Financial news

• Dow Jones hits 50,000 milestone amid tech gains and hopes of lower interest rates

  06-02-2026 22:31 via theguardian.com
  Although tech stocks and cryptocurrencies suffered recent falls, investors largely shrugged off geopolitical tensions The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 50,000 for the first time, as ballooning tech valuations, robust corporate earnings and hopes of lower interest rates drive it to new highs.Leading stock markets on Wall Street came under pressure earlier this week as technology stocks fell amid scrutiny of extraordinary levels of investment into artificial intelligence. Continue reading..
  
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• Queen’s image on Australian commemorative coins likened to Shrek

  06-02-2026 19:01 via theguardian.com
  Two coins celebrating Queen Elizabeth II criticised for failing to resemble late monarchTwo Australian coins commemorating Queen Elizabeth II have been criticised for failing to resemble the late monarch.The $5 (£2.56) and 50c (26p) silver coins, created by Royal Australian Mint to commemorate the centenary of the queen’s birth, were released in an online ballot that closed on Wednesday. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Quality really matters’: why the organic food market is booming again

  06-02-2026 17:52 via theguardian.com
  Greater awareness of healthy diets and concerns over ‘trusted’ food mean sales are growing at fastest pace in two decadesWhen household finances were plunged into turmoil during the credit crunch, one of the first things that Britons cancelled was their veg box delivery.But although the cost of living crisis persists, the organic market is enjoying its biggest boom in two decades, according to the veg box seller Riverford. It is not just fruit and veg, with a “massive” in
  
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• Levi’s sales grow in UK as celebrities drive denim revival

  06-02-2026 16:21 via theguardian.com
  Noel Gallagher and Harry Styles lead way, and sales of jeans in general rise faster than wider fashion marketThe UK was one of Levi’s fastest-growing markets last year as British trend leaders from Harry Styles to Noel Gallagher and Grime Gran were spotted in the brand’s kit.Lucia Marcuzzo, the managing director of the European operations at the US company famous for its denim jeans, said the revival of 1990s trends had boosted sales of its classic 501s. New trends such as baggy jean
  
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• Trump’s family is embroiled in a $500m UAE scandal. We’ve hardly noticed | Mohamad Bazzi

  06-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  A crypto startup founded by Trump’s family signed a huge deal with the UAE president’s brother. Where’s the political fallout?Days before Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, an investment firm controlled by a senior member of the United Arab Emirates royal family secretly signed a deal to pay $500m to buy almost half of a cryptocurrency startup founded by the Trump family. Under any other president, such an arrangement, which was revealed this past weekend by the W
  
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• £99,987 and counting: graduates trapped by ballooning student loans

  06-02-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  As their debts rise, graduates reveal how loans are reshaping careers, finances and faith in the systemStudent loans: why is Martin Lewis clashing with Rachel Reeves?Growing anger over the plight of millions of graduates saddled with ballooning student loan debts is threatening to develop into a fresh crisis for the government, with Martin Lewis leading the demands for an urgent rethink.The MoneySavingExpert founder has been critical of the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, over a change to repayment t
  
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• Most of England’s smart motorways are poor value for money, official reports find

  06-02-2026 14:48 via theguardian.com
  AA says long-awaited evaluations show schemes are a ‘catastrophic waste of time, money and effort’Most of England’s smart motorway schemes have proved poor or very poor value for money, according to assessments by the government agency that built them.Official evaluations from National Highways, some of which had been held back by the Department for Transport (DfT) since completion in 2023, showed that a slew of big projects to convert the hard shoulder on the M1, M4, M6 and M2
  
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• Hail our new robot overlords! Amazon warehouse tour offers glimpse of future

  06-02-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  At its new Stone Mountain, Georgia, facility, Roomba-like robots shuffle between stacks, another adds shipping labels while another arranges packages in palletsOne of the reasons Amazon is spending billions on robots? They don’t need bathroom breaks. Arriving a few minutes early to the public tour of Amazon’s hi-tech Stone Mountain, Georgia, warehouse, my request to visit the restroom was met with a resounding no from the security guard in the main lobby.Between the main doors and th
  
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• Three years on: what is the latest with Premier League charges against Manchester City? | Paul MacInnes

  06-02-2026 11:28 via theguardian.com
  In February 2023 more than 100 charges were laid against the serial champions but we are still waiting for the verdictExactly three years ago, 10 paragraphs on the Premier League website set the cat among the pigeons. Under the nondescript heading “Premier League statement”, football’s richest and most popular domestic competition announced unprecedented disciplinary charges against Manchester City, champions of the two previous seasons (and the two to come). We are still waiti
  
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• Bad and getting worse: for students like me, the loan system is the disaster that never ends | Rohan Sathyamoorthy

  06-02-2026 11:01 via theguardian.com
  The current situation in England and Wales is akin to generational warfare – Martin Lewis is right when he takes ministers to taskAs someone who receives close to the maximum student loan from the government each year, I try my best not to think too hard about the crushing financial burden I am going to carry into my postgrad years. After all, for those of us who need a degree to enter their field of employment and don’t have the family finances to sail us through, it doesn’t m
  
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• Flats for sale in England with outside space – in pictures

  06-02-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  From a Victorian conversion in London to a flat in a Southport townhouse with beaches on the doorstep Continue reading...
  
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• The Russian economy is finally stagnating. What does it mean for the war – and for Putin?

  06-02-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  A wartime boom in Russia has given way to sluggish growth, tax hikes and squeezed public services. Will it affect the conflict in Ukraine?Western leaders were bullish when they imposed sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.“The Russian economy is on track to be cut in half,” said the then US president, Joe Biden, in March, a month into the war. Continue reading...
  
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