Newsflash: Britain’s construction sector has suffered its sharpest downturn since the first Covid-19 lockdown forced building sites to shut five and a half years ago.Activity across housebuilding, commercial building work and civil engineering all tumbled last month, a new survey of puchasing managers at building firms has found.Construction firms are blaming fragile market confidence, delays with the release of new projects and a lack of incoming new work.The report, by data firm S&P Global, shows there was “a sharp and accelerated reduction in output levels across the construction sector”.Many builders reporting that market conditions were challenging, with new orders slumping at the fastest rate in five and a half years, and job cuts rising.

Many construction companies commented on weak client confidence, alongside delayed spending decisions linked to uncertainty ahead of the Budget, S&P Global says.This dragged the UK construction PMI down to 39.4 in November, down from 44.1 in October, the lowest since May 2020.Any reading below 50 shows a contraction.

Lower volumes of construction output have now been recorded for eleven months in a row, S&P Global reports.Sub-sector data showed that housing activity (index at 35.4), commercial construction (43.8) and civil engineering (30.0) all experienced the fastest downturns in activity for five-and-a half years.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said:“November data revealed a sharp retrenchment across the UK construction sector as weak client confidence and a shortfall of new project starts again weighed on activity,Total industry activity decreased to the greatest extent for five-and-a-half years, led by steep falls in infrastructure and residential building work,Commercial construction also faced severe headwinds during November as business uncertainty in the run up to the Budget pushed clients to defer investment decisions,“Lower workloads, alongside pressure on margins from rising wages and purchasing costs, continued to dampen staff hiring in November,The latest round of job cuts was the most marked since August 2020.

”“Construction companies also signalled a slide in business activity expectations for the year ahead as hopes of an imminent rebound in sales pipelines faded in November.The degree of optimism dropped to its lowest since December 2022 amid reports of cutbacks to client budgets and pervasive worries about long-term UK economic growth prospects.”Time to wrap up:The UK construction sector last month suffered its sharpest slowdown in activity since the first Covid lockdown as building projects were scaled back and jobs cut amid budget uncertainty, according to a closely watched survey.In a blow to Labour’s aims to boost infrastructure projects and build 1.5m homes by 2030, the poll of UK construction firms showed output in November shrinking at the fastest pace since May 2020, when all building stalled as the pandemic shut down sites.

The monthly purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for construction, considered one of the best indicators of growth in the sector, fell to 39,4 in November, down from 44,1 in October and below the 44,6 forecast by economists,Any reading above 50 represents growth and anything below a contraction.

Budget uncertainty has also been blamed for UK investors cutting their investments in equity funds in November……and for a slowdown in sales growth of electric cars.Shares in Trustpilot fell by over a quarter today after Grizzly Research disclosed a short position and accused the global review platform of creating fake profiles that gave negative reviews and then pressuring companies to pay for subscriptions.Trustpilot has denied the claims.Households face higher energy bills after network companies were given the green light to spend £28bn on Great Britain’s gas and electricity grids.The energy watchdog, Ofgem, approved more than £17.

8bn of spending plans to upgrade gas transmission and distribution networks in the five years from April 2026.A further £10.3bn will be used to rewire the nation’s high-voltage electricity network – the biggest expansion of the grid since the 1960s.Trustpilot’s attempt to rebut (see here) Grizzly Research’s accusations (see here) haven’t revived its share price.Trustpilot’s stock is now down almost 28% today, the biggest faller among the 350 largest companies listed in London.

Back in the UK, new data confirms that people pulled cash out of investment funds in October, in the run-up to November’s budget,In October, equity funds saw £5bn of outflows, with all major regions in withdrawal,Kate Marshall, lead investment analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, has the details:“UK retail investors pulled a net £4,5 billion from funds in October, according to the latest Investment Association data,This marks the weakest month since October 2024 and reflects a clear rise in caution as speculation around the Autumn Budget intensified.

Equity funds saw the largest impact, with £5.0 billion withdrawn across all major regions.Global equities suffered the heaviest redemptions at £2.5 billion, while UK equity outflows accelerated to £1.4 billion.

Sentiment also turned in North America, where concerns over stretched valuations in US mega-cap technology stocks and fears of an ‘AI bubble’ contributed to £649 million in withdrawals.Technology-focused funds recorded their biggest-ever monthly outflow of £322 million.Flows into bond funds were broadly flat at -£2 million.Investors favoured Strategic Bond, Corporate Bond and Global Emerging Markets Local Currency funds, but this was outweighed by selling in developed-market government bonds.UK Gilt and Government Bond sectors saw a combined £548 million in outflows partly due to uncertainty about the trajectory of Bank of England rate cuts.

Mixed asset funds experienced their first outflows in a year, with £51 million withdrawn.Money market funds, which have been in demand throughout much of 2025, were broadly stable with marginal inflows of £1 million.Tracker funds also saw muted appetite, recording modest inflows of £306 million.Mark Zuckerberg is expected to “meaningfully cut resources” for building the metaverse, Bloomberg are reporting.They say Meta executives have discussed potential budget cuts as high as 30% for the metaverse group next year, which includes the virtual worlds product Meta Horizon Worlds and its Quest virtual reality unit.

