By Suban Abdulla

LONDON (Reuters) - Unusually hot weather boosted sales of sun screen and barbecue food in Britain last month, a British Retail Consortium survey showed on Tuesday, but consumers spent less on big-ticket items as high food prices continued to squeeze their budgets.

The BRC said retail spending increased by 4.9% in annual terms in June - roughly in line with its average this year, though stronger than May's 3.9% and a 1.0% drop a year earlier.

Last month was Britain's hottest June since modern records began, and the BRC said this drove sales of swimwear, beach towels and outdoor games as well as garden furniture.

However, the BRC data is not adjusted for inflation, so last month's increase in spending still reflects a fall in the volume of goods purchased.

Previous BRC data showed prices among its members were up by an annual 8.4% on average in June, rising to 14.6% for food, despite a drop in the cost of some food products.

Over the second quarter as a whole, food spending was up 9.8% while non-food spending grew just 0.3%.

Paul Martin, UK head of retail at accountants KPMG, who sponsor the data, said stubborn food inflation was reducing shoppers' ability to spend on non-essential items.

"Consumers have so far remained resilient, but the triple threats of further interest rate hikes, resolute double digit food inflation and an economy recovering at slower rate than predicted, could hamper a return to much needed profitable growth across the retail sector," Martin said.

Official figures showed consumer price inflation held at 8.7% in May, and financial markets are betting the Bank of England will raise rates as high at 6.5% early next year, up from 5% now.

The BRC said like-for-like retail sales - a measure favoured by equity analysts which adjusts for changes in retail space - were 4.2% higher on the year in June, up from 3.7% in May.

Separate figures from Barclays (LON:BARC) on Tuesday showed consumer spending on debit and credit cards rose 5.4% year-on-year in June, with spending on groceries up 9.5%, the most since February 2021.

However, Will Hobbs, chief investment officer at Barclays' UK wealth management division, said Britain's economy remained in a precarious spot.

"Inflation contagion is perhaps furthest advanced here," Hobbs said. "There is more work for central bankers yet, even as the creaks and strains on the mortgage and other borrowings become increasingly audible."

By David Morgan and Richard Cowan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -More than 20 U.S. House Republican hardliners warned Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday that they will try to block their party's fiscal 2024 appropriations bills unless spending levels are cut below levels that McCarthy and Democratic President Joe Biden agreed to in May.

The hardliners, including members of the House Freedom Caucus, also called on McCarthy to delay appropriations votes in the House of Representatives until all 12 government funding bills have been finalized and can be subjected to a side-by-side review.

The threat comes in the face of a looming showdown between the Republican-controlled House and Democratic-led Senate, potentially complicating efforts to avoid a government shutdown after the current fiscal year ends on Sept. 30.

"We expect all appropriations measures ... to be in line with the enacted FY 2022 topline level of $1.471 trillion," the 21 lawmakers said in a letter, led by Representatives Scott Perry and Chip Roy, both prominent House Freedom Caucus members.

"Absent adhering to the $1.471 trillion spending level ... we see an impossible path to reach 218 Republican votes on appropriations or other measures," the letter said.

The group includes lawmakers who shut the House floor down last month to protest McCarthy's May deal with Biden that averted default on U.S. debt.

McCarthy's office did not respond to a Reuters query seeking comment on the letter.

In the meantime, Senate appropriators are aiming for bipartisan deals -- all of which point to difficult negotiations ahead -- as Congress returned on Monday from the two-week July 4 recess.

A host of hot-button issues ranging from abortion to transgender rights are expected to be pulled into upcoming debates, further complicating matters. If lawmakers fail to agree on a budget before the next fiscal year begins on Oct. 1, the United States could see its fourth partial government shutdown in a decade.

Senate negotiators, who were largely sidelined during the recent talks between House Republicans and the White House over the federal government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, were working on bills that are attracting strong bipartisan support.

"We are determined to continue working together in a bipartisan manner to craft serious funding bills that can be signed into law," Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Republican Senator Susan Collins said in a joint statement.

Republicans hold the House by a narrow 222-212 majority, while Democrats hold a razor-thin 51-49 majority in the Senate, meaning that nothing can pass into law without votes from both parties.

CONFLICTING TARGETS

Leaders of the two chambers don't even agree on the spending targets they are aiming at.

