Financial news

• The Big Four firms are incapable of unwinding their own deep-seated conflicts | Ian Gow and Stuart Kells

  03-06-2023 22:00
  
  By rejecting demergers on their own terms, the Four have chosen uncontrolled and possibly chaotic break-ups on someone else’s terms and clockThe Big Four – PricewaterhouseCoopers, EY, Deloitte, KPMG – are the global behemoths of the professional services industry. With nearly 1.5 million staff and US$190bn in annual revenue, they dominate markets for accounting, auditing and tax-related advice. They are huge in other businesses too, including the provision of A$2bn of outsourci
  
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• Biden signs debt ceiling bill after months-long standoff, avoiding default

  03-06-2023 21:32
  
  Kevin McCarthy, the House speaker, secured a number of cuts on federal spending, with the borrowing limit suspended until 2025Joe Biden signed a bill on Saturday to suspend the US debt ceiling, ending a months-long standoff with the Republican House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, and averting a federal default that could have upended the world economy.Economists warned that a default could have caused the US unemployment rate to double while significantly damaging gross domestic product. Continue read
  
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• Sunak under fire as ‘stupid’ Eat Out to Help Out scheme to be focus of Covid inquiry

  03-06-2023 20:49
  
  Leading scientist attacks prime minister as criticism mounts of government approach to science during the crisisRishi Sunak is facing a barrage of criticism in the run-up to the official Covid-19 inquiry as a leading scientist attacks his “spectacularly stupid” Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which is believed to have caused a sudden rise in cases of the virus.The prime minister’s role as chancellor during the pandemic is under increasing scrutiny – as is that of his predeces
  
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• Makers of Lightyear flop among Pixar job cuts by Disney

  03-06-2023 20:11
  
  Director and producer of Toy Story spinoff lose roles after $200m production brought in just $226.7m in global ticket sales Walt Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios has eliminated 75 positions including those of two executives behind the box office disappointment Lightyear, sources said on Saturday, the first significant job cuts at the studio in a decade.The cuts included Lightyear director Angus MacLane, a 26-year Pixar veteran who was part of the senior creative team on such acclaimed film
  
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• Glass bottles row could sink Scotland’s deposit return scheme, official says

  03-06-2023 18:45
  
  Humza Yousaf wrote to Rishi Sunak to say decision to remove glass containers from scheme has put environmental plan in ‘danger’Leaders in Westminster and Holyrood have been urged to get round a table to sort out a growing row over Scotland’s deposit return scheme, after the Scottish first minister indicated that it could be scrapped due to restrictions imposed in London.Humza Yousaf wrote to the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, saying the UK government’s decision to in eff
  
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• Ever higher interest rates won’t solve the problem of greedflation

  03-06-2023 18:00
  
  Central banks seem blind to one of the real causes of inflation: profiteering under cover of Covid and the Ukraine warGreedflation will probably prove to be a brief moment in history – two years, possibly three, when corporations jacked up prices above and beyond the extra costs they faced, while most people were more concerned with the pandemic and later the Ukraine war.Brief it may be, but history won’t be kind if we ignore the importance of greedflation, as most economists and pol
  
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• ‘We’re crap at capitalism. We need something different’: the battle for economic revival in the Welsh valleys

  03-06-2023 17:01
  
  Decades of attempts to overcome economic blight in the region have failed. Now some say a fresh approach is neededDriving up the bigger of the two Rhondda valleys, it is hard to believe that not so long ago it was part of one of the biggest coal-producing areas in the world. The terrace houses built for the men who worked the pits are still there, but of the mines themselves nothing remains. Nature has reclaimed the spoil tips. The scars of industrialisation are hard to spot.But appearances can
  
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• Why two luxury London homes are at the centre of Pakistan’s turmoil

  03-06-2023 17:00
  
  The unrest that engulfed the country after Imran Khan’s arrest is linked to valuable properties in the British capital. They have raised concerns about the UK’s status as a haven for political elites and their moneyWhen the former prime minister of Pakistan Imran Khan was arrested last month, it triggered uproar across the country, with days of protest and violence. The unrest was not limited to Islamabad: it also spilled over into the streets of London.Such was the disruption at one
  
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• 'I saved £50,000 in my 20s anyone can do it if you are disciplined'

  03-06-2023 16:01 via express.co.uk
  
  A woman has explained how she saved almost £50,000 using an array of money-saving tips.
  
