And finally
* Here, to mark the start of the Christmas week, are twelve of our "and finally" news stories from the Monday Briefing in 2019. The Monday Briefing is taking a break until Monday, 6 January. In the meantime, the Deloitte Economics team wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
* In February UK discount store Poundland sold engagement rings just in time for Valentine’s Day. The Bling Ring range, priced at £1, went on sale in January and the retailer sold 20,000 pieces in just seven days – sterling proposal
* US police were called to check on the welfare of an adult male who had been standing “motionless outside” while wearing “no coat in the cold and hugging a pillow”. When they arrived, officers of the state of Minnesota were surprised to find that the figure was actually a life-sized cardboard cutout of local businessman and CEO of MyPillow, Mike Lindell – 2D or not 2D
* A man in Texas tested the ‘all leashed pets welcome’ policy at his local pet shop by walking his 1600lb African Watusi, a longhorn cow with horns measuring nine and a half foot from tip to tip, into the store – bull market
* Bristol residents complained that 1930s street lights in their neighbourhood were being removed to be relocated to a more affluent part of the city – gaslight robbery
* To the anger of vegans, vegetarians and environmentalists, the European Parliament is considering if meat-substitute producers should be banned from describing their products as steaks, sausages, escalopes or burgers – regulation at its wurst?
* Pope Francis warned against football fans calling Lionel Messi “God”. Messi, arguably the best player to have ever played the game, is often referred to in such terms by Barcelona supporters – Messiah
* A beluga whale fitted with a harness labelled ‘Equipment of St Petersburg’ is believed to be an escapee from a covert Russian spy programme – licence to krill
* A human ‘mermaid’ from Devon claims she is being refused access to local swimming pools. 29-year-old Becky Allen says pools in Plymouth, which don’t allow her to wear her tail in the water, are behind the times and are treating mermaids worse than other cities – tail of woe
* The US embassy in Austria has announced a partnership with McDonalds in Austria to allow Americans to contact the US embassy via a McDonalds restaurant should they lose their passport or if they are in distress – when the chips are down
* Josh Thompson, a New Zealand-based copywriter, exercised his option to bring a ‘support person’ with him to a meeting to discuss his redundancy by hiring the services of a clown called Joe. Joe, who charged NZ$200 for his services as a ‘support clown’, spent the meeting crafting balloon animals including a poodle and making squeaky noises – on the drôle
* Thieves struck at a Herefordshire cider mill over the weekend with between seven and nine lorries loaded with up to 3,500 bottles of Westons cider being looted by thieves – in-cider trading
* A team of Russian scientists were hit with an unexpected bill after migrating eagles they had fitted with SMS trackers ran up large data roaming charges. One eagle, named Min, unexpectedly flew to Iran from Kazakhstan causing significant expense – soaring costs
OUR REVIEW OF LAST WEEK’S NEWS
The UK FTSE 100 equity index ended the week up 3.0% at 7,577 after markets reacted positively to the UK election result and news of a potential phase one trade deal between the US and China.
Economics and business
* The UK employment rate rose to 76.2% in the three months to October, its highest level on record. The number of jobs increased by 24,000, beating expectations
* UK retail sales fell sharply in November as consumers pulled back from big-ticket purchases amid Brexit uncertainty and in the run up to the general election
* The UK government revealed its new legislative agenda in the Queen’s Speech, which focused on delivering Brexit and increasing spending on the NHS
* The Bank of England’s (BoE) monetary policy committee voted 7-2 in favour of keeping the main interest rate unchanged but indicated it may cut the rate if global economic growth slows or Brexit uncertainty persists
* UK inflation remained unchanged at 1.5% in November, comfortably below the BoE’s 2% target
* Andrew Bailey, the current chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), has been appointed as the next governor of the BoE to succeed Mark Carney in March
* The BoE is to stress UK lenders and insurers against three different environmental scenarios in what it claims will be the world’s toughest climate stress tests
* The BoE said an audio feed used for the Bank’s press conferences was leaked to hedge funds before they were broadcast; the FCA is investigating
* A record 25% of 18-year-old university applicants from England, Northern Ireland and Wales received unconditional offers in 2019, according to UCAS
* Greece’s manufacturing sector is growing faster than in any of the other 30 countries covered by the manufacturing PMI survey
* On average US economists expect the US economy to grow by 1.8% in the year to 2020Q4, down slightly from the 2.2% recorded in the year to 2019Q4. Economists also think the risk of the US falling into recession in 2020 has fallen
* Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA, owner of the Peugeot, Citroen, Opel and Vauxhall brands, have agreed a merger which will create the world’s fourth largest carmaker at a time of significant structural change in the sector
* Sweden’s central bank raised its main interest rate out of negative territory for the first time in five years, amid growing concern about the impact of negative rates on the economy
* The FT reports that the Pentagon is encouraging US tech firms to collaborate to develop a US alternative to China’s Huawei as a supplier of 5G technology
* The UK government is to create a regulator focused on policing big technology companies such as Facebook and Google after Brexit, the FT reports
* International Flavors & Fragrances agreed to buy DuPont’s nutrition and biosciences business in a $26bn deal, reflecting the fast-growing market for meatless-meat products with low environmental impact
* Some of the world’s biggest technology firms have agreed to work together to improve the standards of ‘internet of things’ devices, ensuring that internet-enabled devices can be operated with any digital voice assistant
Brexit and European politics
* British MPs voted by 358 to 234 to pass the second reading of the government’s Withdrawal Agreement bill for the UK to leave the EU on 31 January. Parliament will further scrutinise the bill in the new year, when it is expected to pass into law
* The bill would also legally prohibit the UK from extending the transition period with the EU beyond 2020
* Poland’s Supreme Court warned the country may have to leave the EU over the proposed reforms to the country’s judicial system which could threaten the primacy of EU law
* Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said there was an “unarguable” mandate for a second referendum on Scottish Independence after the SNP won 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats in the general election
And finally... a man was detained last week following a high-speed chase after he allegedly stole a truck loaded with over $10,000 worth of lobsters. Employees of the warehouse where the truck was taken gave chase in a second lobster truck and, with the help of a pursuing car, were able to stop the would-be crustacean heist. A 29-year-old man was charged with string of offences, including motor vehicle larceny – in a pinch