Senate negotiators plan to hold to the $1.59 trillion discretionary spending target that Biden and McCarthy agreed to in the May deal.

House Republicans last month voted on a lower target of $1.47 trillion, which would cut spending for the environment, public assistance and foreign aid.

The House target does not take into account $115 billion in existing funding that Republican leaders could redirect to party priorities to compensate for cuts.

House Republicans are also trying to use the legislation to rescind key Biden priorities in areas such as climate change and tax collection. They also seek to eliminate or alter some existing programs involving workforce diversity, transgender protections and women's access to abortion that Democrats are fighting for.

"I am ready to end this charade of considering extreme Republican funding bills and join my colleagues in both chambers and on both sides of the aisle in working toward a final agreement" on government spending for next year, Democratic Representative Rosa DeLauro said in a statement on Friday.

DeLauro, the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, noted that House Republicans "know and have said publicly, that in the end they are going to need Democratic votes to keep the government open."

Failure to agree on appropriations could lead to a partial government shutdown into the autumn and winter that could hobble many federal activities, including air traffic control, military pay increases and the operation of national parks.

Representative David Joyce, who chairs the Republican Governance Group, or RG2, a more moderate group of 42 lawmakers concerned with House governance, said there could be scope for a short-term funding deal to maintain government operations while talks continue into the fall.

"I'm not a big fan at all of shutdowns, and I don't think anybody in RG2 or our groups are really thinking about that," Joyce told Reuters. "We're trying to think how to make things work."

TORONTO (Reuters) - Talks in Pacific Canada between striking dock workers and their employers have resumed after four days away from the negotiation table, a statement on Saturday by the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) showed.

The BCMEA and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) met on Saturday, supported by federal mediators, the statement said. The talks had stalled on Tuesday and the two sides broke off negotiations.

Some 7,500 port workers went on strike on July 1 for higher wages, upending operations at the Port of Vancouver and Port of Prince Rupert - key gateways for exporting the country's natural resources and commodities as well as for bringing in raw materials.

Canada's federal and provincial governments had urged the parties to restart talks, while on Saturday Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in a statement said her province supports an immediate recall of parliament to consider legislation to resolve the work stoppage.

BCMEA said it tabled a revised proposal to resolve skilled trades shortages and address ILWU Canada's demand to expand their jurisdiction over regular maintenance work on terminals, which was rejected by ILWU Canada.

ILWU Canada did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The union is due to hold a rally on Sunday in Vancouver.

The Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CM&E) industry body said the strike is disrupting C$500 million ($377 million) in trade every day. That could lead to supply-chain disruptions that fuel inflation, economists say.

($1 = 1.3271 Canadian dollars)

By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) - Many regional areas of Japan saw small and mid-sized firms aggressively raise wages, reflecting intensifying labour shortages, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said on Monday, underscoring its growing conviction that wage hikes were broadening.

In a quarterly report, the central bank also said some firms were considering raising prices of their goods and services to guard against prospects of rising labour costs.

"Many regions reported cases where wage increases by small and mid-sized firms were broadening at a degree unseen in recent years," the BOJ said in the report analysing the economic situation of regional areas.

The BOJ raised its economic assessment for three of Japan's nine regions, and maintained that for the remaining six regions.

"All of the regions saw economic growth pick up or recover moderately," the report said.

Wage growth holds the key to how soon the BOJ phases out its massive stimulus programme.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China's factory-gate prices fell at the fastest pace in seven-and-a-half years in June, while consumer inflation was at its slowest since 2021, adding to the case for policymakers to use more stimulus to revive sluggish demand.

Momentum in China's post-pandemic recovery has slowed from a brisk pickup seen in the first quarter with demand for industrial and consumer products weakening, raising concerns about the health of the world's second-largest economy.

The producer price index (PPI) fell for a ninth consecutive month in June, down 5.4% from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday, the steepest decline since December 2015. That compared with a 4.6% drop in the previous month and a 5.0% fall tipped in a Reuters poll of analysts.

The consumer price index (CPI) was unchanged year-on-year, compared with the 0.2% gain seen in May, driven by a faster fall in pork prices. That dashed expectation for a 0.2% rise and was the slowest pace since February 2021.

