Financial news

• Bitcoin price plummets: Cryptocurrency falls below $8,000 in dramatic drop

  18-05-2018 09:55 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE BITCOIN price has dramatically plummeted to below $8,000 - a major drop in value after a horror month for the cryptocurrency.
  
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• Why is Trump interested in Greenland? Look to the thawing Arctic ice | Gaby Hinsliff

  09-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Forecasts suggest that global heating could create a shortcut from Asia to North America, and new routes for trading, shipping – and attackAnother week, another freak weather phenomenon you’ve probably never heard of. If it’s not the “weather bomb” of extreme wind and snow that Britain is hunkering down for as I write, it’s reports in the Guardian of reindeer in the Arctic struggling with the opposite problem: unnaturally warm weather leading to more rain that
  
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• WASPI campaign update affecting 'every MP' as key emails go out

  09-01-2026 02:03 via express.co.uk
  The Ombudsman previously recommended the WASPI women get up to £3,000 each
  
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• Treasury has ‘limited grasp’ of concerns over booming shadow banking sector, peers say

  09-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Report says officials seem unprepared for potential risks that unregulated industry poses to UK financial stabilityThe UK Treasury has a “limited grasp” of concerns linked to the booming shadow banking sector and may not be prepared for risks the unregulated industry poses to financial stability, peers have said.While a lack of data makes it hard to say whether the $16tn (£12tn) non-bank financial sector could bring the wider financial system to its knees, officials do not seem
  
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• DWP PIP claimants may be 'pushed into debt or poverty' as service branded 'poor'

  09-01-2026 01:01 via express.co.uk
  The Department for Work and Pensions has been warned over "unacceptably poor service levels".
  
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• Reeves’s promise of pub business rates U-turn averts Labour rebellion

  08-01-2026 20:33 via theguardian.com
  Change in England largely welcomed by industry and Labour MPs but represents another climbdownRachel Reeves has avoided another damaging rebellion against her economic policies with the promise of a U-turn on controversial tax hikes for pubs in England, after weeks of protest from her colleagues and the hospitality industry.Government sources said on Thursday the chancellor was finalising a support package for the struggling industry that would include reductions to business rates for pubs, whic
  
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• The Guardian view on Ofcom versus Grok: chatbots cannot be allowed to undress children. | Editorial

  08-01-2026 19:49 via theguardian.com
  A wave of humiliating sexualised imagery must prompt regulators and politicians to step upAn online trend involving asking Grok, the Elon Musk-owned chatbot, to undress photographs of women and girls and show them wearing bikinis has rightly sparked outrage in the UK and internationally. Earlier this week Liz Kendall, the science and technology secretary, described the proliferation of the digitally altered pictures, some of which are overtly sexualised or violent, as “unacceptable in dece
  
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• The Primark machine suffers a continental splutter at a bad moment | Nils Pratley

  08-01-2026 19:47 via theguardian.com
  Big fall in sales in rest of Europe means split from owner’s food businesses would be distraction best avoided for year or twoIt is probably a good thing that Associated British Foods has not yet split itself in two, liberating the go-getting and supposedly reliable Primark from the more volatile food and ingredients businesses. In standalone form, Primark would probably have suffered a bigger share price thump than the 14% fall that the still-combined conglomerate sustained after Thursday
  
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• The world is in chaos. So thank God for the UK’s lone fixed point: Liz Truss

  08-01-2026 19:24 via theguardian.com
  Nine episodes in, Radon Liz’s YouTube show is as laughably deranged as everA world on the brink. Regime change in Venezuela. Greenland under threat from Donald Trump. Shadow fleet tanker seized by the US and the Brits in the North Atlantic. The Europeans battling to keep America onside in any Ukraine peace deal. A woman gunned down by ICE agents in Minneapolis.So thank God that some things never change. Be grateful we still have Liz Truss. The UK’s lone fixed point. Our very own guil
  
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• Labour’s swift pubs U-turn shows government learning – and repeating Treasury mistakes

