GDP is estimated to have fallen 0.1% in January, mainly caused by a 0.9% fall in the production sector, according to the Office for National Statistics. This comes after 0.4% economic growth in December. Economists had expected the economy to grow by 0.1% in January.
It was a poor month for manufacturing and construction, both in decline, dealing a blow to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, before her spring statement on 26 March.
Monthly services output grew by 0.1% in January, after 0.4% growth in December, while construction output fell by 0.2% after a same-sized decline in December.
GDP is estimated to have grown by 0.2% in the three months to January, compared with the three months to October, mainly because of growth in the services sector.
Reeves said: "The world has changed and across the globe we are feeling the consequences. That’s why we are going further and faster to protect our country, reform our public services and kickstart economic growth to deliver on our plan for change.
"And why we are launching the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War, fundamentally reshaping the British state to deliver for working people and their families; and taking on the blockers to get Britain building again."
The escalating trade war dragged the S&P 500 on Wall Street more than 10% below its record, set just last month. A 10% decline from a recent peak is known as a correction – and Thursday’s 1.4% slide in the S&P 500, a key US stock market index, sent it to its first correction since 2023.
Gold soared through $3,000 an ounce last night but is down slightly at $2,986 at present. The value of gold has almost doubled in the past five years. The agenda • 2pm GMT: US Michigan consumer sentiment for March
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The global battle against the climate crisis needs China. I am going to Beijing, and that’s what I’ll tell them 
