The London business paper CITY AM says the UK slipped into a recession at the end of last year after a poor performance from the dominant service sector pushed the economy into contraction, new figures show.
Author: WTX Business Team
The Financial Times reports that Jeremy Hunt is considering “slashing billions of pounds from public spending plans” to fund pre-election tax cuts if he is penned in by tight finances in next month’s budget.
Japan unexpectedly slips into a recession Japan has unexpectedly slipped into a recession as its economy contracted for two consecutive quarters. In the final three months of 2023, Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP) unexpectedly shrank by 0.4% compared to the same period a year ago, following a 3.3% contraction in the previous quarter. These figures, released by Japan’s Cabinet Office, also reveal that Japan has yielded its position as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany. Economists had anticipated a growth of over 1% in Japan’s GDP for the fourth quarter of the preceding year. These initial figures mark the first…
Tesco delivery drivers ‘staged accidents’ in huge ‘cash for crash’ scam Supermarket giant Tesco has been targeted in a ‘cash for crash’ fraud that saw delivery drivers staging accidents so scammers could claim millions from the franchise. Drivers working in Greenford, West London, are believed to have conspired with external people to conduct ‘stage managed’ accidents, reports The Times. It is alleged that around a dozen Tesco drivers were involved in the scam. The ‘victims’ of the crashes would then send Tesco a hefty bill to cover the loss of value to vehicles, personal injuries, and to pay for a…
The back page of London business paper CITY AM says Tui shareholders have voted to ditch the London Stock Exchange in favour of Germany, in the latest major blow to the embattled bourse.
Shareholders voted 98.35 per cent in favour of the decision at the travel giant’s annual general meeting, having required 75 per cent backing for the plans to go through.
The front page of the Financial Times reports Nato is set to announce that most of its members are on track to hit the alliance’s defence spending target as it prepares for more Russian aggression and braces for the potential election of Donald Trump.
Jeff Bezos, the multi-billionaire and founder of Amazon, has continued to divest his shares in the company, bringing the total value of recent sales to over $4 billion (£3.2 billion). The tech giant, established by Bezos in 1994, confirmed that he has sold 24 million Amazon shares this month alone. Serving as the firm’s executive chair, Bezos had last offloaded Amazon shares in 2021.
Reuters exclusively reported that Nvidia is building a new business unit focused on designing bespoke chips for cloud computing firms
The post Nvidia pursues $30 billion custom chip opportunity with new unit appeared first on Reuters News Agency.
Arm Holdings, a UK-based chip designer, has witnessed a staggering surge in its stock market valuation, nearly doubling in less than a week, driven by investor optimism surrounding the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
More than 11 million working-age people in Britain don’t have basic “rainy day” savings of at least £1,000, according to a report that warns that the poorest households are struggling to build up financial resilience amid the cost of living crisis.
The lead story for the Financial Times reports that former US President Donald Trump has a strong lead over current US President Joe Biden on the topic of the economy. The economy is usually the main concern for US voters – along with immigration.
The front page of the London business newspaper, City AM, says Kemi Badenoch is under pressure from a top City group to revive a sweeping shake-up of audit rules after the government shelved many of its reform plans last year.
The front page of the London business newspaper City AM reports on the Barratt-Redrow merger. The paper says the £2.5bn merger of two of the UK’s largest housebuilders sent shockwaves through the market.
The paper says shares in major FTSE 100 and 250 housebuilders suffered a mixed day on the London market, as the surprise merger highlighted investors’ skewed opinions on the state of UK housing.
The front page of the business paper The Financial Times reports on Sir Keir Starmer’s U-turn on green pledges. The Labour leader has confirmed that if his party is elected to power at the next general election (expected later this year) they will slash the green spending plan due to ‘frail finances’ after 13 years of Conservative power.
In a transaction valued at £700 million, Barclays is buying Tesco’s retail banking operations, marking a significant deal for the supermarket giant.
BP’s boss has said the oil supermajor will focus on extracting maximum cash from its investments going forward as the company resets its long-term goals.
Investments into sustainable funds are reducing due to an increase in greenwashing and scepticism towards environment, social and governance focused investing, a new study has found.
The paper also leads with a picture of the King as it reports on the announcement of his cancer diagnosis.
McDonald’s, alongside other Western corporations such as Starbucks and Coca-Cola, has faced boycotts and demonstrations from anti-Israeli activists.
Russian oil getting into UK via refinery loophole, reports claim Research suggests that the UK is still importing millions of barrels of fuel produced from Russian oil, despite sanctions related to the conflict in Ukraine. A reported “loophole” allows Russian crude to be processed in countries like India, and the resulting products are then sold to the UK. While this practice is not illegal and does not violate the UK’s ban on Russian oil, critics argue that it undermines sanctions designed to limit Russia’s financial support for the war. The UK government refutes claims of any Russian oil imports since…
UK crown courts heard 226 fraud cases last year compared with 221 in 2022, according to new figures from KPMG’s Fraud Barometer, which tracks cases worth £100,000 and above.
Iranian petrochemical firms secretly used British front companies to obtain bank accounts with Lloyds and Santander in order to evade US sanctions.
IMF: Germany to be weakest major economy in 2024 while UK downgraded again The International Monetary Fund (IMF) now predicts that Germany, not the UK, will have the slowest-growing economy this year. However, the IMF has significantly reduced its forecasts for the UK for the following year. The IMF said the UK is expected to grow by 0.6% in 2024, aligning with its earlier October forecasts. This represents a slight improvement from the anticipated 0.5% expansion in the previous year, attributed to the diminishing “negative effects of high energy prices.” These projections position the UK near the bottom of the…
Nearly two-third of first time buyers are entering the property market with someone else, a new report by Halifax has found.
Mounting losses from banks in the US, Asia and Europe have rekindled concerns about weakness in the US commercial property market.