Friday Brief (05/07/2024) W27

Good afternoon and welcome to this week’s Friday Brief! As of yesterday evening, a new political party has come into power. Labour is returning to power with a huge parliamentary majority of 174, following a collapse in support for the Conservatives. Sir Keir will be formally appointed by the King at Buckingham Palace later, replacing Tory leader Rishi Sunak, and make his first speech in Downing Street.

Today we have a story from STEMAZING which is a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to inspiration and inclusion in STEM. They work with women in STEM, allies, educators, organisations, institutions and families to collectively build a more diverse and inclusive STEM future. They support STEM role models to empower themselves and inspire the next generation, and they work with Primary Schools to raise awareness and aspirations in STEM and smash gender stereotypes! Check out their article below.

Our Associate Member Croner outlines the new employment legal changes that have been confirmed by government. Croner will explore the key upcoming changes and their potential impact, providing employers with essential insights to navigate the evolving legal framework and support their workforce effectively. Find all details in the story.

The turn of the month often brings a rush of economic data, including the snapshot of the state of the manufacturing sector provided by the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) figures. Globally, there was an upward tinge to the trends with more countries above the crucial 50 level, including the UK but the weakness persists in Europe with most of the major manufacturing economies having a lower reading than in May.

We also take a look at the UK national accounts data that came out last Friday but which, for operational reasons, we could not report then. Economic growth overall in the 1st quarter edged up but the pace of growth in the manufacturing sector was eased lower. Investment, including the sub-set for the manufacturing sector, also grew in Q1-24. In Europe, we take a look at the latest economic sentiment data from the European Commission – broadly neutral compared to the May figures – and the latest data on investment (improving) and profitability (falling) in the Euro-zone.

We are also announcing the launch of the European Cutting Tools Association Conference for 2025 – please take a look at the item below for more details and a request for expressions of interest to assist the organisers in planning for the event.

Finally, with a new month and a new quarter starting this week, we have a couple of surveys operating. For MTA members there is our monthly Business Survey which you can access at www.mta.org.uk/mta-business-survey-jun24 and we have also launched the EIA Quarterly Survey for companies in that part of the MTA family – this is at https://www.mta.org.uk/eia-quarterly-survey-2nd-quarter-2024.

That concludes the newsletter for this week. We hope you all have great weekends and we’ll be back for more next Friday.

EUROPEAN CUTTING TOOL CONFERENCE – MARCH 2025

MTA is a Member of ECTA, the European Cutting Tools Association (www.ecta-tools.org). The next ECTA Conference will be organized by UCIMU-SISTEMI PER PRODURRE in Italy from Thursday 20th to Saturday 22nd March 2025. The ECTA Conference is a great opportunity to know or to meet again people of the sector with whom to exchange technical […]

ECONOMIC NEWS – EUROPE

European Commission Economic Sentiment Indicator, June 2024: The European Commission (EC) draws from a range of surveys to construct confidence indicators for five sectors of the economy and then uses these to calculate up its Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) which is converted to an index based on the long-run average. In the June* report, the […]

UK NATIONAL ACCOUNTS – 1st QUARTER 2023

With the publication of the UK National Accounts for the 1st quarter, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revised up the estimate for growth in the economy to +0.7%; however, given the falls in GDP in both the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2023 and a flat trend in the previous quarter, the annualized rate […]

PURCHASING MANAGERS INDEX FOR MANUFACTURING

The Global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for manufacturing, produced by S&P Global and sponsored by J P Morgan, fell very slightly to 50.9 in June (the revised reading for May was 51.0). The manufacturing PMI is a weighted composite index of new orders (30%), output (25%), employment (20%), suppliers’ delivery times (15%) and stocks of […]

Croner – Employment Law Changes 2024

As the employment law landscape continues to evolve, employers face a raft of new legislation changes set to come into effect in 2024. From amendments to the Equality Act 2010 to adjustments in the minimum wage and holiday pay regulations, staying informed about these developments is crucial for businesses to ensure compliance and uphold the […]

STEMAZING update

Join the STEMAZING Community and be part of something meaningful, making a real difference together. Being a catalyst for change doesn’t have to be hard! We make STEM inspiration simple with a range of resources, tutorials, webinars and peer group discussions you can access on-demand to help you be the change we need to see […]

Friday Brief