Hot weather boosted retail sales in June
Sales volumes increased by 0.9% in the month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Supermarkets reported people buying more drinks, while fuel sales were up as consumers "ventured out and about in the sunshine", the ONS said.
But it said sales had fallen by 2.8% in May, which was more than it had previously estimated.
After May's fall in sales, a rebound in June had been expected, but the rise was lower than many economists had forecast.
Ruth Gregory, deputy chief UK economist at Capital Economics, called June's sales increase "disappointingly small".
The monthly retail sales numbers have been up and down lately, reflecting weather patterns and a late Easter.
But overall, the rise in retail spending has lost momentum, with sales up just 0.2% between April and June compared with the previous three months.
That ties in with a separate survey from researchers Gfk which suggests that consumer confidence is weaker than a year ago, and supports economists' views that next month's figures on economic growth will show it was lacklustre in the second quarter of this year.
Sales in food stores were up 0.7% in June, the ONS said, while fuel sales rose 2.8%.
"The warm weather in June helped to brighten sales, with supermarket retailers reporting stronger trading and an increase in drink purchases," said ONS senior statistician Hannah Finselbach.
"It was also a good month for fuel sales as consumers ventured out and about in the sunshine."
The Met Office said that England had its warmest June on record, and the second warmest for the UK as a whole, following two heatwaves.
Sales at non-food stores rose, the ONS said, with clothing benefiting from promotions and the good weather. This was partially offset by a fall in sales of household goods such as furniture.
Jacqueline Windsor, head of retail at PwC UK, said the rebound in sales at supermarkets and fashion retailers was down to shoppers entertaining at home and refreshing their wardrobes.
"However, England's warmest June on record also discouraged shoppers from visiting high streets, with footfall declining and online retail sales penetration increasing," she said.
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Hamilton Spectator
4 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Trump once decried the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — During sweaty summer months, Abraham Lincoln often decamped about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the White House to the Soldiers' Home, a presidential retreat of cottages and parkland in what today is the Petworth section of northwest Washington. Ulysses S. Grant sometimes summered at his family's cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey , even occasionally driving teams of horses on the beach. Ronald Reagan once said he did 'some of my best thinking' at his Rancho Del Cielo retreat outside Santa Barbara, California. Donald Trump's getaway is taking him considerably farther from the nation's capital, to the coast of Scotland. The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer . Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate . But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities.' 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,' Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump once decried the idea of taking vacations as president. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House.' Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill , his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch . Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' He noted that visitors emulating presidential vacations are out 'to show that you're either as cool as he or she, that you understand the same values as he or she or, heck, maybe you'll bump into he or she.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
San Francisco Chronicle
4 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump once decried the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — During sweaty summer months, Abraham Lincoln often decamped about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the White House to the Soldiers' Home, a presidential retreat of cottages and parkland in what today is the Petworth section of northwest Washington. Ulysses S. Grant sometimes summered at his family's cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, even occasionally driving teams of horses on the beach. Ronald Reagan once said he did 'some of my best thinking' at his Rancho Del Cielo retreat outside Santa Barbara, California. Donald Trump's getaway is taking him considerably farther from the nation's capital, to the coast of Scotland. The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate. But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities." 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time," Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House." Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch. Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' He noted that visitors emulating presidential vacations are out "to show that you're either as cool as he or she, that you understand the same values as he or she or, heck, maybe you'll bump into he or she.'
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Yahoo
Wage growth in Europe: Which jobs have seen the biggest increases?
