As it happened: Stocks sink after Fed and Bank of England opt for hawkish hold; Oil price tumbles Markets Welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Interest rates were left unchanged at 3.75 per cent in Bank of England’s monetary policy committee meeting today as rate-setters wait to find out whether the Iran war peace deal holds up. The Bank’s decision followed Thursday’s inflation data, which stayed below undershot expectations after coming at 2.8 [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Stocks jittery amid oil tensions; Khan woos Anthropic AI Markets Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Inflation fears have dominated the week and as for the time being, they don’t look to be heading anywhere. The FTSE 100 ended Thursday’s session slipping 1.5 per cent to 10,413.94p as markets battled renewed fears of an energy crisis. Brent crude futures – the international [...]
Inflation eases to three per cent boosting interest rate cut hopes Economics Inflation fell to its lowest level in nearly a year last month, new figures show, giving a further boost to hopes that the Bank of England will cut interest rates in March. The headline rate dipped to 3.0 per cent in January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), down from 3.4 per cent [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Trump to rock davos; Stocks dip after inflation January 21, 2026 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. Inflation spiked above expectations this morning, coming in at 3.4 per cent, according to fresh figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This soared above a poll of economists by Bloomberg expecting 3.3 per cent. “Inflation ticked up a little in December, driven partly [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Inflation eases more than expected ahead of rate decision December 17, 2025 Good morning and welcome back to the City PM liveblog. We’ve had the latest inflation data this morning, which has shown the consumer price index (CPI) rose by 3.2 per cent in the 12 months to November 2025. This eased from 3.6 per cent in October 2025. It also beats figures pencilled in by economists, [...]
Lavazza: Profit doubles amid ‘unprecedented’ price rises September 22, 2025 Profit at coffee brand Lavazza doubled in the UK during its latest financial year as it battled “intense pressure” on its supply chain and “unprecedented” price rises. The Uxbridge-headquartered division has posted a pre-tax profit of £3.2m for 2024, up from the £1.5m it achieved in 2023. New accounts filed with Companies House also show [...]
Blackpool Pleasure Beach to close rides as costs spiral March 24, 2025 High inflation, interest rates and “significant increases” in the minimum wage have made turning a profit “harder to achieve”, the owner of Blackpool Pleasure Beach has said as it fell back into the red. The attraction, which dates back to 1896, also said the rising costs will force it to close some rides this year [...]
Pukka Pies: Price rises ‘inevitable’ at chip shop favourite March 3, 2025 Chip shop favourite Pukka Pies has warned prices rises are “inevitable” as it battles “significant levels of power and labour inflation”. The Leicester-headquartered company said it delayed increasing its prices during its latest financial year “assess the mid to long-term implications from the underlying inflation” but has since concluded that rises should be introduced. The [...]
Vitality: ‘Why your health and life insurance premium won’t go down’ February 18, 2025 In this episode of Boardroom Uncovered, Neville Koopowitz, the chief executive of health and life insurance giant Vitality.
Heinz: Price increases help sales near £1bn as inflation battle continues September 9, 2024 Sales at the UK arm of Heinz jumped towards £1bn in 2023 despite volumes decreasing after raising its prices to combat inflation in its costs, new figures have revealed. The London-headquartered division of the US giant has reported a revenue of £967.1m for the 12 months, up from the £899.7m it achieved in 2022, according [...]
