As it happened: Stocks jump in housebuilder boost; oil edges up October 14, 2026 Welcome back to City AM‘s FTSE 100 live blog. Stocks made a shaky start on Wednesday morning following a late collapse on Tuesday afternoon, but eventually recovered to modest gains in the late morning. Housebuilders Barratt Redrow and Bellway led the way, lifting other property names like British Land and Workspace. Oil prices are rising [...]
Tottenham Hotspur owed money after Big Zuu water brand Drip is liquidated with £9m debts October 14, 2026 They say it never rains but it pours: struggling Tottenham Hotspur’s latest problem is Drip, the canned-water company owned by celebrity chef Big Zuu, whose liquidation has left the club high and dry. Spurs signed a deal in 2024 making Drip the official front-of-training-wear partner of the women’s team, with much fanfare around the shared [...]
Banning non-competes is a hollow victory — firms will just ramp up gardening leave October 14, 2026 The Prime Minister revealed last Friday that the government will curb non-compete clauses in employment contracts, a move that has raised some eyebrows in the City. But despite business pushback over yet another overhaul of employment laws, City lawyers have already been 10 steps ahead with alternatives, Maria Ward-Brennan writes. Andy Burnham, in his speech [...]
The urgent case for massive welfare reform is now impossible to ignore October 14, 2026 By accident or design, Britain is facing a moment of reckoning when it comes to welfare spending. The issue serves as a major fault line in Westminster, with the Tories pledging to slash the benefits bill while Andy Burnham vows there will be “no crude cuts” to the hundreds of billions of pounds spent across [...]
City lawyers say GPU financing is the new data centre gold rush October 14, 2026 As AI drives demand for larger data centres, lenders are increasingly financing the costly Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) inside them, which can cost almost as much as the buildings themselves. Data suggests that since the generative AI boom took off in 2023, global investment in GPUs and AI chip infrastructure has been staggering, with figures [...]
The Debate: Should the UK scrap non-compete clauses? October 14, 2026 Andy Burnham has pledged to reform non-compete clauses, but not everyone is happy. We hear the case for and against in this week's Debate.
Sunday trading, VAT-free shopping? Healey has plenty of low-hanging fruit this Budget October 14, 2026 Sunday trading, tax exemptions for NEETs: there's an abundance of low-hanging fruit for Healey to back businesses this Budget.
How bad has the ‘cost of living crisis’ really been? October 14, 2026 The 'cost of living crisis' has become a well-worn phrase over the last four years, but what do the numbers actually say, asks Paul Ormerod.
Team GB Olympic medallist raises £5m to make health tech as common as iPhone October 14, 2026 Olympic medallist turned health tech entrepreneur Andrew Steele has raised nearly £5m ahead of the US launch of his latest venture, Stride. Steele – part of the Team GB 4 x 400m relay squad awarded bronze in Beijing 2008 – co-founded genetic testing firm DNAfit and sold it to David Beckham-backed global giant Prenetics for [...]
We’ll cut Neet support if Healey hikes taxes, warns boss of B&Q owner Kingfisher October 14, 2026 The boss of B&Q-owner Kingfisher has warned John Healey that the FTSE 100 firm may have to cut its support for unemployed young people if the Chancellor hikes taxes. Thierry Garnier, the retail group’s chief executive, wrote in City AM that the Chancellor must exempt shops from the highest bracket of business rates at the [...]