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Business Today
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UK car sales rise for 13th month running; shoppers hit by ‘skimpflation’
Live  
UK car sales rise for 13th month running; shoppers hit by ‘skimpflation’
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
Headlines
Wilko  
Rescue deal to save many stores at risk over supplier debts
Rescue deal to save many stores at risk over supplier debts
Retail  
Shoppers look on sunny side as holidaymakers splash out
World economy  
G20 must forge agreement to increase tax on rich, say campaigners
Australia  
Interest rates left unchanged by RBA at 4.1% for a third month
Mortgages  
HSBC and NatWest cut rates again as rivals tipped to follow
Airlines  
Alan Joyce quits immediately as Qantas CEO after tough week for carrier
Auto industry  
China’s share of Europe’s electric car market accelerates as UK leads sales
Environment  
Ministers to announce moves aiming to allow building of onshore wind turbines
Pensions  
More than one in five Britons have cut contributions in living cost crisis
Rail disruption  
Huddersfield named as British station with most cancelled trains
Airlines  
Ryanair was forced to cancel over 350 flights due to air traffic control chaos
China  
Country Garden shares jump after developer strikes debt deal
Today's agenda
UK car sales have now climbed for more than a year, despite the cost of living squeeze, as motorists shift to electric vehicles.

Data due this morning is expected to show that new car registrations in Britain rose for the 13th consecutive month in August, rising more than 20% from a year earlier.

That’s according to preliminary industry data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), with the final data due at 9am.

A growing number of those cars will be EVs from China – its share of the European electric car market has more than doubled in less than two years.

Meanwhile, UK consumers are suffering from a bout of “skimpflation”, as manufacturers downgrade the ingredients in certain food and drink products.

More than half the Britons surveyed by Barclaycard reported that some of the food and drink products they buy have been downgraded in terms of quality or the quantity of premium ingredients, yet still cost the same or more than they used to.

Within this group, the most frequently cited skimpflation examples include crisps (44%), sweets and chocolate (43%), and cakes and biscuits (36%).

A fifth also feel takeaways (22%) and restaurant meals (20%) are decreasing in quality without a corresponding fall in price.Barclaycard also report that this ongoing trend also extends to non-food products, such as clothing, toilet paper and toiletries and cosmetics.

Food and non-food producers have been hit by rising input costs over the last 18 months, prompting them to turn to cheaper raw materials.

They’ve also been cutting the size of some items – the practice known as “shrinkflation”. Chocolate, crisps and packs of biscuits remain the top products identified as being impacted by this ongoing trend.

Barclays also reports that consumer card spending grew 2.8% year-on-year in August. That’s below the rate of inflation (6.8% in July), indicating that shoppers bought less.

Also coming up today
The latest surveys of purchasing managers at UK service sector companies, and across the eurozone.

We’ll be tracking the situation at stricken UK retailer Wilko, which fell into administration last month.

It emerged last night that a rescue deal to save the majority of Wilko’s stores has been put at risk as some key suppliers want outstanding debts repaid upfront to guarantee continuing to provide products to the chain.

Investors will be digesting Australia’s central bank’s latest meeting overnight, where it left interest rates on hold again.

The agenda
• 9am BST: UK car sales report for August
• 9am BST: Eurozone service sector PMI report for August
• 9.30am BST: UK service sector PMI report for August
• 10am BST: Eurozone PPI survey of producer prices
• 10.30am BST: South Africa’s Q2 2023 GDP report
• 3pm BST: US factory orders for July

We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
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