Cuts that high could most likely include layoffs as early as January, and would be a policy u-turn for Zuckerberg, who had once seen virtual reality as the future of Meta.Back in 2021, Zuckerberg renamed Facebook’s holding company to Meta, declaring “We believe the metaverse will be the successor of the mobile internet.”Since then, though, artificial intelligence has emerged as The Big Thing in technology…Just in: The number of Americans filing new claims for jobless support has hit a three year low.There were 191,00 new ‘initial claims’ for unemployment benefits last week, a drop of 27,000 compared with the previous week.That’s the lowest level for initial claims since September 24, 2022.

It could take some pressure off the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates as quickly as the markets have been hoping…Breaking down initial jobless claims NSA by region: pic.twitter.com/JGdpUwx3N6Newsflash: consumer reviews site Trustpilot says it rejects the allegations made by short seller Grizzly Research today.In a statement to the stock market, Trustpilot responds:The Report presents a series of claims that are selective, misleading and framed to support a predetermined narrative.It omits key context and publicly available facts, creating a false impression and exhibits a lack of understanding of how Trustpilot works.

Trust is our guiding principle and is central to everything we do,As covered in our earlier post, Grizzly has taken a short positon on Trustpilot’s shares, and claims the company is operating an ‘extortion racket,’ attracting negative reviews and then charging companies for the ability to remove them,Over in the US, companies have been cutting jobs too,U,S.

-based employers announced 71,321 job cuts in November, up 24% from the 57,727 job cuts announced in the same month last year, outplacement and coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas has reported.November’s total is the highest for the month since 2022.But it’s 53% fewer cuts than in October, when 153,074 cuts were announced.Andy Challenger, workplace expert and chief revenue officer for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, says:“Layoff plans fell last month, certainly a positive sign.That said, job cuts in November have risen above 70,000 only twice since 2008: in 2022 and in 2008.

”So far this year, US employers have announced 1,170,821 job cuts, an increase of 54% from the 761,358 announced in the first eleven months of last year,Year-to-date job cuts are at the highest level since 2020,Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy, is calling for close scrutiny of the £28bn energy spending plans signed off by Ofgem this morning,Jackson suggests billions of pounds could be shaved off the infrastructure upgrade plans, saying:“Of course we need new infrastructure but these plans risk pushing bills ever higher,Every bit of these plans needs examining carefully and serious challenge to see what can be saved.

Cheaper batteries and more flexibility could cut bills by billions, as could modern grid technologies and more competition.”As explained in the introduction, Ofgem has given the green light to £17.8bn of investment in Britain’s gas networks, and £10.3bn in new electricity infrastructure, by 2013, pushing up customers’ bills.Green industrialist and founder of Ecotricity, Dale Vince OBE, has criticised the plan:“Ofgem are wrong to claim that increasing renewable energy on the grid, which these bill hikes will support - will in turn lower bills and or insulate us from volatile gas prices.

Because, unless we ‘break the link’ we will remain attached to volatile global gas prices and we will continue to allow the global gas price to set the price of our own green energy.If we don’t break the link we remain linked to global gas pricing.And our entire economy continues to suffer the impact of artificially high energy bills.”More gloom: UK businesses cut jobs at the fastest pace in four years last month.A survey of chief financial officers at UK companies, conducted by the Bank of England, has found that firms cut employment levels by an annual rate of 1.

8% in November,That’s the biggest monthly drop since July 2021,Firms expect to keep cutting their headcounts; expectations for employment growth over the next year fell to -0,7% in November, the gloomiest outlook since October 2020,In the City, shares in third-party review site Trustpilot have plunged by almost a quarter after being accused of operating “mafia-style extortion campaigns” to boost its business.

Grizzly Research, a short seller, has issued a report in which it accuses Trustpilot of creating unsolicited review profiles for all kinds of businesses with the intention to attract hyper-negative reviews.This then prompts the businesses into paying subscription deals to “more actively manage” the reviews, Grizzly claims.While Trustpilot uses a freemium business model (consumers can read and write reviews for free), businesses can opt for paid subscription plans that include review-management features.Grizzly, who say they are short on Trustpilot’s stock (betting that it will fall) have accused Trustpilot of creating a platform to attract bad reviews, meaning customers must pay to dilute the bad reviews.In their report (online here) Grizzly say:Reviewers find their genuine negative reviews spuriously challenged or removed for companies that pay Trustpilot.

On the other hand, we found countless obviously fake positive reviews and reviewers for paying companies.Trustpilot is either doing a very bad job at policing their website or is willfully negligent when convenient.We are short Trustpilot Group PLC $TRST.LOur new report is titled: The “Trustpilot Mafia” – How the Extortion Model Destroys Trustpilot’s Value PropositionYou can read the report here: https://t.co/NAYioU0XLYShares in Trustpilot are down 23.

7% as investors digest Grizzly’s claim that they have “gone all in” on becoming an “extortion racket” – a move which will make Grizzly’s short position profitable….2pm UPDATE: Trustpilot have responded, saying Grizzly’s claims are “selective, misleading and framed to support a predetermined narrative”.See this post for more.Ireland’s economy shrank by more than first estimated in the July-September quarter, new data shows.Irish GDP contracted by 0.

3% in the third quarter of 2025, the Central Statistics Office reports, worse than the 0.1% contraction initially estimated.However, the decline was mainly due to lower output at multinationals based in Ireland.The domestic economy did better; Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), which measures domestic personal, government, and investment spending, grew by 2.3% in Q3 2025