Financial news

• Factchecking Trump’s inauguration speech, from inflation to healthcare

  20-01-2025 21:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Following up on key claims made by 47th US president during his day one addressDonald Trump inauguration – live updatesDonald Trump repeatedly made false and misleading claims during his inaugural address.Here are the facts on some of the false claims offered during Trump’s speech.First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to t
  
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• Musk gives thumbs up after Trump says US will plant its flag on Mars – video

  20-01-2025 20:05 via theguardian.com
  
  The Tesla and SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, gave an enthusiastic thumbs up on Monday after the newly sworn-in US president, Donald Trump, announced plans to send astronauts to Mars in his inauguration speech. Trump said the US was a nation that 'will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars'. Musk responded with vigorous applause, a broad grin and a thumbs upDonald Trump inauguration – live updatesMelania Trump lau
  
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• The Guardian view on incapacity benefit: the Treasury should not be calling the shots | Editorial

  20-01-2025 19:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Liz Kendall needs a policy to match her rhetoric on helping claimants back into workLabour’s plans for social security are once again under the spotlight, after the high court ruled that a consultation on incapacity benefit cuts was unlawful. Coupled with an expected squeeze on departmental spending, and the latest warning from a House of Lords committee that the present system is “unsustainable”, the prospect of a new consultation ramps up the pressure on the work and pensions
  
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• From Musk to Meloni: the guests at Trump's inauguration – video

  20-01-2025 19:23 via theguardian.com
  
  CEOs and conservative politicians from around the world have descended on Washington DC for Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, were seen inside the US Capitol. Other notable figures such as the UK politicians Nigel Farage, Liz Truss and Suella Braverman were also present. A variety of high-profile business owners also joined, including the Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, the Apple CEO, Tim Cook, and the Amazon
  
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• Hitchhiking frog article hopped over a crucial detail | Brief letters

  20-01-2025 19:02
  Animal welfare | Nuclear fusion | Atomic waste | Managing investments | What’s in a name?While I am, of course, concerned about the risks posed to the UK’s delicate biosystem by the inadvertent importing of harmful fauna and flora from foreign countries, your article (Colombian tree frog found by Sheffield florist highlights invasive species threat, 17 January) left a vital question unanswered. What happened to the little tree frog?
  Sallyann Halstead
  Fitzhead, Somerset• Intrigue
  
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• Former M&S boss says working from home is ‘not doing proper work’

  20-01-2025 17:03 via theguardian.com
  
  WFH has harmed employee productivity, says Stuart Rose, who was also executive chair of AsdaBusiness live – latest updatesThe former boss of M&S and Asda has said working from home has meant a generation of people is “not doing proper work”.Stuart Rose, who was the chief executive of M&S for six years until 2011 and then the executive chair of its supermarket rival Asda until November, claimed working from home had harmed employee productivity – a longstanding pro
  
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• Santander rushes guidance to managers as it reviews its future in UK

  20-01-2025 16:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Bank is considering sale of British business amid mounting frustrations over regulationBusiness live – latest updatesSantander has rushed out a note to senior managers after it emerged that the lender’s Spanish owner is reviewing the future of its UK business amid mounting frustrations over regulation.The chief executive of Santander’s UK corporate and commercial bank, John Baldwin, sent out a memo outlining how to respond to clients and its 21,000 UK staff, who have been rattl
  
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• Shares in Daily Mirror owner Reach rise as it says it will beat profit forecasts

  20-01-2025 13:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Publisher was helped by strong digital advertising performance towards end of year, say analystsBusiness live – latest updatesShares in the owner of the Daily Mirror rose more than a quarter after the publisher said it expects to beat annual profit expectations, after a strong end to the year and the benefit of deep cost-cutting in recent years.Reach, which owns national papers including the Mirror and Express and scores of local titles including the Manchester Evening News and the Liverpo
  
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• KPMG under investigation over audit of gambling company Entain