  08-01-2026 19:17 via theguardian.com
  Revolt among MPs was resolved quickly, yet it echoes pattern of making decisions without proper consultationLabour to announce pub business rates U-turn after industry outcryPolitical U-turns come in various forms, and as news of the latest government reversal drifted out, this one connected to the plight of the pub trade, Labour MPs could take comfort in one thing: at least it happened quickly.While last summer’s change of stance on benefit reforms was forced on Downing Street by open reb
  
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• ‘They are going after everything rural’: inheritance tax U-turn does little to dampen farmers’ anger at Labour

  08-01-2026 19:14 via theguardian.com
  At the Oxford farming conference there were signs the government has much to do to win back farmers’ trustFew symbols were more potent than the wooden coffin bearing the inscription “RIP British agriculture, 30th October 2024” that greeted Labour’s environment minister at the annual Oxford farming conference.It marked the date of Rachel Reeves’s first budget, when she announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms. For the chancellor’s cabinet colleague Emma
  
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• ‘Shadow fleet’ ships moving sanctioned oil reflagged to Russia at rising rate

  08-01-2026 18:24 via theguardian.com
  Lloyd’s List analysis suggests 40 suspicious vessels joined Russian registry last year, with 17 reflagged last monthTwo oil tankers under US sanctions sailing through Channel towards RussiaForty ships accused of belonging to a large “shadow fleet” moving sanctioned oil for Venezuela and others were reflagged to Russia last year in an apparent attempt to gain Kremlin protection from American seizure.Analysis by the shipping intelligence publication Lloyd’s List suggests th
  
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• French farmers descend on Paris to protest against EU-Mercosur deal – video

  08-01-2026 18:22 via theguardian.com
  Tractors have blocked roads around the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe, as farmers protest against an imminent EU trade deal with four South American countries that they say will create unfair competition Continue reading...
  
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• Software firm belonging to Tory donor Frank Hester pays out £50m dividend

  08-01-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Sales and profits surge at TPP Group, whose software is said to be used by 7,800 NHS organisationsThe software company belonging to the Tory donor Frank Hester, a major contractor to the NHS, has paid a £50m dividend after sales and profits surged.TPP Group, which was founded by Hester in 1997 as The Phoenix Partnership, specialises in healthcare technology and provides its SystmOne software to the NHS. The company says it is used by 7,800 NHS organisations, including more than 2,600 GP pr
  
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• Households can stay warm all night in January for just 1p

  08-01-2026 17:00 via express.co.uk
  It's possible to stay toasty and warm in winter without sending energy bills soaring.
  
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• State pensioners urged to contact DWP in January for £300 boost

  08-01-2026 16:54 via express.co.uk
  Eligible pensioners are being given help with energy bills this winter.
  
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• Bank offers 'excellent' savings account with 'market-leading' 4.33% interest rate

  08-01-2026 15:58 via express.co.uk
  The savings account has been praised for its market-leading interest rate.
  
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• Tech titans divided over whether to pay billionaire tax or flee California

  08-01-2026 15:52 via theguardian.com
  State residents worth more than $1bn could face one-off, 5% tax to help fund education, food assistance and healthcareA battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires – with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state.Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the
  
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• Tesco aiming for bumper 2026 after best Christmas market share in decade

  08-01-2026 15:44 via theguardian.com
  Chain reports strong sales but shares drop 5% after analysts say third quarter performance was behind expectationsTesco is aiming to grab an even bigger slice of the grocery market this year after winning its best share in more than a decade over Christmas with strong sales of fresh food and its Finest own-label range.The supermarket, which has an almost 29% market share, according to Worldpanel by Numerator, said it had taken the most trade from Asda, the UK’s third-largest supermarket ch
  
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• Iconic UK store chain trading since 1969 collapses with 139 shops at risk - full list

  08-01-2026 15:33 via express.co.uk
  A massive sell off of stock in store and online has started with 70 per cent off
  
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• Alleged scam kingpin Chen Zhi arrives in China after extradition from Cambodia

