Financial news

• Fed leaves interest rates unchanged but signals three cuts this year

  20-03-2024 20:14
  
  Rates to stay at 25-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% as central bank says ‘inflation has eased over the past year but remains elevated’The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that it would leave US interest rates at a 25-year high as it continues to assess their impact on cooling inflation and the wider economy.After a two-day meeting, the Fed announced rates would be unchanged at 5.25% to 5.5%, where they have been since July. But the Fed signaled it still expects to cut rates three ti
  
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• World Bank report finds imminent risk of catastrophic famine in Gaza Strip

  20-03-2024 19:52
  
  Findings come as UN secretary general calls on Israel to give unconditional access to Gaza for aid reliefHalf the population of the Gaza Strip is at imminent risk of famine as food shortages approach catastrophic levels for more than a million people, the World Bank has warned.Almost six months after the war between Israel and Hamas began, the Washington-based Bank said urgent action was needed to prevent widespread deaths from starvation within the next two months.Guardian Newsroom: The unfoldi
  
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• The Guardian view on Labour’s economic plans: a response too small for the challenge the UK faces | Editorial

  20-03-2024 19:51
  
  A radical agenda is needed to deal with the crises of economic stagnation, political polarisation and the climate emergency. Rachel Reeves did not offer oneOn Tuesday night, Rachel Reeves gave an important speech in the City of London, in which she offered an insight into Labour’s economic thinking. In her Mais lecture, the shadow chancellor cast Britain in a “moment of flux”, comparable to the end of the 1970s when one economic paradigm replaced another. It was, in many respec
  
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• Rachel Reeves is staking it all on economic growth. So where's her plan to achieve it? | Larry Elliott

  20-03-2024 18:37
  
  Promising to reform the planning system, boost investment and improve skills is all very well, but the detail is missingThe pursuit of growth is an obsession for politicians the world over. Olaf Scholz thinks more growth would make him a more popular German chancellor. Xi Jinping sets growth targets in China and they are invariably met. Here in Britain, Rachel Reeves mentioned the word 58 times when she delivered the prestigious Mais lecture this week.The almost fetishistic worship of gross dome
  
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• Norton former owner ‘should have been jailed over pension fraud’ – Pensions Ombudsman chair

  20-03-2024 18:00
  
  Stuart Garner was convicted of three offences in 2022 after illegally investing others’ retirement savings in his own businessesThe disgraced former owner of Norton Motorcycles should have served jail time for his role in the multi-million-pound pension fraud, the chair of the Pensions Ombudsman service has told a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal.The comments by Anthony Arter will be viewed by victims as a thinly veiled criticism of a prosecution run by the Pensions Regulator against
  
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• Emissions connected to top oil and gas firms may cause millions of heat deaths by 2100, study finds

  20-03-2024 15:09
  
  Global witness analysis suggests 11.5 million deaths could be caused by burning of fuel produced by 2050The emissions from burning oil and gas produced by the world’s leading fossil fuel companies could cause millions of excess heat deaths before the end of the century, according to a new analysis.The study from Global Witness found that the combined emissions from fossil fuels produced by Shell, BP, TotalEnergies, ExxonMobil and Chevron up to 2050 could result in 11.5 million excess death
  
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• Train drivers at London Underground and 16 rail firms to strike in April and May

  20-03-2024 14:44
  
  Aslef members vote ‘overwhelmingly’ in favour of further industrial action over pay and conditionsBusiness live – latest updatesTrain drivers at London Underground and 16 rail companies have announced a wave of industrial action that could cause chaos for passengers across the UK and bring the entire tube network in the capital to a halt on certain days.Tube drivers are to stage two one-day strikes in April and May unless a dispute over changes to working conditions is resolved
  
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• Average monthly UK rent up 9% – the highest annual increase recorded

  20-03-2024 14:28
  
  Cost of renting rises in all parts of the UK, ONS says, with the average monthly rent in England now £1,276The average monthly rent paid by tenants in the UK rose by 9% in the year to February, official figures show – the highest annual increase since records began in 2015.Figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday highlighted what one campaigner described as a “cost of renting crisis”, with prices rising in all parts of the UK. Continue reading..
  
