The Monday note - 22 January 2018

• The FTSE 100 closed on Friday at 7,730.8, down nearly 48 points on a week earlier, due to a run of disappointing corporate news. The ten year Gilt yield stood at 1.34%. 
• Amazon will today open a convenience store in Seattle with no checkouts. Shoppers scan in with mobile phones at a turnstile, cameras record what goods are taken, then customers are charged on leaving. 
• IBM and Maersk are looking at using blockchain technology to create a digital platform for the shipment of goods. This could potentially speed up global trade by reducing paperwork and increasing the availability of information on cargos. 
• CPI inflation in the UK edged down to 3.0% in December 2017 from 3.1% in November. This was thanks to cheaper air fares, and lower prices for recreational goods. 

Chief Economist comments: 

It is very easy to look at the rapid growth in the technology sector, and think: surely it has to level off fairly soon? After all, expansion in recent years has been rapid, so instinct suggests that a pause for breathe must be ahead. IBM, Maersk and Amazon remind us that there are still huge swathes of industry that are ripe for disruption, with a lot of tasks still done by hand that can be digitised. The tech juggernaut has much further to run.