Financial news

• The Guardian view of Rishi Sunak’s economics: the morons are back in charge | Editorial

  14-06-2023 19:58
  
  Growing the economy by shrinking it first is a high-risk political strategyUnder Liz Truss’s mercifully short-lived premiership, the yield on British government bonds surged last September – a penalty described as a “moron risk premium” that markets imposed on her reckless plan for a tax giveaway to the rich. Now it appears that the morons are back: yields on gilts have exceeded the levels they reached last year, and are higher than at any point since the 2008 global fina
  
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• The CMA must tell Vodafone to make hard commitments, not loose promises

  14-06-2023 19:52
  
  The former behemoth wants to merge with Three – but such a fundamental change in the UK telecoms market must come with a 5G guaranteeOnce upon a time, Vodafone was the biggest beast in the global telecoms jungle – indeed, it was also the UK’s biggest company by stock market value around the turn of the century. Now, says its new chief executive, it is “sub scale” in its home market of the UK and unable to compete effectively. As an implied confession of how Vodafone
  
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• Bud Light loses top US beer spot after promotion with transgender influencer

  14-06-2023 18:51
  
  Sales dropped by almost 25% on last year after brand featured Dylan Mulvaney in social mediaAnheuser-Busch InBev’s Bud Light has lost its top spot in the US beer market to Constellation Brands’ Modelo Especial, after a backlash from conservatives over a social media promotion with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.Sales of Bud Light and Budweiser dropped 24.6% and 9.2%, respectively, for the four weeks ended 3 June from a year earlier, while Modelo Especial sales rose 10.2%,
  
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• Guardian wins international journalism prize for work on Russian oligarchs

  14-06-2023 18:26
  
  Russian Asset Tracker published findings weeks after country’s brutal assault on UkraineThe Guardian has won a prestigious international journalism prize for its work identifying assets owned by Russian oligarchs.Russian Asset Tracker, a collaborative project led by the Guardian and the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, won the Innovation award at the European Press Prize in a ceremony held in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Friday. Continue reading...
  
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• Amazon staff in Coventry vote for six more months of strikes

  14-06-2023 16:25
  
  Workers to extend campaign over pay and conditions despite failing to win formal union recognitionWorkers at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse have voted to take a further six months of strike action, despite failing to win formal union recognition from the tech company.Results of the ballot came as the GMB union’s 800 members at the site, known as BHX4, were on strike for the 19th day. Continue reading...
  
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• The US debt-ceiling ‘deal’ was a giant exercise in bipartisan class warfare | Clara Mattei

  14-06-2023 16:12
  
  The elite consensus is clear: spending is fine when it supports military ventures, but bad when it supports social welfareThe headlines around the debt-ceiling legislation focused on the ability of the US to meet its financial obligations on time and in full through 2024. This was no small accomplishment, especially as it arrived within a forever-fractured political environment and only 18 months from a presidential election.But the actual terms of the debt-ceiling legislation reveal a political
  
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• Southern Water refuses order to release memos about sewage discharges

  14-06-2023 15:56
  
  Information commissioner had demanded that the water company publish 53 documents last yearSouthern Water is refusing demands by the information watchdog to publish internal communications between board members relating to discussions about raw sewage discharges.The company, which was fined £90m in 2021 for discharging billions of litres of raw sewage into protected coastal waters, was ordered to publish 53 documents by the information commissioner at the end of last year because of the &l
  
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• Vodafone and Three agree merger to form UK’s largest mobile operator

  14-06-2023 15:26
  
  Deal to combine firms’ British telecoms networks likely to face competition scrutiny amid union calls for merger to be blockedVodafone and the owner of Three have agreed a deal to merge their British telecoms networks in a move that will create the UK’s largest mobile phone operator.The two companies are the UK’s third- and fourth-biggest operators respectively. The newly combined company will, if the merger is completed, have more than 27 million subscribers, leapfrogging EE,
  
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• TSB urges Facebook and Instagram owner to better protect users from fraud

  14-06-2023 15:02
  
  Bank says UK consumers could lose £250m from scams originating on Meta platforms in 2023Fraud on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp is projected to cost victims £250m this year, a leading UK bank has said, adding to pressure on the tech firms’ parent company, Meta, to tackle scams on its platforms.The chief executive of TSB, which produced the forecast, has written to the US tech company calling on it to take urgent action to address the soaring levels of fraud on social media.In
  
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• It may be hot, but most British homes don't need aircon. Switch it off | Hannah Fearn

  14-06-2023 14:00
  
  As a coal-fired power station is readied to meet the exploding demand for portable units, let’s face it: this is just extravaganceFifteen years ago, it was the wood burner: an unnecessary middle-class indulgence that, despite causing untold environmental damage, started popping up in homes across the country. They became symbolic of a certain affluence that allows a privileged few to live in optimum comfort at all times.Now there’s a new kid on the block: the portable air-conditionin
  
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• EU regulator orders Google to sell part of ad-tech business

  14-06-2023 13:58
  
  Competition commission accuses firm of favouring its own services to detriment of rivalsThe EU has ordered Google to sell part of its advertising business, as the bloc’s competition regulator steps up its enforcement of big tech’s monopolies.The competition commission said it had taken issue “with Google favouring its own online display advertising technology services to the detriment of competing providers of advertising technology services, advertisers and online publishers&r
  
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• Discrimination is a bigger AI risk than human extinction – EU commissioner

  14-06-2023 12:19
  
  Commissioner says existential threat unlikely, but ‘guardrails’ needed for decisions affecting livelihoodsDiscrimination is a bigger threat posed by artificial intelligence than possible extinction of the human race, according to the EU’s competition commissioner.Margrethe Vestager said although the existential risk from advances in AI may be a concern, it was unlikely, whereas discrimination from the technology was a real problem. Continue reading...
  