Wages in the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, and France grew year-on-year by 5.5%, 5.3%, 3.8%, and 1.9%, respectively, in May 2025. That's based on salary data from global hiring platform Indeed. After adjusting for inflation — using CPI data from the ONS and Eurostat — real wage growth stood at 2.3% in the UK, 1.8% in the Netherlands, 1.6% in Germany, and 1.1% in France over the same period. Delving deeper than country-specific rates, wage growth nonetheless varies significantly across occupations and sectors. Based on data provided by Indeed to Euronews, we take a closer look at the jobs that experienced the largest annual increases and declines in wages, based on a three-month moving average as of May 2025. Our analysis focuses on the 25 largest occupational categories, calculated by their share of total job postings. Legal roles see the highest rise in the UK and Germany Among the four countries named above, legal roles saw the highest real wage growth in both Germany and the UK, with increases of 5.7% and 4.3%, respectively. This category includes several occupations, with lawyers being the leading role. According to Indeed, the average annual salary for a lawyer is £53,420 (€61,900) in the UK and €71,274 in Germany as of mid-2025. These figures reflect national averages, though salaries vary significantly by region. For example, lawyers in London earn an average of around £70,450 (€81,670) per year. In France, the management sector and the security & public safety industry both recorded the highest real wage growth, at around 2%. In the Netherlands, cleaning & sanitation roles saw the largest increase at 4%, followed closely by security & public safety at 3.9%. 'Postings are down year on year in almost every occupational category, so it's important to look at wage growth and job posting trends relative to the average to see which categories are over- and underperforming in the market for new hires,' Pawel Adrjan, Director of Economic Research at Indeed, told Euronews Business. Jobs and drivers of wage growth in the UK Among the four countries, the UK recorded the highest wage growth, both in nominal and real terms. 'The UK's high wage growth has been puzzling economists for a while. While down from its peak, wage growth remains fairly high in nominal terms, despite the fact that demand for new workers has fallen significantly,' Adrjan said. He noted that there are a number of likely reasons for this trend, and one is that the government has decided to increase the minimum wage. This is impacting salaries not just in the lowest-paid jobs, but it is also having ripple effects on wage distribution. Employers may feel the need to raise salaries across the board to maintain wage differences between roles and experience levels. Another factor driving wage growth is that labour supply is constricted by lower immigration rates and high economic inactivity. This means employers are more likely to raise wages to attract and retain workers. Looking at the 25 largest occupations, certain jobs saw more than a 3% jump in real wages in the UK. Top-ranking legal professions showed a 4.3% increase, while roles in retail (3.3%), production & manufacturing (3.2%), loading & stocking (3.1%), and customer service (3%) also saw significant rises. Growth showed a steady, gradual pattern, with no extreme outliers, aside from the top-performing legal sector and the lowest-ranking software development jobs (-2.2%). Health and care-related occupations in the UK, including nursing (1.7%), childcare (2.3%), and personal care and home health (2.1%), saw modest real wage growth. IT wages in decline in Germany In Germany, legal roles saw the strongest real wage growth at 5.7%, followed by production & manufacturing and medical technician jobs (both at 4.1%). Education, security, media, and human resources roles also recorded solid gains between 3.5% and 3.9%. In contrast, IT-related roles saw the biggest declines in real wages. For example, IT operations & helpdesk roles saw a 6.4% decline, and software development jobs registered a decrease of 4.2%. For these roles, this means that prices have gone up faster than wages, reducing workers' purchasing power. Indeed's Adrjan noted that wage growth has slowed but remains above the Eurozone average in Germany. 'Wage growth is driven to a large extent by a gradual and coordinated process of union negotiations, which have in many cases concluded with multi-year wage increases that are still affecting aggregate wage growth trends today,' he said. No outliers in France's wage growth In France, real wage growth was relatively flat across many sectors, with most occupations clustered between 0.5% and 1.5%. At the lower end, personal care & home health, banking & finance, and software development saw minimal increases of 0.2% or less. Leading the list, management and security & public safety roles (both at 2%) are followed closely by the information design & documentation sector (1.9%). Human resources comes in next, at 1.8%. 'In France, there is a high degree of indexation of the minimum wage to inflation, and wages negotiated between firms and unions tend to follow suit, meaning that wage growth responded swiftly to inflation increases in 2022 and 2023 as well as to the marked slowdown in inflation over the past two years,' Adrjan explained. Real wages fall in Dutch health and care roles Wage growth in the Netherlands was led by cleaning & sanitation (4.0%) and security & public safety (3.9%), with notable gains also seen in banking & finance (3.4%), management (3.1%), and construction (3.0%). In contrast, several care-related occupations experienced real wage declines, including nursing (-0.3%), childcare (-0.5%) and physicians & surgeons (-0.6%). Discover more: Salary trends in the UK, Germany, and France Since the sectors listed in the charts above cover a range of roles, salary details for specific positions can be found on Indeed's website. Euronews Business articles also offer detailed salary breakdowns for the UK, Germany, and France individually. Sign in to access your portfolio
