Admiral: Insurance giant hikes prices by 20 per cent to stave off inflation hit August 16, 2023 Insurance group Admiral ramped up its prices by 20 per cent in the first half of the year to stave off the worst impact of rampant inflation on its profits margins. In its half year results today, the London-listed motor insurance specialist posted a four per cent bump in profits in the six months to [...]
‘The plan is working’: Sunak hails falling inflation – but PM warned targets still in jeopardy August 16, 2023 Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have welcomed today’s dramatic fall in inflation to 6.8 per cent, with the prime minister saying it shows his “plan is working”. The government welcomed today’s news of falling headline inflation, despite expectations the Bank of England is still likely to hike interest rates for a 15th straight time. However, [...]
Why today’s inflation data is still bad news for a bruised Bank of England August 16, 2023 Core inflation is unmoved and services inflation actually crept up. It all points to more trouble for the embattled Bank of England.
Headline inflation slows again but Bank set for further rate rise August 16, 2023 Inflation has fallen to 6.8 per cent thanks to energy price falls, but core inflation remains sticky
The Notebook: Patrick Spencer on the global economy, Simpsons stereotypes and why not all businesspeople are evil August 16, 2023 Today, Patrick Spencer, former government advisor and director of the Jobs Foundation, takes the pen Economic news, jobs, jobs and more jobs. Waking up yesterday, the big news is from the US as former president Donald Trump was charged with intentionally interfering with the US election result in 2020. Grim news indeed but the more [...]
He could work on the delivery, but Bailey’s warnings were right August 16, 2023 So was he right? Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey’s comments that Brits shouldn’t ask for a pay rise looked tin-eared at the time, and it didn’t help when the Bank then upped its bonus pool. But his warnings of a wage price spiral appear to be coming to fruition. Now, what brought on the [...]
FTSE 100 close: Wage growth fuels rate fears as M&S soars and B&M drops on Wilko speculation August 15, 2023 London’s FTSE 100 ended Tuesday down more than 1.6 per cent, as record-breaking wage growth fueled speculation of a 15th straight Bank of England rate hike. The capital’s blue-chip index was down 1.63 per cent by close of play to to 7,384.94, weighed down by listed investment firm Abrdn, down three per cent, alongside Pheonix [...]
UK unemployment ticks up but wage growth hits two-decade-high August 15, 2023 The rate of UK unemployment rose to 4.2 per cent in the three months to June from 3.9 per cent in the previous three months, the Office for National Statistics said. However, this was tempered by annual growth in pay – excluding bonuses – up to 7.8 per cent in June. This is the highest [...]
Analysis: Why record wage growth will give the Bank of England kittens – and see them raise rates again August 15, 2023 Wage growth outstripping inflation should be good news, but Bank of England wonks will fear a wage price spiral is in play
Bank of England outage hits key payments systems processing billions August 14, 2023 The Bank of England says it has resolved a technical issue which shut down a vital system that processes around £1 trillion in transactions every day. The central bank said the “issue has been resolved and settlement will resume shortly”. The issue hit its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service, used to settle transactions between banks [...]