Business

The annual rate of shop price inflation has eased to its lowest level for almost two years, according to an industry reading that credits food and fashion prices. The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-Nielsen Shop Price Index showed the pace of price increases slowed to 2.5% over the 12 months to February from 2.9% the previous

As household energy bills are set to fall in April, Ian King talks to Sky’s business correspondent Paul Kelso. He also speaks to Bill Winters, the chief executive of Standard Chartered, about its $1bn share buyback. Erik Hirsch, co-chief executive of Hamilton Lane, a leading private markets investment firm, also joins Ian. Listen and subscribe

The energy price cap is to fall by £20 a month, the industry regulator has announced, but households are to face an additional “temporary” charge to help suppliers support struggling customers with record levels of debt. Ofgem confirmed a 12% price cap reduction will take effect from 1 April, taking the annual energy bill for

Russia has pulled out of a long-standing fishing deal with the UK – and said Britons should “lose weight and get smarter”. A 1956 agreement that allows British boats to fish in the Barents Sea has been ripped up, in the latest sign of growing tensions between Moscow and the West. The fishing deal was

Kemi Badenoch is embroiled in another political row after Canada refuted her claim she was engaging with them on trade talks. The country’s high commissioner to the UK, Ralph Goodale, has told MPs that no discussions of any kind are happening. The intervention risks inflaming tensions after Ms Badenoch paused negotiations with Canada on a

The Body Shop has announced it is closing half of its stores in the UK – including seven today and cutting 40% of roles at its London-based head office. It comes after the embattled retailer entered administration last week, putting more than 2,000 jobs at risk. The Body Shop has roughly 200 outlets across the

On today’s episode, Ian King speaks to the former chief operating officer at Barclays to discuss the bank’s latest results. He also discusses finances in football’s Premier League with our city editor, Mark Kleinman. And Ian chats about the need for more investment in infrastructure to achieve the UK’s net zero targets. :: Listen and

Energy bills are projected to fall by an average of 15% – equivalent to £293 in annual savings – as a mild winter meant high gas storage levels. A closely watched forecast by Cornwall Insight indicates energy bills from April to June will drop to £1,635 a year for the typical user. By comparison, average

The rate of inflation has remained at 4%, despite forecasters predicting a rise, official figures show. The consumer price index measure of inflation stood at 4% in January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Money latest: Inflation rate holds – as surprise US data leads to market sell-off It’s the same as in December

Housing minister Lee Rowley has insisted the government has “got to have targets” for building homes – despite ministers dropping the ambition. In its 2019 manifesto, the Conservative Party pledged to build 300,000 new houses each year by the mid-2020s if it got into power. But the figure has never been achieved, and in December

Bitcoin has returned to the $50,000 level for the first time since December 2021, riding on the coat tails of a wider rally for US stocks. The world’s largest cryptocurrency, which hit one-month highs last Friday, maintained its momentum on Monday by rising almost 5%. Rivals, such as ether, saw similar percentage moves. Analysts credited

Elon Musk has been ordered to testify for a third time in the probe into his takeover of Twitter, now known as X. US magistrate judge Laurel Beeler issued an order on Saturday night after Musk failed to appear before the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the arranged date. The judge said Musk “did

The world’s largest offshore wind developer has scaled back development targets and announced hundreds of job cuts as the renewable industry struggles under the pressure of rising costs. Orsted, the company developing the Norfolk coast windfarm, Hornsea 3, also suspended shareholder payments in an effort to strengthen its balance sheet. In common with the industry

Videos have emerged of people driving Teslas while wearing what appear to be virtual reality headsets, with the US transport secretary issuing a warning. A video posted on X showed a Tesla driver who seemed to be gesturing with his hands while using Apple’s recently released Vision Pro headsets. The device, which was released last

Police investigating allegations of serious misconduct, including sexual assault, at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) say they are “not able to progress further criminally” with 11 claims looked at to date. Sky News has learned that City of London Police currently has just one matter that officers are continuing to examine. The business lobby

Apple shares slumped in after-hours trading – driven by disappointing iPhone sales in China and a warning that future revenues will fall well short of expectations on Wall Street. The gloomy market reaction overshadowed an otherwise strong financial performance in Apple’s first fiscal quarter. In the three months to 30 December, the tech giant reported

In today’s episode, Ian King speaks with Dan Ives – managing director of the brokerage and advisory firm Wedbush Securities – to discuss Microsoft’s revenues and AI. Ian Johnston, global pharmaceutical correspondent at the Financial Times, discusses sales of popular weight loss drug ‘Wegvoy’, made by Novo Nordisk – as they say their sales almost

Facebook is 20 years old today. On 4 February 2004 Mark Zuckerberg launched ‘thefacebook.com’ from his Harvard dormitory. Two decades later, many users struggle to remember a time they weren’t scrolling through its news feed – or that of its social media sibling, Instagram. While allowing us to find long-lost friends and family, and supporting

Elon Musk must give up a compensation package awarded by Tesla’s board of directors that is potentially worth more than $55bn (£43.4bn), a judge has ruled. The Delaware court decision comes five years after a shareholder lawsuit targeted the Tesla chief executive and the directors. The company is incorporated in the state, with oversight for

The slow-motion collapse of Evergrande, the world’s most indebted company, entered what is likely to be its final stage on Monday when a Hong Kong court ordered its liquidation. The property developer, which has more than $300bn worth of liabilities, has been approaching this point ever since, in December 2021, it first missed a bond