Financial news

• Global powers lobby to stop special Brexit deal for UK

  09-12-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  European Union gets tough with Theresa May over trade deal, as officials insist bespoke arrangement more favourable to Britain is out of the questionTheresa May’s hopes of securing a unique post-Brexit trade deal with the EU were under threat on Saturday night as Brussels said it was coming under international pressure to deny Britain special treatment.After a week that saw May reach a deal with the EU that will allow Brexit talks to move forward on to future trade relations, EU officials
  
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• Low skills, low pay: that’s really why Brexit campaigners want to be out

  09-12-2017 18:00 via theguardian.com
  Hard Brexit is still a clear prospect: and while leftwing and centrist Leavers may see new futures, the right has always envisaged a return to 70s BritainA hard Brexit is still on the cards despite the cheers of business leaders for Theresa May’s fudged deal on the Irish border, concessions on EU citizens’ rights and the rise in the exit fee from £20bn to nearer £50bn.It’s easy to see how phrases like “regulatory alignment”, when coupled with a two-year
  
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• Asda turns its fire on staff and frills in bid to fight off discounters

  09-12-2017 17:00 via theguardian.com
  The Walmart-owned grocery chain locked in a war with discount giants Aldi and Lidl has switched its focus from price-cutting to productivityThis year, Asda is promising shoppers their “Best. Christmas. Ever” with a festive advert set in a Willy Wonka-inspired factory.The ad is billed as a “love letter to our customers and products”, featuring tiny Asda workers assembling party canapés and a reindeer-powered food mixer stirring its Christmas puddings. But many Asda
  
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• Millennial railcard: a fare deal or quick fix that fails to deliver?

  09-12-2017 15:21
  A new £30 card promises a third off train tickets for young workers. We examine if it’s really worth it or just a quick fix to woo young votersA national railcard for millennials was launched this week, promising one-third off fares for 26- to 30-year-olds. When the chancellor unveiled it in last month’s budget, he said it would benefit 4.5 million. But among struggling young workers, it has won the Conservatives few new voters.The card will cost £30 and gives one-third o
  
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• Low-income households at risk as mortgage support benefit is axed

  09-12-2017 15:21
  Crucial welfare payment will be turned into a loan from 2018, affecting 124,000 individuals who rely on itThousands of hard-up older people are being given a stark choice: sign up to a “second mortgage” with the government, or lose some of the financial help you receive.In a little-noticed move, the government is axing a benefit that has been around since 1948 and has thrown a lifeline to many people on low incomes. “Support for mortgage interest” (SMI) helps financially
  
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• Savings rates on the up, as NS&I relaunches growth bonds

  09-12-2017 15:20
  Three-year deal offers 2.15% for an investment of £500 to £1mThere was some rare good news for savers this week after National Savings & Investments reintroduced its popular one- and three-year Guaranteed Growth/Income Bonds last offered back in 2009.NS&I, the government’s savings arm, says its one-year Guaranteed Growth Bond will pay an interest rate of 1.50%, while the three-year deal will earn 2.20%. Continue reading...
  
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• Fox and Disney: is Rupert Murdoch in retreat - or planning his next move?

  09-12-2017 14:19 via theguardian.com
  With Disney apparently poised to take over key Fox assets, it seems as though the Murdoch family is ceding control of its empire. What’s behind the move?After more than 50 years of deal-making to build one of the world’s biggest media companies, Rupert Murdoch looks to be on the retreat. Cornered by the Fangs – as the tech giants Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google are known – the ageing executive appears to have decided that its time to cash in and give up on a long-held
  
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• Tinsel succumbs to shrinkflation as Tesco cuts it down to size

  09-12-2017 09:00
  Tinsel sales are up 90% at John Lewis, but Tesco is shrinking its range while leaving the price the sameChocolate bars, cartons of drink and even toilet rolls have all been getting smaller while the price stayed the same.Now, tinsel is the latest victim of the “shrinkflation” phenomenon, after Tesco cut the length of the festive decoration it sells in stores while charging the same price as last year.Continue reading...
  
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• Text alert: the ‘bank’ message that cost a student £5,400 of her loan money

  09-12-2017 08:00
  Fraudsters have found a new way to target young people, with some losing all their funds in the first few weeks of termWhen Alison Dean received a text from her bank, the Co-operative, asking whether she had just made a £999 purchase – asking her to call the bank if she hadn’t – she did what many of us would have done, and dialled the number in the message.After all, the text had clearly come from the bank – it was listed on her handset amid previously sent texts th
  
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• Renting: why are we seeing the death of the living room? | Patrick Collinson

  09-12-2017 08:00
  Forget lounging around on the sofa: many landlords have turned shared space into more bedrooms – and it has helped drive up pricesThe huge shared living space, the lavender walls and the college-dorm chic; most of us can picture Monica and Chandler’s apartment in Friends, the 1990s TV series no doubt being re-run on some channel right now. I preferred This Life, the flatmates drama which defined the 1990s in a rather more British way. But you couldn’t make either of them today.
  
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• How much do you need to live on in retirement?

  09-12-2017 08:00
  I want to retire as soon as I can, but friends say the minimum realistic spend for a decent life is £20,000 a yearEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.This week’s question: Continue reading...
  
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• Angry homebuyers plan class-action lawsuit against Bovis

  09-12-2017 08:00
  A year after the housebuilder admitted it had pushed people into unfinished homes, they are still struggling with serious defects in their properties
  Bovis Homes, one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders, faces a potential class-action lawsuit from a group of buyers who accuse it of selling houses riddled with defects.Puneet Verma bought a five-bedroom house with his wife for £485,000 in Milton Keynes two years ago but says he still has a list of 120 snags. He is now consulting two law
  
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