Financial news

• Asda sales fall as customers switch to supermarket rivals – business live

  08-08-2024 16:53
  Asda, Britain’s third biggest supermarket group, has posted a 5.3% decline in underlying sales in the three months to the end of JuneWith volatility high, global markets are settling into “a yo-yo pattern” as volatility remains high, says Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown:“Markets may have simmered down but this roller-coaster week isn’t over yet. UK markets opened lower in a move that unwinds a good chunk of yesterday’s gains.Corpora
  
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• Riots contribute to 4.8% drop in footfall on UK high streets

  08-08-2024 15:59
  This week’s fall blamed on looting fears that kept people stay away from shops as North of England worst hitShoppers have avoided high streets in recent days after rioting across England and Belfast led to shops being vandalised and looted, hitting footfall for retailers and neighbouring businesses, figures show..Footfall on UK high streets declined by an average 4.8% between Sunday and Wednesday from the same period the week before, according to the real estate software firm MRI Software.
  
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• Pension boost as payment coming to bank accounts soon - and it's automatic

  08-08-2024 15:52 via express.co.uk
  
  Millions of pensioner households will receive the financial support.
  
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• Hospitals sold for £500m as NHS waiting list crisis drives private healthcare demand

  08-08-2024 15:51
  Outsourcing to cut waiting lists prompts healthcare property investor Assura to buy 14 private sitesBusiness live – latest updatesAssura, a UK healthcare property investor and developer, has struck a £500m deal to buy Canada’s Northwest Healthcare Properties’ portfolio of 14 private hospitals across the UK, including Cancer Centre London and the Edgbaston hospital in Birmingham.The deal comes at a time when the NHS is under massive pressure, with near-record waiting lists
  
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• UK regulator to examine $4bn Amazon investment in AI startup Anthropic

  08-08-2024 15:36
  Move is the latest of a string of CMA investigations into technology tie-upsAmazon’s $4bn investment into US artificial intelligence startup Anthropic is to be examined in the latest investigation into technology tie-ups by the UK’s competition watchdog.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Thursday that it was launching a preliminary investigation into the deal, before deciding whether to refer it for an in-depth review. Continue reading...
  
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• Octopus Energy to give up to £200 to pensioners after Winter Fuel Payment support narrows

  08-08-2024 15:28 via express.co.uk
  
  Octopus Energy is offering up to £200 to pensioners in need.
  
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• ‘Massive disinformation campaign’ is slowing global transition to green energy

  08-08-2024 14:29
  
  UN says a global ‘backlash’ against climate action is being stoked by fossil fuel companiesFossil fuel companies are running “a massive mis- and disinformation campaign” so that countries will slow down the adoption of renewable energy and the speed with which they “transition away” from a carbon-intensive economy, the UN has said.Selwin Hart, the assistant secretary general of the UN, said that talk of a global “backlash” against climate action wa
  
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• HMRC issues new ‘nudge letter’ to people suspected of failing to pay correct tax

  08-08-2024 14:20 via express.co.uk
  
  Some Britons may "not be fully aware" of this tax obligation and may "get a shock" when the letter hits the doormat.
  
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• BA to axe direct flights from London Heathrow to Beijing

  08-08-2024 14:18
  
  The route, restored in June last year, will be ‘paused’ amid rising costs due to need to avoid Russian airspaceBritish Airways is to axe its direct flights between London Heathrow and Beijing.The UK national carrier announced that the service to the Chinese capital would end on 26 October. Continue reading...
  
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• HMRC plots crackdown on elite earners who could be hit with massive bills

  08-08-2024 14:13 via express.co.uk
  
  HMRC is concerned that some people in the six figure salary sectors are playing the system to minimise their tax and National Insurance bills.
  
