PM to ease pressures on households amid Iran war fallout British households are facing a renewed cost of living squeeze, with official figures expected to show this week that soaring energy bills drove up inflation in July to close to 3%.As the Iran war continues to send shock waves through global energy markets, economists predict the surge in UK gas and electricity bills last month will push Britain’s headline inflation rate to 2.9%. Continue reading...

16 Aug 2026 08:42 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

US tax policy deprives the government of revenue and overwhelmingly serves the interests of the richAfter the House passed its version of Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last year – the one that paired a $5tn-plus tax cut with $1tn-plus of cuts from food stamps and Medicaid – the House speaker, Mike Johnson, explained that “this is not giving tax cuts to the millionaires”. The beneficiaries, he said, were “small business owners” that “provide the jobs in every community in America”.Johnson was playing to the myth of the modest, sturdy Main Street job creator. It is an appealing story. It’s also the most consequential piece of BS distorting American policy that deprives the government of tax revenue, stunts American capitalism, twists regulations, thwarts competition and overwhelmingly serves millionaires’ interests. Continue reading...

15 Aug 2026 10:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Rolling coverage of the latest and economic news, as US sells 30-year bonds at highest borrowing costs since 2001Andy Burnham looks to cut new EV sales targetsInsurer Aviva said it is helping customers affected by the wildfires near Stourbridge in the West Midlands, but said the fires were “not material” for the company, my colleague Joanna Partridge reports.Aviva’s chief executive, Amanda Blanc, told reporters the company had been in contact with its customers “to make sure they’re in alternative accommodation”, adding: “It must be absolutely horrendous for those customers that have had their homes destroyed by fire.”“In the longer term, we’re always obviously looking at the pricing models around exposure management, about what more we could do, about how we can actually help customers to prevent some of these events. Are there things that you can build into properties that will actually mitigate some of these events, I’m thinking particularly of flooding. That is an area where we are working on resilience, so we can help our customers be better prepared for when these events happen.” Continue reading...

14 Aug 2026 15:41 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN