Financial news

• UK trade secretary to visit China with aim of reviving key joint trade commission

  15-04-2025 20:11
  
  Jonathan Reynold’s trip suggests government will continue its rapprochement with Beijing despite security concernsThe trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will travel to Beijing to revive a key trade dialogue with China despite saying it had been naive to allow Chinese investment in sensitive sectors, the Guardian has learned.Reynolds is scheduled to travel to China later this year for high-level talks in an effort to boost bilateral trade and investment. Continue reading...
  
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• Increased bills for higher earners could fund UK energy upgrade, Ofgem says

  15-04-2025 19:49
  
  Regulator to consult industry on how to recover network costs via standing charge in a ‘more progressive’ wayWealthier households could be made to shoulder higher costs for running and upgrading the UK’s network of energy cables and pipes to help low-income bill payers under new plans to be considered this summer.The proposals could mean that high-income households will pay more via the standing charge on their energy bills, while those who are not in work or are on low pay are
  
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• The Guardian view on Donald Trump’s industrial policy: inward turn by ultimatum | Editorial

  15-04-2025 19:38
  
  The US is retreating behind chokepoints and tariffs. It remains determined to invent the future but is struggling to ensure its controlGlobalisation is out; reshoring is the new realism. Intel’s half-built Ohio campus and Nvidia’s US supercomputer plan demonstrate the very different routes taken by Joe Biden and Donald Trump in the search for homegrown tech dominance. Mr Biden relied on institutions: grants, land and investment incentives. That approach has stalled after last year&rs
  
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• The Guardian view on unpaid carers: the scandal of their allowances is far from over | Editorial

  15-04-2025 19:37 via theguardian.com
  New rules for checking overpayments are a milestone. But deep concerns remain about the DWP’s approachThe announcement by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of a new regime for checking breaches of carer’s allowance rules is a milestone in the campaign to end the shockingly poor treatment of claimants. Rules directing officials to investigate only half of alerts about suspected overpayments are rightly being ditched. In future, all reports will be checked, so that claima
  
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• Apple airlifted iPhones worth $2bn from India in March as Trump tariffs loomed

  15-04-2025 19:29
  
  Tech giant stepped up production and chartered cargo flights with at least six jets to ensure sufficient inventoryApple’s main Indian suppliers Foxconn and Tata shipped nearly $2bn worth of iPhones to the United States in March, an all-time high, as the US company airlifted devices to bypass Donald Trump’s impending tariffs, customs data shows.The smartphone maker stepped up production in India and chartered cargo flights to ferry 600 tons of iPhones to the United States to ensure su
  
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• UK government refuses to rule out redundancies at Scunthorpe steelworks

  15-04-2025 18:49
  
  Business secretary says plant may need ‘different employment footprint’ after government takeover of siteThe business secretary has refused to rule out redundancies at the Scunthorpe steelworks, despite calls from trade unions to end the programme of job losses started by its former owners.Jonathan Reynolds said on Tuesday the plant might need to have a “different employment footprint” after the government’s takeover, even as he promised to try to save the plant&rsq
  
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• Starbucks’s UK retail business paid no corporation tax last year

  15-04-2025 18:13
  
  US-owned coffee chain dived to £35m loss after paying £40m in royalty and license fees to parent companyStarbucks’s UK retail business paid no corporation tax for last year as it dived to a £35m loss after paying £40m in royalty and licence fees to its parent company.The US-owned coffee chain said it made the payments despite sales declining 4% to £525.6m in the year to 29 September 2024, amid what it called a “challenging economic climate” and a c
  
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• X’s UK profits collapsed the year after Elon Musk’s takeover

  15-04-2025 18:11
  
  Social media platform formerly known as Twitter says 66.3% revenue drop was down to fall in advertising incomeX’s revenues and profits collapsed in the UK in the year after Elon Musk took over the social media platform, the company has admitted.A decline in advertising spending amid concerns about “brand safety and/or content moderation” were cited as the reason for the fall, according to accounts filed this week to Companies House. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump tariffs will mean world uses less oil this year, IEA says

  15-04-2025 17:23
  
  Energy watchdog cuts forecast for growth in demand by a third, and says a trade war could mean it falls furtherThe world will use less crude oil than expected this year due the “substantial risks” posed by Donald Trump’s trade tariffs to the global economy, according to the global energy watchdog.The International Energy Agency slashed its forecasts for global oil demand growth by a third for the year ahead, and warned that it could make further downward revisions depending on
  
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• DWP to overhaul carer’s allowance checks after overpayment scandal