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• Repossession claims in England and Wales at highest in five years

  08-08-2024 14:05
  
  Both bank and landlord cases rise but remain below pre-Covid levels, despite tough cycle of interest rate risesBusiness live – latest updatesThe number of claims made by banks and landlords to repossess homes in England and Wales has reached the highest level in five years as households struggle with higher borrowing costs.Figures from the Ministry of Justice show mortgage possession claims made by lenders in the county courts reached 5,343 in the three months to the end of June, up 34% on
  
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• DWP leaves families hanging 'for months' over state pension payout mystery

  08-08-2024 13:13 via express.co.uk
  
  A former pensions minister has described the situation as "simply cruel".
  
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• Pensions ‘big bang’ – bid to divert billions from workplace schemes to rebuilding Britain

  08-08-2024 12:46 via express.co.uk
  
  The move is part of a wider effort designed to make sure schemes put greater emphasis on building the pension pots of workers to guarantee financial security in old age.
  
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• Reeves ‘couldn’t live’ on £86k but is happily taking benefits from pensioners on £11,350

  08-08-2024 11:55 via express.co.uk
  
  I was genuinely shocked when chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that she was scrapping the winter fuel payment for 10million pensioners. Her decision looks worse by the day.
  
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• Bank boosts rate offered on fixed savings account to 'excellent' 5.2%

  08-08-2024 11:40 via express.co.uk
  
  The new deal takes a "prominent" position in the fixed rate savings market.
  
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• Deliveroo’s push into grocery orders helps deliver ‘profit milestone’

  08-08-2024 11:08
  Diversification plan and growing consumer confidence prompts £1m profit for courier in first half of yearBusiness live – latest updatesDeliveroo has reported its first half-year profit, as the UK food delivery company hailed early signs of a rebound in consumer spending amid a further push into grocery and retail deliveries.The company swung to a profit of £1m in the first six months of the year, its first since the business was launched in 2013, having reported an £83m l
  
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• Pensioners issued HMRC 'tax nightmare' warning

  08-08-2024 11:04 via express.co.uk
  
  The government has been forced to hand back a staggering £57 million to people who have been overtaxed on their pension withdrawals
  
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• Heatmaps show UK homebuyers look most at artwork and furniture before making decision

  08-08-2024 07:01
  
  Zoopla puts average viewing time at 49 minutes, as eye tracking study shows focus on mirrors and plants, not floors and wallsA fifth of homebuyers spend less than 20 minutes looking at a home before deciding to make an offer, with viewers more likely to focus on artwork and furniture than structural features, research suggests.The average time for looking around a property before settling on buying it was about 49 minutes, according to a survey of people who have attended viewings in the past fi
  
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• Ocado starts trial selling everyday products in refillable packaging

  08-08-2024 06:00
  
  First phase of trial starts this month and includes rice and pastaOcado is testing offering everyday products such as pasta, rice and washing liquid in refillable packaging in a first by an online supermarket.The scheme will trial a reusable vessel that can take food or laundry products with no extra costs for customers. Continue reading...
  
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• No god in the machine: the pitfalls of AI worship

  08-08-2024 06:00
  
  The rise of artificial intelligence has sparked a panic about computers gaining power over humankind. But the real threat comes from falling for the hypeIn Arthur C Clarke’s short story The Nine Billion Names of God, a sect of monks in Tibet believes humanity has a divinely inspired purpose: inscribing all the various names of God. Once the list was complete, they thought, he would bring the universe to an end. Having worked at it by hand for centuries, the monks decide to employ some mode
  
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• Is AI a bubble? - podcast

  08-08-2024 04:00
  
  Alex Hern reports on recent problems artificial intelligence companies have faced and asks whether the billions invested are paying off“Even if the AI boom turns out to be an AI bubble, the LLMs aren’t going anywhere,” the Guardian’s UK technology editor, Alex Hern, tells Michael Safi.“Whether or not OpenAI goes bust, whether or not Google and Microsoft’s valuations plummet back to the ground, there is this technology that was created. They may go bust, but th
  
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