Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
Today we learn how the UK economy fared in December, as Omicron put the brakes on the recovery.
Economists predict that UK GDP could have fallen during the month, perhaps by 0.6%, after ministers introduced restrictions to slow the highly infectious variant.
Hospitality firms were hit by cancellations, and retail sales fell as people avoided the shops. Millions of employees worked from home, and many were off work due to sickness, or self-isolating, causing staff shortages.
Before Omicron hit, the UK economy had just recovered to its pre-pandemic levels in November.
For the full quarter of October-December, gross domestic product for the fourth quarter is expected to grow a little over 1%, similar to the 1.1% growth in July-September.
We’ll also find out how fast the UK economy grew during the full year, as it recovered from its 2020 slump which saw GDP shrink almost 10%.
Elsewhere today, financial markets are heading for losses,…