  15-04-2025 16:38 via theguardian.com
  Department previously investigated only 50% of earnings limit alerts, meaning many carers fell into debtMinisters have announced an overhaul of the way carer’s allowance overpayments are checked in an attempt to fix the failing system which has left thousands with life-changing debts,fines and criminal records.In a significant policy change, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been ordered to hire extra staff to investigate 100% of the carer’s allowance earnings breach ale
  
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• While Starmer’s hand was forced on British Steel, it’s time to forge ahead with more nationalisations | Owen Jones

  15-04-2025 16:30
  
  The majority of Britons are sick of privatisation and value public ownership. Labour must now listen to them and offer a radical alternativeBritish Steel is heading for nationalisation – against the will of the government. This is an important point, because it speaks to dogma colliding with practical reality. Here is a private company defeated by the “sink or swim” laws of the free market ideology that produced it, demanding instead that taxpayers come to its rescue – by
  
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• Data shows little sign that tax increase on employers is leading to mass layoffs | Heather Stewart

  15-04-2025 15:00
  
  No dramatic shakeout so far, but jobs data may yet look like a snapshot of the calm before the storm of Trump’s tariffsNumber of payrolled workers in UK fell by 78,000 ahead of budget tax riseThe UK jobs market continues to cool but Rachel Reeves will be relieved that there is little sign as yet in the latest data that her tax increase on employers is leading to mass job losses.Targeting employer national insurance contributions (NICs) to raise an extra £25bn in October’s budge
  
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• HSBC and Co-op Bank cut mortgage rates as Halifax and Lloyds ease rules

  15-04-2025 14:58
  Lenders stepping up mortgage price war in apparent response to financial turmoil sparked by US tariffsUK lenders are stepping up a mortgage price war, with HSBC and the Co-operative Bank announcing fresh rate cuts, and Halifax and Lloyds Bank loosening their affordability rules to enable homebuyers to borrow more.The number of low-deposit mortgages that let buyers borrow up to 95% of a property’s value has hit a 17-year high. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘It felt like a big call’: the property boss who bet workers would return to the office … and won

  15-04-2025 14:00
  
  Simon Carter of British Land says that, with high-end facilities at a premium again, gambling on construction during the pandemic has paid offA winter garden filled with plants, dedicated areas to suit both extrovert and introvert workers, a “social lobby”, and a cycle ramp into the building: this is the office of the future.Well, at least a version of it – as envisioned by property ­developer British Land and to be made ­reality within a vast new project at 2 Fins
  
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• Don’t worry, gen Z! A billionaire boomer says your lives are going to be great | Arwa Mahdawi

  15-04-2025 13:30 via theguardian.com
  The CEO of JPMorgan Chase says young people needn’t worry – the future is bright and AI-enhanced. So why does the world feel so precarious?Chin up, everyone. Things may seem grim at the moment but a billionaire has swooped in to reassure everyone – particularly impecunious young people – that everything is going to be OK. Better than OK, in fact. According to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, despite the current economic and political instability, gen Z should be grateful f
  
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• Steel was a security risk. What about UK gas storage? | Nils Pratley

  15-04-2025 13:09
  
  The government refused to allow steel furnaces to be turned off. Should it be happy with just six days of stored gas?Business live – latest updatesThe government was not prepared to see British Steel turn off its furnaces, deeming them to be a critical asset for national security. So what is its security view on the UK’s capacity to store gas? In a time of trade wars, disrupted supply chains and suspected Russian sabotage in the Baltic Sea, are ministers happy for the country to go i
  
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• EE was unapologetic after I tried to stop a sim swap fraud

  15-04-2025 09:30
  More than my money was stolen after activation went ahead, despite a suspected deception being reported 24 hours earlierEE texted to say they had processed my sim activation request, and the new sim would be active in 24 hours. I was told to contact them if I hadn’t requested this. I hadn’t, so I did so immediately. Twenty-four hours later, my mobile stopped working and money was withdrawn from my bank account.With their alien sim, the ­fraudster infiltrated my handset and stole
  
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• The scramble to save British Steel – podcast

  15-04-2025 04:00
  What does the British Steel crisis reveal about the UK’s critical infrastructure? Jasper Jolly reportsOn Saturday, when MPs were supposed to be on their Easter holidays, a rare emergency sitting was called. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, told the House of Commons that they were meeting “in exceptional circumstances to take exceptional action in what are exceptional times”.MPs passed a bill to save the Scunthorpe steelworks, a vital part of the UK’s critical in
  
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• HMRC urges pension savers to look out for letter with payout 'most won't claim'

  15-04-2025 02:00 via express.co.uk
  
  A pension expert says many workers may not be aware they are owed extra money from HMRC.
  
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