We already knew that Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement was paving the way for years of pain but the Resolution Foundation’s report makes for worrying reading. The scaling back of the energy price guarantee, which will keep average bills at £2,500 until April, means the typical household will only have 30pc of the rise in their … Read more
Public borrowing jumped in September, highlighting the pressure on public finances even before Liz Truss’s disastrous tax-cutting fiscal plans. In the last set of figures before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveils a new tax and spending plan, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the Government borrowed £20bn last month to plug the gap between tax … Read more
Britain is to be plunged into a deeper recession by Liz Truss’s corporation tax U-turn and the mini-Budget market turmoil, economists warned, as the City braced for more wild swings in the pound and bonds. Forecasters warned that the UK economy’s downturn will last well into next year as new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt promised to … Read more
Good morning. Elon Musk is on course to buy Twitter after reviving a takeover offer for the company. The world’s richest person has caved to Twitter’s legal demands to buy the social media network for $44bn just days before a court battle over the deal was due to begin. Twitter’s shares on the New York Stock … Read more
The UK is trying to strike a long-term deal for gas supplies from Norway as concerns grow over energy security. Ministers are in talks with Norwegian counterparts about prices for a potentially 20-year gas supply contract, Bloomberg reported. Norway is already the UK’s largest supplier of gas, but there is growing competition for its gas … Read more
Good morning. Sterling fell 0.19pc to $1.1144 in early trading, however it has rebounded strongly since the Bank of England announced it would buy as much government debt as needed to restore order. The Bank of England was last night liaising with Swiss authorities after an attempt by Credit Suisse to calm nerves instead stoked fears … Read more
Good morning. The pound is recovering as its rally early on Friday saw it briefly wipe out all of the losses it made since Kwasi Kwarteng began his speech last Friday. It comes as the new government made efforts to calm the markets yesterday, after the mini-Budget sparked turmoil. Liz Truss and Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng will today meet the … Read more
P rime Minister Liz Truss has defended her Chancellor’s mini-Budget as the “right plan” as she began a series of regional interviews on Thursday morning. After the pound plummeted following Kwasi Kwarteng’s intervention last week, the prime minister was attempting to restore confidence in the market as she takes on 24 regional interviews. In her … Read more
Good morning. Sterling has retreated again today after a sharp bounce against the dollar on Wednesday. The pound jumped the most since mid-June on Wednesday, pulling the euro with it, after the Bank of England conducted the first of its emergency bond-buyback operations, worth more than £1 billion. This morning, sterling was 0.9pc lower at $1.0789 by … Read more
Good morning. The pound has sunk back into the red after two major interventions last night reignited investor concerns about the UK’s tax-cutting Budget. In an extraordinary development, the IMF urged Prime Minister Liz Truss to reverse her economic policies – pointing particularly to the decision to scrap the higher rate of income tax. Ratings … Read more