Bank of England will set ‘high bar’ for any interest rate change April 17, 2026 Policymakers at the Bank of England will set a ‘high bar’ for making any interest rate change later this month despite growing expectations of rising inflation, top City analyst Simon French has said. The previous energy shock suffered by the UK following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw inflation spike to as high [...]
Why Messi taking 100 per cent stake in UE Cornella matters April 17, 2026 Lionel Messi’s purchase of Spanish fifth-tier side UE Cornella represents a broader trend of players seeing football assets as long-term investment opportunities, top football finance experts have said. The Argentinian, who will be heading to the Fifa World Cup this year looking to defend the title he won in Qatar, will own 100 per cent [...]
Next boss Simon Wolfson takes record £7.4m pay packet April 17, 2026 Next boss Simon Wolfson took home a bumper £7.4m pay packet last year, as his best-ever pay day could be beaten by next year’s £9.3m – if the firm meets growth targets. Wolfson’s total pay soared from £4.9m the year before, as he took £967k in basic pay and more than £6m in bonuses. The [...]
Billionaire Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings quits after earnings miss April 17, 2026 The billionaire co-founder and chair of Netflix has quit after the streaming giant’s weak financial outlook spooked the market. Reed Hastings, who co-founded Netflix 29 years ago, told investors he will not stand for re-election in June and will focus on philanthropy once he leaves the firm. The shock departure comes after the streaming giant [...]
The Yankee dabble in Prem Rugby is Dandy, but I don’t get it April 17, 2026 It is great to see that an American investor is set to take over Exeter Chiefs; it marks a new point of interest for Prem Rugby after Red Bull and Sir James Dyson from this side of the pond invested in Newcastle and Bath respectively. And we must not underestimate the power of US involvement [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery as Starmer makes play to reopen Strait of Hormuz April 17, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The UK and France are set to co-chair a meeting with allies later today in a bid to strum up ways to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. The vital waterway, which sits off Iran’s coast, sees around a fifth of the world’s oil supply flow [...]
Shadow energy secretary: Reeves’ subsidies mean nothing without tax cuts April 17, 2026 It is the cost of systems, not electricity, that is driving up businesses' energy bills, writes shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho.
Forget Oasis, dynamic pricing could be coming for your weekly shop April 17, 2026 The rise of big data means dynamic pricing is easier to implement. Paul Ormerod asks what this could mean for consumers's everyday shopping.
Can Volkswagen really pivot to defence? April 17, 2026 Can Volkswagen really pivot into defence? Saskia Koopman examines whether one of Europe’s great industrial names can reinvent itself for an era of rearmament. For most of its eight-decade history, Volkswagen has stood as a symbol of Europe’s industrial might – churning cars out at scale and underpinning entire regional economies. But at the company’s [...]
Iran war takes familiar toll on Britain’s punch-drunk farmers April 17, 2026 The Iran war has left farmers facing another round of brutal cost rises. With the scars wrought by the cost-of-living crisis only just beginning to heal, many are warning that something will have to give. The bucolic West Suffolk estate managed by farmer Andrew Blenkiron does not, on appearances, look like a scene ravaged by [...]