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• Pyrex and Instant Pot maker files for bankruptcy protection in US

  14-06-2023 12:06
  
  Instant Brands, which blames rising interest rates for financial problems, will continue to serve retailersThe maker of Pyrex kitchenware and the Instant Pot pressure cooker has filed for bankruptcy protection, blaming rising interest rates for its financial difficulties.Instant Brands, controlled by the private equity investor Cornell Capital, said late on Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the Southern District of Texas, as it tries to restructure liabilities of as mu
  
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• Bean counters: how Russia’s wealthy profited from exit of western brands

  14-06-2023 11:40
  
  Buyers of Starbucks operations say they paid £4.7m for assets, despite 2021 revenues ten times that figureIn the weeks after the invasion of Ukraine began, western companies in Russia were faced with a costly conundrum. Facing pressure from their customers and western governments to end all operations in Russia, brands from Coca-Cola to Levi’s to Ikea all announced they would pull out.So as ordinary Russians found their access to Apple services limited and their Netflix cut off, many
  
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• Shell drops target to cut oil production as CEO aims for higher profits

  14-06-2023 10:41
  
  Wael Sawan prioritises shareholder payouts, setting out plan to keep oil production steady until 2030Peak in global oil demand ‘in sight before end of decade’Shell has abandoned plans to cut oil production each year for the rest of the decade, in a shift in approach to firmly target fossil fuels and increase payouts to shareholders under its new chief executive.The FTSE 100 oil company on Wednesday announced that production would remain stable until 2030, after previously saying it w
  
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• UK economy returns to slender growth as spending in pubs lifts output

  14-06-2023 10:16
  
  GDP rose by 0.2% in April, with rising car sales and reduced impact of strikes also playing a partBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK economy eked out a return to growth in April as rising car sales and customers spending in pubs and bars helped output to recover from a wave of public sector strikes in the previous month.The Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday that gross domestic product rose by a slender 0.2% month on month, matching the forecasts of City economists for a re
  
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• E.ON Next ordered to pay £5m over poor customer service

  14-06-2023 09:32
  
  Compensation decision follows Ofgem review that found ‘severe weaknesses’ in complaint handlingThe power supplier E.ON Next has been ordered to pay £5m in compensation to consumers for poor customer services, the energy watchdog for Great Britain has announced.Ofgem said a review of customer service standards and complaint handling across the sector uncovered “severe weaknesses” at E.ON Next, with customers facing long call-waiting times and a high level of unanswer
  
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• The other day in the supermarket I was accused of stealing. Heartlessness has crept into everyday life | James

  14-06-2023 08:00
  
  Things are difficult but I am determined not to accept lesser treatment. And I urge others in my position not to accept it eitherThis article is part of the heat or eat diaries: a series from the frontline of Britain’s cost of living emergencyIn 21st-century Britain, we should be able to hope for more than mere subsistence. But life for me and many others in my community has become geared solely around survival.Morale is low. One of the projects I attend provides hot meals and surplus food
  
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• Amazon under fire for ramping up sellers’ fees and advertising costs

  14-06-2023 08:00
  
  Some delivery and storage costs for European vendors more than doubled in 2017-23, analysis showsAmazon has been accused of being “no friend of the small business” after a report discovered evidence that the online marketplace has ramped up fees and advertising costs for sellers.It found that between 2017 and 2022 Amazon had tripled the amount it earned from fees for independent sellers in Europe, including for listings, deliveries and digital support. That growth far outstripped the
  
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• Amazon insisted I report my missing package to the police

  14-06-2023 08:00
  
  Because it was marked as ‘delivered’, Amazon won’t believe it wasn’tI placed an order on Amazon totalling £71.97. It never arrived. The package was marked as delivered, with the tracker showing it was handed to a receptionist. My block of flats doesn’t have a reception. Amazon insisted I obtain a crime reference number and a police report into the “theft”, before it could authorise a refund or replacements. The police informed me that, as there was
  
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• How Saudi Arabia took over professional golf - podcast

  14-06-2023 04:00
  
  After months of bitter divisions in the world of professional golf, a major deal has resulted in victory for Saudi Arabia and its bid to influence the future of the sport. Ewan Murray reportsFor years professional golf has been a lucrative but fairly placid affair. That all changed with the advent of LIV golf – a new entity that encouraged some of the sport’s biggest names to play its new-format tournaments and sign multi-million dollar contracts. It was lavishly backed by Saudi Arab
  
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• Bank launches 5.4% one-year fixed rate saver and increases rates across savings accounts

  14-06-2023 01:01 via express.co.uk
  
  Atom bank is launching a new one year fixed rate savings account and increasing the rates on several of its fixed rate savers.
  
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