Budget tax hikes send business confidence to two year low, survey shows December 4, 2024 S&P's purchasing managers' index (PMI) for the services sector showed that business expectations for the year ahead were at their lowest level since December 2022.
Vue: National Minimum Wage and rising costs cuts cinema chain’s earnings November 29, 2024 The releases of Wonka, Kung Fu Panda 4 and Dune: Part 2 failed to boost sales at cinema chain Vue during the first half of its financial year while its earnings were slashed. The company said the falling admonitions and total revenue for the period were the result of coming up against the tough comparison [...]
Tesco Clubcard and Sainbury’s Nectar schemes do help consumers, regulator says November 27, 2024 A year-long probe into UK supermarkets’ pricing practices has found “very little” evidence that shoppers are being treated unfairly with loyalty programmes such as the Tesco Clubcard scheme and Sainsbury’s Nectar points. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) probe, which has been ongoing since November last year, investigated whether supermarket loyalty schemes cause inflation by faking the [...]
Retail chief warns about return of inflation after tax-raising budget November 26, 2024 The chief of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that tax-raising measures announced in the latest government may lead to the return of inflation in the UK. Shop prices remained in deflation in November, down 0.6 per cent month on month, up from deflation of 0.8 per cent in the previous month. Shop price [...]
Trump’s election means it’s time to take Bitcoin seriously November 25, 2024 Bitcoin was once dismissed as a tulip bubble, but it’s becoming increasingly clear that – in an era of fiat money inflation – it is the best way back to sound money The incoming Trump administration has announced its intention to back a “strategic Bitcoin reserve”. That catapults what was once a fantastical thought experiment, [...]
Eurozone inflation to take centre stage as growth worries resurface November 24, 2024 Economists expect the headline rate will climb to 2.3 per cent in November, up from 2.0 per cent in October.
Budget uncertainty has gone but odds have been stacked against business November 22, 2024 If Rachel Reeves thought certainty would cure the UK economy’s growth problem, she was wrong. She’s just pitted consumers against retailers. This data-heavy week has reflected that uncertainty over the Budget has not been cured by policy which heaps pressure on business. We’ve had inflation rising, debt compounded, inheritance tax receipts soaring, farmers protesting, the [...]
Hospitality firms are bracing for the return of inflation November 21, 2024 October’s inflation figure has worried hospitality firms. While it is not too far above target – 2.3 per cent versus the sweet spot of two per cent – and one month does not constitute a trend, it has exacerbated concerns companies already had about the future of their industry. There are two reasons hospitality is [...]
Inflation surprise scuppers hope of Christmas interest rate cut November 20, 2024 A bigger than expected rise in inflation last month has all but scuppered hopes of a cut to interest rates by the Bank of England in December. While economists had been expecting rising energy prices to push inflation beyond the Bank of England’s two per cent target last month, a sharper than expected lift in [...]
Surging housing costs push inflation back above Bank of England target November 20, 2024 Inflation has risen back above the Bank of England’s two per cent target, the latest data has shown today. According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) consumer price inflation (CPI) hit 2.3 per cent in October. The figure came in above economists projections. Economists had forecast CPI to come in [...]