All posts tagged: pound

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 …

UK faces multi-billion pound bill for nationalizing British Steel – POLITICO

UK faces multi-billion pound bill for nationalizing British Steel – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

“Ultimately, we have to find a way to do that transformation in Scunthorpe,” Industry Minister Chris McDonald told POLITICO in an interview last December, explaining British Steel “needs to be decarbonized.” McDonald said he’s “been clear that we expect that transformation to be a partnership between government and the private sector.”  Merger push The government is now left holding an asset long past its end of life with little to whet the appetites of potential buyers. With the EU’s carbon border tax and new steel quotas in Brussels factoring into its future commercial appeal, “everything has to align policy-wise to make investment attractive,” said a second steel industry figure.  Many in the steel industry see a way forward to appeal to investors if the government shoulders British Steel’s liabilities and merges the firm with Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), which has arc furnaces, after the government took control of the former Liberty Steel Group as it entered liquidation last year.  “Liberty has got the biggest electric arc furnace at the moment. The aerospace, defense and oil …

Pistons Pound the Magic in Paint and Meet Them at the Rim to End Their Long Home Playoff Win Drought

Pistons Pound the Magic in Paint and Meet Them at the Rim to End Their Long Home Playoff Win Drought

Published by Sam Flores

DETROIT (AP) — Ben Wallace and Rick Mahorn, like proud uncles, watched the Detroit Pistons pound the Orlando Magic in the paint and meet them at the rim in a 98-83 win that tied their first-round series at a game apiece. “I’m sure they appreciated it,” Pistons power forward Isaiah Stewart said. Wallace, a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and Mahorn, an enforcer for the Bad Boys, helped the Pistons win a lot of games that looked like Wednesday night’s slugfest. “I’m willing to lay my body on the line to make those plays for the energy,” Stewart said. Top-seeded Detroit held eighth-seeded Orlando to 33% shooting and season lows in points and field goals. The Pistons forced 19 turnovers and blocked 11 shots. “When we play defense at the level we’re capable of, it triggers everything for us,” Pistons coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “We can be an elite defensive team, a disruptive defense. It’s Pistons basketball. That’s what it looks like. “We had one off night and it came at a bad …

Afroman wins defamation case over ‘Lemon Pound Cake’ raid video : NPR

Afroman wins defamation case over ‘Lemon Pound Cake’ raid video : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A jury sided with rapper Afroman, whose legal name is Joseph Foreman, in a defamation lawsuit brought by Ohio police who raided his home. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect hide caption toggle caption USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect Afroman was just trying to turn lemons into “Lemon Pound Cake” when he started making music videos and social media posts mocking the law enforcement officers who conducted a heavy-handed raid on his Ohio home. Home surveillance video of the August 2022 raid shows half a dozen gun-wielding law-enforcement officers from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies kicking down his door, combing through his CD collection, going through his suit pockets, flipping through a wad of cash and, in one case, briefly getting distracted by a cake dish on the kitchen counter. The search, on suspicion of drug trafficking and kidnapping, didn’t yield any evidence or charges against the rapper, whose legal name is Joseph Foreman. But he says officers broke his gate and security surveillance wiring, took $400 in cash and frightened his family. …

U.S., Israel pound Iran’s defenses and ships as war enters Day 5 : NPR

U.S., Israel pound Iran’s defenses and ships as war enters Day 5 : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

A person stands on the roof of a building looking at a plume of smoke rising after a strike on Tehran, the Iranian capital, on Tuesday. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images The war with Iran stretched into a fifth day Wednesday, with Israel launching a new wave of strikes in Tehran and the U.S. saying it torpedoed an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka. The Iranian authorities postponed public mourning rituals for the killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that were set to begin Wednesday. According to Iran’s state media, the ceremonies were postponed due to “overwhelming response.” A new date has not been specified. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said the strikes against Iran would end up costing “the complete destruction of the region’s military and economic infrastructure,” according to the Iranian state broadcaster IRIB. Here are more of the key updates NPR is reporting on. To jump to specific areas of coverage, use the links below: U.S. strikes | Iran | Spain | …

City slashes rate cut prediction after energy shock

City slashes rate cut prediction after energy shock

Published by Sam Flores

The missile strikes in the Middle East have raised doubts about how far the Bank of England will cut interest rates just as the latest data indicate that cracks have begun to appear in the mortgage market. Mortgage approvals fell to a two-year low in January in a fresh sign of shaky consumer confidence in the face of high taxes. The number of loans approved for home purchase dropped below 60,000 for the first time since January of 2024, according to the Bank of England. It came despite the average interest rate on new mortgages falling to 4.09pc, the lowest level since the start of 2023, when borrowing costs were spiralling upward in the wake of Liz Truss’s mini-Budget. The drop in mortgages, which indicates fewer households seeking to move, indicates the uncertainty cast by the Budget in November is lingering, said Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy. “We’re a long way from a boom in lending. Mortgage rates remain high relative to most of the past 15 years, unemployment is edging up, especially …

Hezbollah strikes Israel as American and Israeli planes pound Iran : NPR

Hezbollah strikes Israel as American and Israeli planes pound Iran : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

In this photo taken with a slow shutter speed, a Middle East Airlines plane flies over Beirut as smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes on Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburbs, early Monday, March 2, 2026. Hassan Ammar/AP hide caption toggle caption Hassan Ammar/AP DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran and Iranian-backed militias fired missiles at Israel and Arab states, apparently hitting the U.S. Embassy compound in Kuwait, while Israel and the United States pounded targets in Iran as the war expanded on Monday with statements of defiance and increasing casualties. At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country having come under attack. Eleven people have been killed in Israel, according to authorities there. In Kuwait City, as fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound, the country’s defense ministry said “several” American warplanes had also crashed in the country. The ministry did not elaborate on what caused the crashes or how many aircraft …