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• ‘The billionaires have won’: English pubs forced to close after owners demand full rent for lockdown

  03-06-2023 14:58
  
  Publicans face bankruptcy and homelessness after losing their fight with Tory donors against Covid rent back-paymentsA pub landlord company owned by billionaire Tory donors has been accused of pushing pubs into bankruptcy after demanding tenants pay full rent owed from the months during the Covid lockdowns.The Wellington Pub Company, owned by David and Simon Reuben, offered its estimated 850 tenants a Covid discount on condition that they extended their leases for five years. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I spot brand new TVs, here to be shredded’: the truth about our electronic waste

  03-06-2023 14:00
  
  In a giant factory in California, thousands of screens, PCs and other old or unwanted gadgets are picked apart for materials. But what about the billions of other defunct (or not) devices?In the lobby of Fresno airport is a forest of plastic trees. A bit on the nose, I think: this is central California, home of the grand Sequoia national park. But you can’t put a 3,000-year-old redwood in a planter (not to mention the ceiling clearance issue), so the tourist board has deemed it fit to buil
  
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• Robot takeover? Not quite. Here’s what AI doomsday would look like

  03-06-2023 13:00
  
  Experts say the fallout from powerful AI will be less a nuclear bomb and more a creeping deterioration of societyAlarm over artificial intelligence has reached a fever pitch in recent months. Just this week, more than 300 industry leaders published a letter warning AI could lead to human extinction and should be considered with the seriousness of “pandemics and nuclear war”.Terms like “AI doomsday” conjure up sci-fi imagery of a robot takeover, but what does such a scenar
  
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• Cycling: here’s how to make buying a new bike an easy ride

  03-06-2023 11:00
  
  From specs to price, the key points to watch out for if you want to get a good deal on a new or used bikeAlthough prices of new bicycles have shot up in recent years, thanks in part to a Covid-induced bike-buying frenzy, it is still possible to find a decent one at a cost that won’t break the bank – if you know where to look.In fact, now is a very good time to buy a new bike because sluggish sales have prompted many big retailers to knock 20-30% off. For first-time buyers, the bike m
  
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• At last! Savings accounts pay up to 9% but only for some - see what you can get

  03-06-2023 10:36 via express.co.uk
  
  I'm delighted to see the banks finally offering savers a better return with rates of up to nine percent. It doesn't let them off the hook, though.
  
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• Diesel prices fell by nearly 12p a litre in UK in May, figures show

  03-06-2023 10:29
  
  Despite record reduction RAC says cut should have been even greater to fully reflect changes in marketDiesel prices fell by a record of nearly 12p a litre last month, figures show.The RAC said the average price of the fuel at UK forecourts dropped from 158.9p to 147p in May. Continue reading...
  
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• Next big stock market rally needs three things. Yesterday it got two of them

  03-06-2023 09:06 via express.co.uk
  
  Pension and stocks and shares Isa investors finally had something to cheer on Friday, as global stock markets bounced on two pieces of good news. We need just one more to trigger the next bull market.
  
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• I love electric vehicles – and was an early adopter. But increasingly I feel duped | Rowan Atkinson

  03-06-2023 09:00
  
  Sadly, keeping your old petrol car may be better than buying an EV. There are sound environmental reasons not to jump just yetElectric motoring is, in theory, a subject about which I should know something. My first university degree was in electrical and electronic engineering, with a subsequent master’s in control systems. Combine this, perhaps surprising, academic pathway with a lifelong passion for the motorcar, and you can see why I was drawn into an early adoption of electric vehicles
  
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• Britons could save over £100 on their energy bills with a ‘simple hack’ - check now

  03-06-2023 09:00 via express.co.uk
  
  After two years of sky-high energy bills, there are still no cheap fixed deals back on the market and falls in energy costs are yet to kick in.
  
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• UK car buying: expert tips on what to pick for your budget

  03-06-2023 08:00
  
  Motoring insiders tell us which models to choose, based on price, reliability, running costs and moreIf you are one of those people who views the prospect of buying a car with a mixture of fear and resentment, then help is at hand. This week, Guardian Money has been asking some of the UK’s car experts which vehicle they would buy for themselves if they were spending their own money.The UK’s cheapest brand-new cars include the Dacia Sandero, the MG3, the Kia Picanto and the Citroë
  
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• Side hustles can earn '£22,000 a year on top of main salary' - Britons urged 'just start'

  03-06-2023 05:01 via express.co.uk
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Katie Anderson started her business Pine & Treasure as a side hustle to make a bit of extra cash whilst travelling but now she now earns more from this venture than she did as head of marketing for a creative agency.
  
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• Energy debt: How consumers can slash their spending to clear their balances

  03-06-2023 05:00 via express.co.uk
  
  Families struggling with energy debt can adapt "good habits" to clear their debits, experts have told Express.co.uk.
  
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• UK shoppers warned of delivery app markup on supermarket goods

  03-06-2023 01:01
  
  Which? finds a basket of items speedily delivered by Deliveroo, Just Eat or Uber Eats can cost a third moreOrdering a basket of groceries via a delivery app can cost more than a third extra than buying direct from a supermarket – even before paying a delivery charge, according to a new report.Some items were found to be more than twice the cost via an app in a study by consumer group Which? that studied a basket of 15 items from Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Iceland and Waitrose via
  
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