The Editorial Team - Financial Literature Europe

Explainers

What is the difference between retail sales value and volume?

Value is money through the till; volume is what it bought once prices are taken out. In August, Britons spent more on fuel and bought less of it.

A navy fuel pump with a low teal level beside a tall stack of gold coins

🌍 3.75% held by 6–3, and Britons paid 4.3% more for 1.3% less fuel

The Bank of England split the same way as in July. This morning's shop figures show why prices and quantities have to be read side by side.

Two identical staircases, one navy and one gold, rising and falling in step a fixed distance apart

🌍 4.50% — the Fed raised rates, and Saudi Arabia followed within hours

Saudi Arabia raised its rate to 4.50% within hours of the Fed's first rise since 2023. The Bank of England decides at noon London time today.

A row of navy bars on a salmon ground: one bar tips away at the left while a taller gold bar joins at the right.

🌍 3.1% — British inflation rose on petrol; core and services did not move

UK inflation rose to 3.1% in August from 2.9%, and core held at 2.6%. The whole move was one month's arithmetic. The Bank of England decides on Thursday.

Explainers

What does “seasonally adjusted” mean, and why can one month fall and rise at once?

German motorway freight fell sharply from July to August and rose at the same time. Both are true. A plain-words guide to adjusted economic numbers.

Three gold blocks of shrinking height standing above a dashed navy line

🌍 2.50% — the ECB raised again, and still sees 2.1% inflation in 2028

Thursday's rate rise, Friday's closes and a red week for every European board, plus a projection that narrows the gap to 2% without closing it.

A tilted balance: one tall narrow block on the raised pan, three short wide blocks weighing down the other

🌍 49.6% — German heating oil got dearer, household energy got cheaper

German inflation was confirmed at 2.9% for August. Heating oil rose 49.6% in a year, and the group of prices it belongs to still got cheaper.

A navy motorway band with lane markings, a red gap where the markings stop, and a gold bar bridging the gap above it

🌍 German lorry mileage fell in August; adjusted for the holidays, it rose

German industrial figures run a month behind. The motorway toll index does not. Raw, August's mileage fell; adjusted, it rose. The gap is the lesson.

Two bars on a salmon ground: a tall navy bar beside a shorter brick bar, with the gap above the shorter one outlined in gold.

🌍 €21.3bn — Germany's surplus widened because imports fell 5.7%

July's trade surplus was the widest since August 2024. Exports fell 0.8%, imports fell 5.7%. A balance can widen for two very different reasons.

A stack of green order slips beside a dark factory roof crossed by a red bar

🌍 −1.1% — Germany's factories made less in the month their order book grew

July production fell 1.1%, the steepest in nearly a year, three days after orders rose 2.5%. A car-plant shutdown did most of it.

Explainers

Why does Germany report factory orders twice, with and without large orders?

One contract for ships or aircraft can carry a national statistic. Why Destatis publishes two order figures, and which one answers which question.

A tipped balance beam: one large gold block outweighs three small red blocks

🌍 +2.5% — Germany's orders rose on ships and planes; without them, −1.4%

July factory orders beat forecasts by two points. Strip out the large contracts and the order book shrank, in the month and across the quarter.