  20-01-2025 12:54 via theguardian.com
  
  FRC confirms inquiry into accounting firm’s 2022 audit of Ladbrokes, Coral and Sportingbet ownerBusiness live – latest updatesThe accounting firm KPMG is under investigation by the sector’s UK regulator over its audit of the 2022 accounts of the gambling company Entain.The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) said its enforcement division would be examining the conduct of the “big four” accounting firm, without saying what the investigation related to. Continue reading
  
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• UK charging firm warns over changes to electric car sales amid ‘difficult’ market

  20-01-2025 12:36 via theguardian.com
  
  Pod Point reports weak demand for new cars as government says no firms will pay fines over ZEV mandateBusiness live – latest updatesA charging company has said proposed UK changes to electric car sales rules could increase uncertainty over demand, as it said that it had been caught out by lower numbers of purchases by British drivers.Pod Point, which is majority-owned by EDF Energy, said weak demand for new cars meant it made revenues of £53m in 2024 from its sales of chargers and se
  
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• How a call for help to a mobile phone operator cost £6,700

  20-01-2025 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Check your contract before you travel as roaming charges while abroad can rack up horrifying bills for the unwaryA woman who used her phone for less than an hour in New York, while trying to contact her mobile company, has been hit with a bill for almost £6,700.Hilary O’Donnell, from Nottingham, was settling into her hotel when she found that her phone would not make outgoing calls, so she tried to contact Plan.com to fix the problem. But when she returned home, she was given a bill
  
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• All my accounts were shut down when TSB labelled me a ‘fraudster’ instead of the victim

  20-01-2025 09:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Credit checks revealed fraud markers against my name, placed by the bank, even though I had never been a customerI have been very badly treated by TSB, even though I have never been a customer. It mistakenly placed three fraud markers against my name, which prompted my bank, Santander, to close all five of the accounts I held with it. This has caused significant financial problems since direct debits and standing orders failed, and I was unable to start a planned house extension. TSB has not res
  
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• Trump threatens a global trade war. Europe must unleash a radical alternative | Gabriel Zucman

  20-01-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Unlike tariffs, a new form of protectionism could target climate-wrecking, untaxed corporations and their billionaire ownersGabriel Zucman is a French economistHow should Europe respond before Donald Trump’s policies destabilise the global economy? All countries will soon have to take a stand on the new US president’s tariff threats. While a shift away from free trade clearly carries risks, it also presents a valuable opportunity to reimagine our outdated international economic relat
  
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• ‘A vicious circle’: how the roof blew off Spain’s housing crisis

  20-01-2025 08:00
  
  Rents spiral and neighbourhoods lose charm as cities report tourist flat boom and surge in housing speculationCiutat Vella, the old city of Barcelona, was once quirky and mysterious.Now it has become a parody of itself, a place from which the local population has been exiled in the interests of tourism and maturing investments. Doorways have sprouted combination key safes, a telltale sign of an apartment given over to tourist lets. A 100-year-old apothecary and shirtmaker that stood on La Rambla
  
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• 'We need to save TikTok' says Trump who called for the app to be banned in 2020 – video

  20-01-2025 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  During a rally the day before his inauguration, Donald Trump called on the social media app to be saved. Trump had called for the app to be banned in 2020 during his firm term as president TikTok says it is restoring service in US after Trump vowed to delay ban Continue reading...
  
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• UK housing market ‘starts new year with a bang’, says Rightmove

  20-01-2025 01:01
  
  Number of homes new to market 11% higher than a year ago, despite uncertainty over interest rates and stamp dutyA record number of new sellers have come on to the UK housing market since Boxing Day, while the average price and the number of sales agreed also increased, pointing to a busier 2025, according to a report.The average price of a property coming to market rose by 1.7%, or £5,992, this month to £366,189, the biggest jump in prices at the start of the year since 2020, the pro
  
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