Business

The pace at which prices are rising has sped up, according to official figures. The rate of inflation grew to 2.2% in July, up from 2% a month earlier, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. It is the first time since December last year that the rate has increased, rather than fallen. But

Billionaire Elon Musk has donated to a political group working to elect presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to reports. According to Bloomberg, citing sources, the amount was not known but it was “a sizable amount” given to a group called America PAC. Bloomberg reported that the PAC – a group that can receive unlimited contributions

A fight for better pay among workers at South Korea tech giant Samsung will now result in an indefinite strike, according to a top union official. A walkout over pay and conditions by members of the National Samsung Electronics Union (NSEU) in the country began on Monday. But a row over the apparent effectiveness of

Google has admitted its greenhouse gas emissions have risen 48% over the past five years – largely because of artificial intelligence – scuppering its climate aims. AI systems require intense levels of computational power, and this has piled pressure on the tech giant’s data centres around the world. In its latest environmental report, Google went

An online crafts retailer which saw sales boom during COVID-19 lockdowns is exploring a cut-price sale. Sky News understands that Lovecrafts, which is chaired by the media veteran Sir Peter Bazalgette, is working with Interpath Advisory on a sale. Founded in 2012, Lovecrafts is backed by leading growth investors including Highland Ventures, Balderton Capital and

Financial markets are giving their first reaction to the early evidence of a record-breaking win for Labour in the general election. A respected exit poll by Ipsos, carried out for broadcasters including Sky News, was the first to put an estimate on the size of the majority expected for Sir Keir Starmer’s party. The 170

Drivers are being warned that fuel prices are on the rise again amid rising oil costs and suggestions that motorists are still getting a raw deal. The AA declared on Tuesday that a 10-week run of falling pump prices had come to an end. The motoring group said that while average costs were still locked

Average house prices are still unaffordable for the typical earner, the UK’s largest building society has said. Despite wages rising above the rate of inflation in recent months and house prices falling from the record high of summer 2022, “housing affordability is still stretched”, Nationwide said. Money latest: New Wotsits and Monster Munch flavours launch

As the latest reduction in the energy price cap takes effect, households are being warned of a big lift in bills ahead due to higher wholesale gas prices. The cap, which limits what suppliers can charge per unit of energy, fell by 7% overnight in the wake of the latest three-month review by industry regulator

Britain’s fourth-biggest household energy supplier is lining up bankers to explore options including bringing in a new investor or a sale, 15 years after it launched in a bid to challenge the industry’s oligopoly. Sky News has learnt that OVO Group, which was founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick, is close to hiring Rothschild to assist with

Many of us envisage retirement as a peaceful winding down after several decades of hard work. But an increasing number of mortgage holders face having to put their relaxation on ice as they’re left with no choice but to work past their pension age to pay off long-term mortgages. Homeowners are still reeling from painful

Microsoft has regained the title of the world’s most valuable public company just days after it was overtaken by one of its rivals. Computer chip maker Nvidia lost its hold on the top spot after its shares slipped by 3.5% in the US on Thursday, leaving the company valued at $3.2trn (£2.5trn). Microsoft’s shares also

Inflation falling back to 2%, the magic number as far as the Bank of England and the increasingly desperate Conservative election campaign are concerned, is unequivocally welcome news. It has been a long road down from the peak of 11.1% in October 2022 and a great deal of hardship has been felt along the way.

UK inflation has eased to 2% – increasing the prospect of an interest rate cut this summer. The consumer prices index (CPI) rate for the year to May was confirmed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday. The figure indicates that prices are still rising, but at the slowest pace since spring 2021.

Self-driving cars are safer than those driven by humans, except when it is dusk, dawn, or the vehicle is turning, according to a new study. Autonomous vehicles are involved in fewer accidents than cars driven by humans, researchers from the University of Central Florida have found. However, although the research generally showed self-driving cars to

The UK had the lowest rates of business investment out of all G7 nations for a third year in a row, a new report has claimed. The economies of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan are all said to have attracted higher levels of funding from the private sector – as a percentage

China may target the European Union’s pork producers in retaliation for EU tariffs on its electric cars. The world’s second largest economy revealed on Monday that it had launched an investigation into imports of pork for human consumption from the bloc. The Commerce ministry inquiry was in response to a complaint by Chinese pork producers

House prices have been flat in recent weeks but the market overall remains “steady”, according to new figures from a leading property website. Rightmove said there was 0% growth in the four weeks to 8 June, compared with the previous month. The average price of a property coming to the market was £375,110 during the

Jaguar Land Rover is to invest more than £1m to help police tackle car thefts in the UK as part of ongoing efforts to reassure its luxury vehicle owners.  The cash will be used to support police operations in hotspots, as well as fund intelligence gathering and target ports used by criminal gangs to smuggle

Tesla shareholders have approved Elon Musk’s multi-billion-dollar pay package. The package is now worth $44bn (£34bn). The package was once as much as $56bn (£44bn) but has declined in value in tandem with Tesla’s stock. The proposal passed despite opposition from some large institutional investors and proxy firms. Onstage at the annual shareholder meeting in