The weaker-than-expected inflation readings knocked financial markets with the yuan falling and Asian stocks also dipping into the red.

"We expect headline inflation to rise to around 1% by the end of this year. But this would still be soft and won't constrain the PBOC's ability to loosen policy further," said economists at Capital Economics.

"That said, with credit demand weak, and the currency under pressure, we think the bulk of support will come through fiscal policy. We expect only another 10 basis points of policy rate cuts this year."

Beijing has set a target for average consumer inflation in 2023 of about 3%. Prices rose 2% year-on-year in 2022.

China last month cut policy rates to boost liquidity and vowed to take measures to promote household consumption.

For producer prices, the biggest year-on-year declines were seen in energy, metals and chemicals as domestic and foreign demand weakened.

"The accelerating decline in PPI reflects the still weak real estate and construction sector as well as the strength of industrial production," said Bruce Pang at chief economist at Jones Lang Lasalle (NYSE:JLL).

"However, the year-on-year decline in the PPI is likely to have bottomed out and is expected to narrow gradually in the second half of the year," said Pang.

China's central bank is likely to cut lending rates further, said Hu Yuexiao, analyst at Shanghai Securities, who expects reductions in the reserve requirements ratio and interest rates in the second half.

However, economists say small cuts in rates will not have a big impact on demand for loans as families and businesses repair balance sheets damaged by COVID and repay debts, forcing Beijing to rely on fiscal stimulus and other means to spur demand.

AIX-EN-PROVENCE, France (Reuters) - France's central bank head Francois Villeroy de Galhau pushed back on Sunday against a suggestion from some French economists to raise the European Central Bank's (ECB) 2% inflation target.

Villeroy, who sits on the ECB's governing council, also said that its interest rate hikes were close to topping out and that rates would be kept at elevated levels long enough for the impact to feed through the economy.

The aim is to bring inflation down to the 2% target by 2025, Villeroy said at an economics conference in the southern French city of Aix-en-Province.

Former IMF chief economist, Frenchman Olivier Blanchard, has long called for a higher inflation target than the 2% shared by most major central banks, arguing that the increased flexibility that would provide would outweigh the costs.

Veteran French economist Patrick Artus also called for a higher target at the conference on Saturday and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said that if economists were opening the debate there should be "no taboos about transgression".

In response, Villeroy said that a higher inflation target was a "false good idea" and would lead to higher rather than lower borrowing costs.

"If we announced our inflation target is no longer 2% but 3%, lenders would immediately demand higher interest rates, at least 1% (more)" in anticipation of higher inflation and uncertainty Villeroy said.

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said on the same panel that the 2% target was a good balance because it is low enough that people do not have to take inflation into account in their everyday economic decisions, while zero would be too low to allow for relative changes in prices.

"If we change it, we will unpick not only that definition, we will unpick expectations," he said.

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - An increasing number of countries are repatriating gold reserves as protection against the sort of sanctions imposed by the West on Russia, according to an Invesco survey of central bank and sovereign wealth funds published on Monday.

The financial market rout last year caused widespread losses for sovereign money managers who are "fundamentally" rethinking their strategies on the belief that higher inflation and geopolitical tensions are here to stay.

Over 85% of the 85 sovereign wealth funds and 57 central banks that took part in the annual Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management Study believe that inflation will now be higher in the coming decade than in the last.

Gold and emerging market bonds are seen as good bets in that environment, but last year's freezing of almost half of Russia's $640 billion of gold and forex reserves by the West in response to the invasion of Ukraine also appears to have triggered a shift.

The survey showed a "substantial share" of central banks were concerned by the precedent that had been set. Almost 60% of respondents said it had made gold more attractive, while 68% were keeping reserves at home compared to 50% in 2020.

One central bank, quoted anonymously, said: "We did have it (gold) held in London... but now we've transferred it back to own country to hold as a safe haven asset and to keep it safe."

Rod Ringrow, Invesco's head of official institutions, who oversaw the report, said that is a broadly-held view.

"'If it's my gold then I want it in my country' (has) been the mantra we have seen in the last year or so," he said.

DIVERSIFY

Geopolitical concerns, combined with opportunities in emerging markets, are also encouraging some central banks to diversify away from the dollar.

A growing 7% believe rising U.S. debt is also a negative for the greenback, although most still see no alternative to it as the world's reserve currency. Those that see China's yuan as a potential contender fell to 18%, from 29% last year.

