There continues to be both good and bad news on the UK economy heading into today’s (8 Jun) general election.

A report on 6 June from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation showed demand for staff at a 21-month high.

‘We remain of the view that UK labour demand will remain resilient throughout the remainder of 2017 as employers look to secure staff ahead of a potential tightening of availability later in the Brexit process,’ says stockbroker Panmure Gordon.

Less positively, retail sales fell back in May – down 0.4% year-on-year according to data from the British Retail Consortium. This is the fourth month out of five in 2017 with a negative annual change.

For those reading this article ahead of the general election results, the polls remain widely divergent with leads of between one point and 12 points for the Conservatives. The prospect of a hung parliament remains in play.

Click here to discover how investors might be affected under different election outcomes.

Traders will have the first solid clue to the outcome at 10pm on 8 June when the exit poll is published. You should expect plenty of volatility in sterling if the election delivers anything other than a comfortable majority for Theresa May.

We will publish a full analysis of the election outcome and what it means for investors in next week's issue of Shares, published on 15 June.

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