News Portal

Weak sales growth ends ‘sluggish’ year for retailers

Business | Business News Retailers suffered a disappointing festive period that failed to make up for a challenging year of sluggish sales growth, figures show. Weak consumer confidence continued to hold back spending, with total UK retail sales up by just 1.7% in December against growth of 6.9% a year earlier, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor. The post-Christmas sales were unsuccessful in enticing spending in areas such as furniture and homewares, with households remaining cautious about making larger purchases. Sales saw a slight increase in the week leading up to Christmas as consumers…

UK entertainment sales up 7% to £11.9 billion

Business | Business News Streaming and digital services drove a 7% rise in UK music, video and games sales to a record £11.9 billion in 2023, according to latest figures. Streaming and digital services increased sales by more than £800 million in a year and now account for 91.7% of total revenue, the Digital Entertainment and Retail Association (Era) said. The fastest growing sector in 2023 was video, up 10% to £4.9 billion, driven by subscription services such as Netflix , Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV, to recapture its historic position as entertainment’s largest sector, ending a 10-year run of dominance by games. Meanwhile,…

The shutdown pressure cooker

1625 K Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20006 Copyright © 1998 – 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Animal shelters are overwhelmed by abandoned dogs. Here's why.

Pet Parade: MSPCA-Angell Pet Parade: MSPCA-Angell 04:35 Man's best friend is increasingly being abandoned on the street, often by people facing financial hardships who can no longer afford to feed or house them. "Animal shelters generally reflect what is happening to people in a community and where there is food insecurity," Stephanie Filer, executive director of Shelter Animals Count, told CBS MoneyWatch. As 2023 came to close, there were 250,000 more animals in the shelter system than the year before, said Filer, whose group compiles data from nearly 7,000 shelters nationwide. "Through November, our numbers are showing a…

Manufacturing Slowdown Weighs on Oil Demand

Continued weakness in manufacturing activity in the United States, Europe, and China eased demand for diesel and other distillates in the fourth quarter, also easing the diesel markets that were very tight at the beginning of the third quarter. The U.S., Eurozone, and Chinese manufacturing indexes all showed contraction at year-end as the sector entered 2024 with only slight optimism about regaining momentum this year. if(window.innerWidthADVERTISEMENTfreestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: "oilprice_medrec_atf", slotId: "oilprice_medrec_atf" });';document.write(write_html);} The weak manufacturing activity, which has…