Nearly 80% of the 142 institutions surveyed see geopolitical tensions as the biggest risk over the next decade, while 83% cited inflation as a concern over the next 12 months.

Infrastructure is now seen as the most attractive asset class, particularly those projects involving renewable energy generation.

Concerns over China mean India remains one of the most attractive countries for investment for a second year running, while the "near-shoring" trend, where companies build factories closer to where they sell their products, is boosting the likes of Mexico, Indonesia and Brazil.

As well as China, Britain and Italy are seen as less attractive, while rising interest rates coupled with work-from-home and online shopping habits which became embedded during the COVID-19 outbreak meant property is now the least attractive private asset.

Ringrow said the wealth funds that performed better last year were those that recognised the risks posed by inflated asset prices and were willing to make substantial portfolio changes. It would be the same going forward.

"The funds and the central banks are now trying to get to grips with higher inflation," he said. "It's a big sea change."

By Kantaro Komiya and Lucy Craymer

TOKYO (Reuters) -Ukraine has submitted a formal request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to New Zealand, Japanese and New Zealand authorities said on Friday.

New Zealand, which performs the legal depositary functions for the partnership, had received a formal accession request from Ukraine on May 5, a New Zealand foreign ministry spokesperson said.

The next steps in the application process would be determined by all members of the CPTPP, who are due to meet in the New Zealand city Auckland on July 16, the spokesperson said.

The CPTPP includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, with Britain becoming the 12th member state. China, Taiwan, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Uruguay all also have requests pending to join.

Japan's economy minister, Shigeyuki Goto, told a regular press conference that Japan, as a CPTPP member, "must carefully assess whether Ukraine fully meets the high level of the agreement" in terms of market access and rules.

By Julie Zhu and Jane Xu

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese authorities are likely to announce a fine of at least 8 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) on Ant Group as soon as Friday, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, bringing an end to the fintech company's years-long regulatory overhaul.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC), which has been driving the revamp at Ant after its $37 billion IPO was scuttled in late 2020, is expected to disclose the fine in the coming days, the sources told Reuters.

The penalty, which would be one of the largest ever fines for an internet company in the country, will help pave the way for the fintech firm to secure a financial holding company license, seek growth, and eventually, revive its plans for a stock market debut.

For the broader technology sector, an Ant fine would mark a key step towards the conclusion to China's bruising crackdown on private enterprises that began with the scrapping of Ant's IPO and which has subsequently wiped billions off the market value of several companies.

Ant and the PBOC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The sources did not wish to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Founded by billionaire Jack Ma, Ant undertakes payment processing, consumer lending and insurance products distribution, among other businesses. In mid-2020 before its IPO was pulled, it was valued by some investors at more than $300 billion.

Since April 2021, Ant has been formally undergoing a sweeping business restructuring, which includes turning itself into a financial holding company that would subject it to rules and capital requirements similar to those for banks.

Any announcement of the fine on Ant would come soon after China's ruling Communist Party appointed central bank Deputy Governor Pan Gongsheng as the bank's party secretary, a move two policy sources told Reuters would be a prelude to appointing him governor.

He is one of the main regulatory officials overseeing Ant's revamp and has attended several meetings with the company about the fine and the revamp, according to the sources.

The National Financial Regulatory Administration (NFRA), a new government body under the State Council, is now the primary regulator to grant Ant the license, said the sources.

The NFRA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The PBOC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Pan's role either

PENALTY FOLLOWS MA'S RETURN TO CHINA

The final amount of the fine has been revised to at least 8 billion yuan, the sources said. Reuters reported in April that Chinese regulators were considering fining Ant about 5 billion yuan, a lower sum than what they had in mind initially.

Ant's fine would be the largest regulatory penalty imposed on a Chinese internet company since ride-hailing major Didi Global was fined $1.2 billion by China's cybersecurity regulator last year.

The fintech firm's affiliate, e-commerce titan Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) Group, was fined a record 18 billion yuan in 2021 for antitrust violations.

A fine on Ant would come at a time Chinese authorities are keen to boost private sector confidence as the $17 trillion economy struggles to recover despite the lifting of zero-COVID curbs earlier this year.

