Financial news

• Bank of England governor shrugs off smaller-than-expected fall in inflation

  17-04-2024 23:26
  
  Andrew Bailey says inflation is in line with BoE forecasts but view of marketsis that data will delay interest rate cutsAnalysis: Sunak hopes of pre-election rate cuts frustratedThe governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has shrugged off a smaller-than-expected drop in inflation last month, saying he expected a sharp fall towards the government’s 2% target next month.Speaking in Washington after news that the government’s preferred measure of the cost of living had eased fro
  
  Read more

• DWP warns carers they could face greater penalties if they appeal against fines

  17-04-2024 19:41
  
  Officials at Department for Work and Pensions accused of ‘threatening and cruel’ tactics over repayment ordersWoman with dementia, 92, told to repay £7,000 in disability allowanceGovernment officials have been accused of using “threatening and cruel” tactics towards unpaid carers by saying they could face even greater financial penalties if they appeal against “vindictive” benefit fines.This month a Guardian investigation revealed that thousands of peopl
  
  Read more

• Compensation payouts to UK rail passengers for delays hit £100m a year

  17-04-2024 17:40
  
  Record sum follows almost 320,000 train services being cancelled or part cancelled in past year in BritainBusiness live – latest updatesCompensation paid to passengers for train delays in Britain has reached record levels, with annual payouts surpassing £100m and the number of claims for delayed or cancelled trains continuing to grow.Payouts to passengers for disrupted journeys reached £101.3m in the year to April 2023 – up by 155% from £39m in 2021-22. Continue rea
  
  Read more

• TikTok questioned by EU over Lite app that ‘pays’ users for watching videos

  17-04-2024 15:57
  
  European Commission has concerns about app’s impact on children, as well as addictionThe EU has given TikTok 24 hours to provide a risk assessment over a new service it has launched amid concerns it could encourage children to become addicted to videos on the platform.The watch-and-get-rewarded application, TikTok Lite, launched in France and Spain this month, in effect offers users prizes such as Amazon vouchers, gift cards via PayPal or TikTok’s Coins currency for points earned thr
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Efficient, reliable – and fragrant: German rail firm announces plans for the future

  17-04-2024 15:49
  
  Deutsche Bahn’s vision includes hi-tech cabins and more efficient engineering work amid growing dissatisfaction with the railwayGermany’s national rail company, Deutsche Bahn, has announced its plans for the future, with a multi-billion euro revamp which its bosses say will make it more efficient, more reliable – and more fragrant.Digitalised railway stations, single-seat cabins and longer trains are among the promises, as well as buttons that passengers can press to diffuse re
  
  Read more

• Tesla asks shareholders to back $56bn pay for Elon Musk rejected by judge

  17-04-2024 15:26
  
  Delaware court in nullified compensation deal based on carmaker’s market value in January, calling it ‘unfathomable sum’Tesla on Wednesday asked its shareholders to once again approve CEO Elon Musk‘s record-breaking $56bn pay that was set in 2018. A Delaware judge rejected the pay package in January, calling it excessive and saying the company’s board failed to justify it.The compensation includes no salary or cash bonus, but sets rewards based on Tesla’s mark
  
  Read more

• UK inflation falls by less than forecast to 3.2%, cooling rate cut hopes

  17-04-2024 15:21
  
  Predictions for when Bank of England will start lowering cost of borrowing pushed backAnalysis: Sunak hopes of pre-election rate cuts frustratedBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK’s annual inflation rate fell by less than expected last month to 3.2%, complicating the timing of a potential first Bank of England interest rate cut.Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed inflation continued to ease in March from 3.4% in February to reach the lowest level since Sept
  
  Read more

• Beware risks of voter giveaways to public finances, countries facing elections told

  17-04-2024 15:00
  
  IMF says reduction in national insurance may have made cutting UK national debt more difficultThe International Monetary Fund has issued a strong warning to Britain and other countries facing elections this year to avoid voter giveaways that might pose risks to their public finances.In its half-yearly fiscal monitor, the IMF said the reduction in national insurance contributions (NICs) announced by Jeremy Hunt in his budget last month may have already made cutting the UK’s national debt mo
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• PMQs: no one has put up taxes more times than Rishi Sunak, says Keir Starmer – video

  17-04-2024 14:23
  
  'No single politician has ever put tax up more times than he has,' said Keir Starmer during a heated session at prime minister's questions, during which the Labour leader clashed with the prime minister over the Conservative party's management of the economy.Sunak defended his record, saying inflation was down and pensions had been increased, accusing the Labour leader of wanting to increase taxesUK politics – latest updates Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• I’m 17 and haven’t seen a dentist for four years. This is life in England’s NHS dental deserts | Beth Riding