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• World’s top fossil-fuel bosses deride efforts to move away from oil and gas

  20-03-2024 14:00
  
  Executives at Texas summit claim clean-energy transition is failing and say world should ‘abandon the fantasy’ of fossil-fuel phaseout The bosses of the world’s leading oil and gas companies have poured scorn on efforts to move away from fossil fuels, complaining that a “visibly failing” transition to clean energy was being pushed forward at an “unrealistic pace”.The oil executives, gathered at the industry’s annual Cera Week conference in Houston,
  
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• HMRC halts plan to close tax helpline for six months a year

  20-03-2024 13:49
  
  Tax office makes swift U-turn after outcry over self-assessment, VAT and PAYE phone servicesHM Revenue and Customs has been forced into a swift U-turn after an outcry over its plans to close a key helpline for six months a year and scale back other phone services.Hours after HMRC announced the plans, the head of the tax office said that “following feedback from concerned stakeholders”, the changes to the self-assessment, VAT and PAYE helplines would be halted to allow more discussion
  
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• What the new tax year means for your finances - from income to ISAs

  20-03-2024 12:45 via express.co.uk
  
  Benefit increases, new investment opportunities, and several tax changes are due to come into effect in April.
  
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• Minneapolis drivers protested wages – and won. Lyft and Uber are choosing to leave the city rather than pay up

  20-03-2024 12:00
  
  Groups of drivers backed a bill setting minimum pay, but the two tech companies say it’d make riders’ fees unsustainableUber and Lyft claim they will cease operating in the Minneapolis area in protest of a minimum pay ordinance that the city council voted to approve last week.The bill, to go into effect on 1 May, would establish a minimum pay of $1.40 per mile and $0.51 cents per minute for rideshare drivers, with a $5 per ride minimum. The city council voted to override the mayor&rs
  
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• UK inflation falls to 3.4% in February as food price rises slow

  20-03-2024 10:17
  
  Decline in consumer prices index reading to more than two-year low adds to speculation of summer interest rate cutThe fight against UK inflation is being won – but when will interest rates be cut?Business live – latest updatesUK inflation fell to 3.4% in February – the lowest level for two and a half years – driven in part by a slowdown in the pace of food and restaurant price rises.The bigger-than-forecast decline in the consumer prices index (CPI) from 4% in January wil
  
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• Gucci owner Kering issues profit warning after China sales slump

  20-03-2024 09:58
  
  Like-for-like sales at luxury goods group down by 10% in first quarter, weighed by nearly 20% fall at GucciThe French billionaire François-Henri Pinault’s luxury goods company, Kering, has issued a profit warning as demand dries up for its leading brand Gucci in China.Unlike its rivals in the sector, which have fared better, the Paris-based company said like-for-like sales in the first quarter would drop by 10% year on year, while sales at Gucci were expected to fall by nearly 20%.
  
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• The fight against UK inflation is being won – but when will interest rates be cut?

  20-03-2024 09:38
  
  Prices are still going up but the tide has turned, raising expectations the Bank of England may cut rates in responseUK inflation falls to 3.4% in February to lowest level for two and a half yearsBusiness live – latest updatesThe battle against inflation is being won – and it is being won slightly more quickly than economists expected. Prices are still going up but the tide has turned. Unless something sudden and unexpected happens, the annual increase in the cost of living will be b
  
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• Microsoft hires DeepMind co-founder to lead new AI division

  20-03-2024 09:04
  
  British tech pioneer Mustafa Suleyman will be chief executive of organisation focusing on consumer products and researchProfile: Mustafa SuleymanMicrosoft has appointed the co-founder of the British artificial intelligence lab DeepMind as the head of a new AI division.Mustafa Suleyman, 39, co-founded DeepMind with Demis Hassabis and Shane Legg in 2010 and the company went on to be bought by Google for £400m in 2014. It now forms the core of Google’s AI efforts after merging with anot
  
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