All posts tagged: pound

UK borrowing costs hit 19-year high as global bond rout intensifies – latest updates

UK borrowing costs hit 19-year high as global bond rout intensifies – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

This remained around the 5pc mark late on Tuesday, while the 20-year and 30-year yields reached 5.41pc and 5.37pc, respectively. The Bank of England is forecast to keep rates on hold at its next meeting on Thursday but traders are betting rates will rise from 3.75pc to 4pc in November, days after Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget. Homeowners face higher rates because of the bond market turmoil, as major lenders reprice residential and buy-to-let mortgages, according to experts. Rohit Kohli, director at The Mortgage Stop, said “this is being driven by the bond markets” and warned that “gilts and swaps aren’t kind to borrowers”. Craig Fish, Director at Lodestone Mortgages, said while borrowers with large deposits can still find rates around 4.5pc to 4.6pc, “that window is narrowing by the week”.  He added that “until swap rates settle, expect rates to keep drifting up, not down”. Economists have warned that the Bank of England, the Federal Reserve and other central banks are at risk of a “self-reinforcing” cycle of rate rises and higher bond yields. …

Triple lock to boost pensions by 3.9pc as Reynolds refuses to rule out tax raid

Triple lock to boost pensions by 3.9pc as Reynolds refuses to rule out tax raid

Published by Sam Flores

The Business Secretary refused four times to rule out retirees paying tax on the state pension from next year. Jonathan Reynolds declined to reassure pensioners that they would not pay income tax on the benefit for the first time, saying it was a question for the Chancellor. The comments on Tuesday raised concern for millions of retired people expecting to see their state pension surpass £13,000 from April, forcing them to pay income tax. However, pensions minister Torsten Bell later insisted Labour would not put up taxes on people who rely on the state pension. It is still unclear how this will be implemented given the complexity of separating the tax arrangements of different groups of pensioners. The rise under the triple lock guarantee would drag many pensioners into paying income tax for the first time because their state income would surpass the personal allowance of £12,570. Rachel Reeves, the former chancellor, said last year that people solely reliant on the state pension would not have to pay the tax. However, Mr Reynolds was repeatedly …

Borrowing cost surge leaves Healey with £10bn headache – latest updates

Borrowing cost surge leaves Healey with £10bn headache – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

Mortgage approvals slumped to their lowest level in July in more than two and a half years, as high borrowing costs weigh on the housing market. New figures from the Bank of England show that only 56,100 mortgages were approved in July, down from 58,200 in June.  This is the lowest number since January 2024, when only 56,032 mortgages were approved.  It comes as the war in Iran and jitters in global bond markets have pushed up borrowing costs, making it more costly for families to take out a mortgage.  Nationwide research also shows that house prices fell by more than £1,000 between July and August, though the bank said that once adjusting for seasonality it represented a 0.2pc rise.  Prices are up 1.6pc on the year. The figures suggest high borrowing costs are keeping a lid on the market, but a lack of available homes is preventing further falls.  Experts said it underlined that Britain’s housing market is “stuck in the slow lane”.  Anthony Codling at RBC Capital Markets said: “Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East are keeping energy prices …

Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales’ multi-million pound will revealed

Fawlty Towers star Prunella Scales’ multi-million pound will revealed

Published by Daniella Wilson

The British comedy world bid farewell to an icon last October with the passing of Prunella Scales at the age of 93. It has since emerged that the beloved Fawlty Towers star left more than £3 million in her will. The actress, who had dementia, left a gross estate of £3,376,585, with a net value of £3,166,554, according to probate records.  © Getty ImagesPrunella Scales left more than £3 million in her will after her death in October 2025 Her beneficiaries are her two sons, Joseph and Samuel, who is also an actor, and her stepdaughter Juliet. Her sons will receive 40 per cent each of her estate, while her stepdaughter is to receive 20 per cent. Recommended videoYou may also likeWATCH: Prunella Scales and Timothy West in Great Canal Journeys The BAFTA-nominated star also left money to her goddaughters, as well as several charities. © Helen Williams / Playground Television / Channel 5 TelevisionSamuel West, who stars in All Creatures Great and Small, is one of the beneficiaries of Prunella’s will The Snipe Charitable …

