Week Ahead: recovery hopes | QinetiQ catchup | is Netflix growing up?

Good morning and welcome back to the Week Ahead.

The new government has promised to put growth at the heart of its agenda. Hopes are high that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will also take steps to unclog the UK planning system and boost new home construction. We’re planning an in-depth look at UK housebuilders in the coming weeks – keep an eye out.

Last week’s news that the UK economy returned to growth in May with a 0.4% rise in GDP is obviously unrelated to anything Labour has done, but seems positive nevertheless.

A number of commentators are suggesting the drag from inflation and higher interest rates is now starting to drop out of the numbers. However, recent company trading reports suggest real-world conditions remain more mixed both at home and overseas.

Recruiters Hays and PageGroup have both recently reported a gt;15% drop in UK fee income, with similar declines in overseas markets. Confidence is said to be low among both candidates and clients, suggesting that many businesses are continuing to face uncertain outlooks.

An update from rival Robert Walters this week seems likely to confirm this trend, but Walters’ business is particularly weighted to Asia Pacific,...