  17-04-2024 14:00
  
  Like many young people, I have no hope of finding an NHS dentist – and this is only deepening class divisionsThis article won the 16-18 age category of the Guardian Foundation’s 2024 Hugo Young award, which champions political opinion writingWhen I was 12 my childhood dentist went private. It was 2018 and I’d just had a consultation with my orthodontist, and had been told I would need at least two teeth removed before my braces could be fitted. My options were: pay (a minimum o
  
  Read more

• Post Office chief Nick Read cleared of misconduct in separate inquiry

  17-04-2024 13:59
  
  Existence of whistleblower allegations added to scandal over Horizon computer systemThe Post Office has said that its chief executive, Nick Read, has been cleared of any wrongdoing in an investigation after the existence of whistleblower allegations was dramatically revealed in parliament.Read has been “exonerated of all the misconduct allegations” brought by a whistleblower after an investigation by an external barrister. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Taylor Swift fans given ‘urgent warning’ as £1m lost in ticket scams

  17-04-2024 13:49
  
  Lloyds Bank says more than 600 of its customers have been tricked by fraudsters so farA rise in fraud cases involving Taylor Swift fans desperate to buy tickets to her sold-out UK shows has prompted Lloyds Bank to issue an “urgent warning” after more than 600 of its customers were scammed.With the superstar due to arrive in Europe next month, the high street bank said its data suggested that UK fans had lost more than £1m to fraudsters so far. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Royal Mail owner received takeover offer from Czech billionaire

  17-04-2024 13:31
  
  IDS shares rise as it is reported it rejected bid from Daniel Křetínský’s EP GroupBusiness live – latest updatesThe owner of Royal Mail received a takeover offer from a Czech billionaire who has stakes in Sainsbury’s and West Ham United football club.Daniel Křetínský approached International Distributions Services (IDS), the owner of the struggling British postal company, this month. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Asos says it will take ‘necessary actions’ after 18% drop in sales

  17-04-2024 12:22
  
  Online fashion retailer says it is becoming ‘faster and more agile’, after pre-tax losses of £120mAsos has said it will take “necessary actions” to transform its fortunes after the fast fashion retailer’s first-half losses widened and sales fell by nearly a fifth.The company reported an 18% drop in sales year on year for the first six months to 3 March. This contributed to an underlying pre-tax loss of £120m, widened from the £87.4m loss recorded d
  
  Read more

• Trader Joe’s and Starbucks are helping Elon Musk undermine the US government | Steven Greenhouse

  17-04-2024 12:01
  
  SpaceX is trying to kill a federal agency that accused it of labor violations. Ostensibly progressive brands have leaped to join inElon Musk boasts that he’s a “free speech absolutist”, but that didn’t stop his rocket company, SpaceX, from firing eight workers who had criticized him for making light of reports that SpaceX had settled a sexual harassment claim against him.Not stopping there, SpaceX has moved to put the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the US’s
  
  Read more

• Sunak hopes of pre-election interest rate cuts frustrated by inflation slow puncture

  17-04-2024 11:59
  
  Shift in rate reduction predictions to autumn hits prime minister’s strategy of winning back mortgage payersUK inflation falls by less than forecast to 3.2%, cooling rate cut hopesWhen the Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, told an event in Washington on Tuesday that the UK economy was “disinflating”, it raised the hopes of mortgage payers and indebted businesses that a cut in the cost of borrowing could be on the way soon.But less than 24 hours later, the latest UK infla
  
  Read more

• United Airlines blames Boeing problems for $200m hit to earnings

  17-04-2024 10:21
  
  Carrier says three-week grounding of 737 Max 9 planes after Alaska Airlines blowout cost it profitUnited Airlines has blamed a $200m (£161m) hit to its earnings in the first three months of the year on the mid-flight blowout that forced it to ground many of its Boeing planes.The US carrier said the three-week grounding of 737 Max 9 jets after a cabin panel blew out on a flight operated by rival Alaska Airlines at the start of January contributed to a $124m loss in the three months to the e
  
  Read more

• There’s a gaping hole at the centre of the Tory party where ideas should be. The risk is Liz Truss will fill it | Rafael Behr

  17-04-2024 09:00
  
  Sunak likes to pretend his predecessor never happened. But are the moderates going to sit back and cede their party to fanatics?It would be charitable to ignore Liz Truss. Attention is her addiction and any dose, even laced with scorn, sustains the toxic belief that she has important things to say. Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister has been bingeing on publicity for a memoir that cannot enhance her reputation. She is a stranger to contrition. She regrets only the haste with which s
  
  Read more

• Renault sent me an £11,000 bill to repair my Zoe heater

  17-04-2024 08:00
  
  The car is just five years old, and now the company seems to be washing its hands of the matterI read with interest your recent letter.Unfortunately, I am having a very similar experience, but, in my case, Renault wants to charge us £9,121 to repair the heater on our Zoe, which we bought new for £30,000. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!