It would also follow the return to China of Ma earlier this year after spending many months overseas. Ma, who also founded Alibaba, withdrew from public view in late 2020 after giving a speech criticising China's regulatory system, an event widely regarded as a trigger for the crackdown on industry.

He previously owned more than 50% of the voting rights at Ant, but in January it said he would give up control of the company as part of the revamp.

($1 = 7.2439 Chinese yuan renminbi)

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. growth likely slowed in June after surging in the prior two months, but labor market conditions remain tight, with the unemployment rate expected to have retreated from a seven-month high and fairly strong wage gains persisting.

The Labor Department's closely watched employment report on Friday will be among factors leading the Federal Reserve to resume raising interest rates this month as signaled by the U.S. central bank and Chair Jerome Powell, after pausing in June.

The labor market has remained unbowed despite the Fed delivering 500 basis points worth of rate hikes since March 2022 when it embarked on its fastest monetary policy tightening campaign in more than 40 years. It is for now helping the economy to defy analysts' predictions of a recession.

While the higher paying industries such as technology and finance are purging workers, sectors like leisure and hospitality as well local government and education are still catching up after losing employees and experiencing accelerated retirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Monetary policy has been working in slowing employment growth since its peak about a year ago," said Sung Won Sohn, finance and economics professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. "However, that doesn't mean that we will see a recession, the probability of a recession has diminished."

The survey of establishments is likely to show nonfarm payrolls increased by 225,000 jobs last month after rising 339,000 in May and 294,000 in April, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

The economy needs to create 70,000-100,000 jobs per month to keep up with growth in the working-age population. Payrolls could surprise on the upside as the survey was conducted before a slew of data on Thursday showing a surge in private payrolls.

Government data also showed there were 1.6 job openings for every unemployed person in May, while the Institute for Supply Management's measure of services employment rebounded strongly, with businesses reporting they were unable to find qualified candidates for some open positions and "finally able to fill some positions that have been open for some time."

A Conference Board survey last month showed consumers' perceptions of the labor market more upbeat in June relative to May. But first-time applications for unemployment benefits jumped to a 20-month high during the week that the government surveyed businesses for the nonfarm payrolls count.

The unemployment rate is forecast dropping to 3.6% from 3.7% in May, which would leave it just shy of a 53-year low of 3.4% touched in April.

WORKER HOARDING

Employment growth is also being driven by companies hoarding workers, a legacy of the dire labor shortages experienced as the economy rebounded from the COVID downturn in 2021 and early 2022.

"The pandemic has really caused businesses to hold on to labor more because they know how difficult it is to fill open positions," said Ryan Sweet, chief economist at Oxford Economics in West Chester Pennsylvania. "They are going to opt to cut hours worked, that is something we need to pay very close attention to, rather than the net gain in nonfarm payrolls."

The average workweek was forecast unchanged at 34.3 hours. It has declined from 34.6 hours in January.

But some economists argued that worker hoarding was masking weakness in the economy, pointing to worker productivity, which slumped in the first quarter. They also noted that while gross domestic product, the traditional measure of economic growth, was solid in the January-March quarter, an alternative gauge, gross domestic income, has contracted for two straight quarters.

While businesses were content for now to continue hoarding workers, that could change once slowing consumer spending starts to erode profits, the economists said, predicting major layoffs.

"When that becomes apparent businesses will say we can't afford to just keep paying people not to produce and that's what the productivity numbers show," said Milton Ezrati, chief economist at Vested in New York. "It's going to shock people when business realize they have excess employment."

Average hourly earnings were expected to have increased 0.3% in June, matching May's rise. That would lower the annual increase in wages to 4.2% from 4.3% in May, still way above levels consistent with the Fed's 2% inflation target.

The slowdown in wage growth is being driven by the loss of high-paying technology and finance jobs among others. While the moderation in wage inflation would be welcomed by policymakers, it also portends to slower consumer spending, the main anchor of the economy, making a recession likely for some economists.

"If we keep adding jobs at the lower end of the wage spectrum, but losing jobs at a higher end, that will lead to a significant slowdown in terms of growth in disposable personal income," said Yelena Shulyatyeva, a senior economist at BNP Paribus in New York. "That is not good for everybody, it could eventually lead to layoffs in all other industries, even in leisure and hospitality."