UK Hotels: Travelodge (y/e Dec 23) & Whitbread $WTB (y/e Feb 24) reported FY numbers Both saw profit significantly up YoY, driven by increase in room rates Hotel performance is cyclical, with WTB signalling a tougher Q1 it might be that we've already seen the top of a cycle...

JD Wetherspoon $JDW shares +3% on its Q3 update, will be hoping for better weather in its summer Q4 to boost sales, cost inflation abating, better visibility regarding labour pressures post NLW increase

Calastone Fund Flow Index shows a booming ISA season, with inflows to equity funds 5x larger than 2023 at £1.93bn Bad news for London though - Global, North America & European funds are in favour, while Emerging Markets and UK are out #investing #equities #stockmarkets

Data from US Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows traders are increasingly betting that £GBP will fall in the coming months amid growing conviction that Bank of England will cut interest rates before US Chart from FT below indicates BoE to start cutting rates in the summer

Encouraging UK GDP figures today, suggests the economy is entering a period of stronger growth

Recent restructuring proposals from Tasty $TAST & Revolution Bars $RBG appear to be CVAs in all but name 'Non-critical' creditors (somewhat insulting term) have been disadvantaged on purpose Likely to impact the terms offered by suppliers, both critical & otherwise, going fwd

Interesting chart from the ICAEW this week showing the long-term productivity decline in the public sector A lot of the gains made in the last decade were wiped out by the pandemic, when many public services were closed or curtailed

Interesting to see Marston's $MARS share price soar ahead of its results tomorrow Shares were just 28p a week ago, currently at 34-35p

Big week for US Fed interest rate decision making coming up Mon - New York Federal Reserve's monthly survey of consumers’ inflation expectations Tues - Labor Department’s report on producer prices Wed - US CPI reading (3.4% expected in April, down from 3.5% in March)

Keyword Studios $KWS possible cash offer of 2,550p per share is good news for the UK listed games developer segment, Frontier Developments $FDEV +7.5% in reaction The offer for KWS is x3 revenue, currently FDEV is being valued by the market at x1 revenue...

UK Flash PMI comes in at 52.8 in May, down from 54.1 in April UK businesses reported the softest increase in average selling prices for over three years in May and ongoing hiring challenges meant that the rate of job creation remained only marginal

#RBG: Spurns NGHT approach. Says it 'has concluded that the Nightcap Proposal is incapable of being delivered.' The proposal was 'subject to multiple equity fundraisings by Nightcap' and would need 'the support of the Company's and Nightcap's respective lenders.'

ICAEW's chart below illustrates how a 16.7% fall in energy prices between April 2023 & April 2024, have partially offset core inflation of 3.9%, food price rises of 2.8% and alcohol & tobacco prices rises of 8.1%, to result in annual CPI of 2.3% Inflation hasn't fully gone away

BRC-NielsenIQ data shows Shop Price annual inflation eased to 0.6% in May, down from 0.8% in April Non-Food remained in deflation at -0.8% Food inflation decelerated to +3.2%, but remains stickier

Barclaycard May consumer spending data shows Hospitality & Leisure spend up 2.7% YoY with transaction growth up 1.6% Perhaps the most alarming trend is the continued fall in restaurant spending, down 15.7% YoY in May, 13.1% in April and 12.6% in March

May's Barclaycard consumer spending data also indicates a fall in margins in Travel as consumers appear to be trading down Travel spend growth was 4.7% YoY in May, outpaced by transaction growth of 6.6%

ECB expected to cut rates today. The graph below shows how rate expectations have been delayed and reined in over time, with rates set to remain higher for longer

Calastone fund flows data shows continued net outflows from UK-focused equity funds Profit taking after the recent UK market rally prompted a £1.11bn outflow from UK-focused funds, the worst net selling from this sector since June 2022