China chip breakthrough triggers global tech rout

China chip breakthrough triggers global tech rout

Published by Sam Flores

Global tech stocks have plunged after China achieved a breakthrough in developing technology crucial to the AI boom. Trading was briefly halted on South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index after it suffered a collapse of nearly 11pc overnight in a worldwide sell-off of semiconductor companies, following a bleak day on Wall Street. The downturn was triggered by reports that China had begun mass-producing machinery critical to the manufacture of advanced microchips used for AI. China’s chip giant Shanghai Yuliangsheng has started production of so-called lithography machines, according to tech publication The Information. These machines are roughly the size of a double-decker bus and use high-powered lasers to imprint designs on to silicon wafers, which are used to make chips. Until now, this technology was dominated by Western chip giants. The company is expected to deliver the machines to leading Chinese chipmakers later this year. Jing Jie Yu, an analyst at Morningstar, said: “We believe the market was likely spooked by the progress of China’s chipmaking equipment capabilities, and was worried that this progress would threaten the …

‘Please don’t lose another pound!’: Ozempic is upending the wedding dress industry | Weddings

‘Please don’t lose another pound!’: Ozempic is upending the wedding dress industry | Weddings

Published by Sam Flores

In bridal stores across the world, solicitous sales assistants are being trained to ask a new, blunt question: “Are you planning on losing a drastic amount of weight?” Wedding season’s new disruptor is semaglutide, now used by 10% of engaged couples, according to a survey by the wedding planning platform Zola. In the same survey, 42% of couples said the ubiquity of GLP-1s has made them feel they should “look a certain way” for their wedding. A bride-to-be tries on a wedding dress, circa 1946. Photograph: Hulton Deutsch/Corbis/Getty Images GLP-1 weight loss is not limited to women, but bridal designers are feeling the impact most keenly. Traditional wedding gowns are complex, expensive garments. In her 16 years as a wedding dress designer, says Rebecca Schoneveld, who runs a “purposefully size inclusive” business, a lot of brides would tell her: “‘I’m trying on the dress now, but I’m hoping to lose weight’ – and in the past, actually, that would not happen. Or they would lose an inch or three inches.” The difference in the past …

Oil tumbles as Trump says Iran war is in its ‘final stages’ – latest updates

Oil tumbles as Trump says Iran war is in its ‘final stages’ – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

Thanks for joining me. Inflation has fallen to its lowest level in more than a year after a drop in the energy price cap outweighed the oil shock from the Iran war. The consumer prices index (CPI) fell to 2.8pc in April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), after Ofgem reduced annual household energy bills by £117. Economists fear the larger than expected fall in inflation is a false dawn before a surge in prices later this year linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Petrol prices on Tuesday hit their highest level since the start of the war, having risen by more than 25p a litre since February. Inflation accelerated to 3.3pc in March after the outbreak of the war, which has sent oil and gas prices soaring after exports through the Strait of Hormuz were effectively cut off. However, CPI slowed in April to its lowest level since March last year after the Chancellor took some green levies out of household bills, allowing Ofgem to reduce its price cap. Electricity …

No more growth for UK this year, warns US banking giant – latest updates

No more growth for UK this year, warns US banking giant – latest updates

Published by Sam Flores

Thanks for joining me. Rachel Reeves faces a £12bn blow to the public finances over the leadership chaos surrounding Sir Keir Starmer, Goldman Sachs has warned. The Chancellor will see her fiscal headroom – the breathing space she has to balance the nation’s books – reduced after the recent sharp surge in government borrowing costs, according to the Wall Street bank. Borrowing costs have climbed around the world since the Iran war but the increases in Britain have been exacerbated by pressure on the Prime Minister to resign. The yield on 10-year, the return the Treasury offers when it borrows from financial markets, surged to the highest level since 2008 on Tuesday. The yield on 30-year gilts hit its highest point since 1998. Wes Streeting, a potential leadership challenger, will meet the Prime Minister in Downing Street for a showdown over Sir Keir’s plan to rescue the party after dire local election results and almost 100 calls from Labour MPs for him to resign. James Moberly, an analyst at Goldman Sachs, said: “We find that …