London
Raining on Sunak’s parade: One of the wettest Aprils in more than a decade kept shoppers away from the high street, says Mehreen Khan in The Times. That dampened economic growth, which was flat month on month, down from 0.4% in March, with retail sales volumes falling 2.3%. This, the last GDP reading before the general election next month, will come as a disappointment to prime minister Rishi Sunak, who is campaigning on the economy having “turned a corner”.
Still, the economy has performed better than expected so far this year. That, combined with the “stickiness of wage growth”, which grew 6% in the three months to April year on year, excluding bonuses, creates “a lingering concern for the Bank of England (BoE)”, says Ruth Gregory of Capital Economics.
Thanks to slack in the labour market, that “stickiness… may not stop the BoE from cutting… rates for the first time in August”. That’s just as well as the global rate-cutting cycle has begun – the European Central Bank trimmed rates last week, says economist Julian Jessop in The Telegraph. If the BoE doesn’t do likewise soon, “a longer period of unnecessarily high interest rates could still sink the recovery”.
Vancouver
Lululemon pressed: Lululemon, the Canadian manufacturer of “pricey yoga wear”, is at a “crossroads”, says Ramishah Maruf on CNN. The firm, known for its sculpted look, has “fought off competitors”, such as Athleta and Nike, to “dominate the luxury athleisure market”. But it is having to navigate a “new, baggy pant-loving Gen-Z demographic and the radical reshuffling of its own executive team”. Not only does it have to compete with new celebrity-backed “competitors, including Alo Yoga and Vuori, its chief product officer Sun Choe (pictured) – considered by Wall Street a key engine of its success” – is leaving. Nevertheless, it “pulled off a tricky feat”, says Jinjoo Lee in The Wall Street Journal. It announced Choe’s departure shortly before releasing better-than-expected results and an “upgraded profit outlook”. Its shares jumped by more than 10% on the news, after a year that saw its share price drop by nearly 40%. “Moving into the mainstream” through heavy discounting does bring “other challenges”, not least that it will be competing with a “much broader range of rivals”, from Zara to Ralph Lauren. At least its recent performance gives it “more room to move”.
San Francisco
Musk irked by Apple AI: Tesla’s boss Elon Musk (pictured) has