  08-01-2026 15:28 via theguardian.com
  Chen founded multinational conglomerate Prince Group that US says is front for multibillion-dollar fraud operationChinese television has shown footage of the US-indicted tycoon Chen Zhi being escorted by armed police after his extradition to China from Cambodia, where authorities on Thursday ordered the liquidation of a bank he founded linked to a massive “scam centre” network.Chen, who chairs a conglomerate the US says is a front for a multibillion-dollar online fraud operation, was
  
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• British Gas reveals exact temperature to keep your thermostat at on Friday

  08-01-2026 15:22 via express.co.uk
  The energy provider insists you keep the thermostat at this temperature - even if you're not home.
  
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• 6,000 households get ‘double’ DWP cold weather payment in January - full list of postcodes

  08-01-2026 15:15 via express.co.uk
  Cold weather payments help households with extra heating costs during periods of harsh weather.
  
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• Households handed £90 supermarket and energy vouchers from Thursday

  08-01-2026 14:56 via express.co.uk
  Eligible households are being handed vital cost of living payments this winter.
  
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• CMA begins full review of Kingsmill owner’s planned takeover of bread rival Hovis

  08-01-2026 14:27 via theguardian.com
  Move by UK competition regulator comes as Associated British Foods, which owns Primark, issues profit warningBusiness live – latest updatesThe UK competition watchdog has ramped up its investigation into a £75m takeover deal that will result in the owner of Kingsmill snapping up its sliced bread rival Hovis.Associated British Foods (ABF), which also owns the Primark clothing chain, confirmed plans to buy Hovis from its private equity owners Endless in August, combining the UK’s
  
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• Revealed: the crypto entrepreneur linked to illegal weight-loss drug operation

  08-01-2026 14:22 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Haul of illicit products led by medicines regulator was described as world’s largest of its kind, but no arrests have yet been madeWedged between an air-compressor service and an auto repair shop on a Northampton industrial estate is an undistinguished red-brick unit that was, until recently, the base for a major illegal weight-loss drug operation.In late October, enforcement officers arrived here for a two-day raid, seizing thousands of unlicensed Alluvi-branded weight-loss pen
  
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• DWP Cold Weather Payments triggered in 31 more postcodes - full list

  08-01-2026 14:14 via express.co.uk
  Payments are issued to certain benefit claimants when temperatures drop below zero for at least one week.
  
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• Greggs puts up price of sausage roll by 5p to £1.35 amid rising costs

  08-01-2026 13:39 via theguardian.com
  Bakery chain also adds 10p to a latte, bringing it to £2.25, as CEO warns of ‘a tough, challenging market’Greggs has added 5p to the price of a sausage roll and 10p to a latte coffee as it leans on some of its bestsellers to soak up rising wage, energy and packaging costs.The UK’s largest bakery chain said it had no plans for further price increases at present and it expected inflation to ease this year as it admitted it had sold fewer items in the run-up to Christmas ami
  
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• Trump plans to use Venezuela’s huge crude reserves ‘to cut US oil price to $50 a barrel’

  08-01-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  President reportedly hopes falling price will cut domestic consumer energy billsBusiness live – latest updatesDonald Trump plans to use Venezuela’s vast crude reserves to establish control of most of the western hemisphere’s oil in an attempt to drive the market price down to about $50 (£37) a barrel, according to reports.The US president has repeatedly raised the prospect of producing enough crude from Venezuela’s oilfields to drive down the US oil price from more
  
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• Dense, sticky and heavy: why Venezuela’s oil is valuable to Trump – video explainer

  08-01-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The Venezuelan oil industry is ‘a total bust’ according to Donald Trump, something he has promised to ‘fix’ after attacking Caracas and seizing the country’s leader. But with analysts estimating it could take up to 14 years and billions to fix, what is in it for the US president? Jillian Ambrose, the Guardian’s energy correspondent, explains why Venezuela’s dense, sticky oil is so valuable to Trump Continue reading...
  
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