Market Buzz
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Tax, retailers, Tesla, share buy-backs, petrol prices
Thousands of middle-class families could face an effective tax rate of up to 96 per cent next year because of a crossover of two child welfare systems. The Resolution Foundation think tank has warned that a “collision” between the income levels at which universal credit and child benefit are withdrawn will mean a steep increase in the number of families hit. - The Times.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Dividend payments, Beijing, Dow Jones
AJ Bell believes that dividend payments by FTSE 100 companies will hit a record £85. 8bn in 2023, for an 8% increase in comparison to 2022 and far above the £61. 8bn low plumbed during Covid-19. According to analysts cited by the broker, that was in spite of estimates for slower profit growth, which was expected to come to a halt in 2024. In fact, dividends of £90. 9bn were projected for 2024. Nonetheless, just 20 names would account would account for 72% of the total in 2022 with Shell, Glencore, Rio Tinto and British American Tobacco at the top of the leaderboard for payouts.
Friday newspaper round-up: Border Force strike, FTX, Tesco litigation, recession forecasts
Border Force officials will on Friday join the wave of industrial action across Britain, starting the first of a series of strikes at airports, while Royal Mail workers walk out again for two days before Christmas. Passengers travelling into the UK have been warned to be prepared for longer queues at immigration in airports, while many letters and parcels will now go undelivered before Christmas, as staff take action over pay trailing behind inflation. - Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Pret A Manger, THG
Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to offer more help to older workers who have fallen out of the workforce due to ill health, as official figures show a sharp increase in the rates of long-term sickness in every region of the UK except London. Highlighting deep regional divisions, figures from the Office for National Statistics show economic inactivity due to long-term sickness has increased most among 50 to 64-year-olds outside the capital since the Covid pandemic.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: THG, Twitter, European aviation
The troubled online beauty retailer THG faces more pain after a leading credit insurer reduced cover to its suppliers. The Guardian can reveal that Allianz Trade, one of the UK’s largest credit insurers, cut back cover for suppliers to the beauty-to-nutrition retailer, formerly known as the Hut Group, in recent weeks. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Asda, Capricorn Energy, Wirecard
MPs have called for a ban on forced installations of prepayment meters amid fears that elderly and vulnerable people are being effectively cut off from heating and power supplies. Prepayment meters (PPM) are under the spotlight as thousands of warrants allowing forced installations are being issued while households struggle with a rise in the cost of energy. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Elon Musk, SSE, Ikea
Elon Musk has asked Twitter users whether he should step down as the head of the company, promising to abide by the results of his poll. Musk assumed the role of CEO at the end of October after firing a host of senior executives and dissolving its board of directors. Within minutes of posting the poll, more than one million people had voted. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Strikes, Lloyds, Aston Martin
Strikes by Border Force were threatening the first restriction free Christmas in over three years for millions of passengers. More than 1,000 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union were due to strike from Friday. People arriving in the UK might be made to wait in queues at passport controls for over two hours. Contingency plans also contemplated the possibility that they might be held on jets in order to avoid overcrowding in arrival halls. - The Sunday Times.
Friday newspaper round-up: Twitter, Harbour Energy, Unilever
Tax dodging and non-compliance during the pandemic cost the government £9bn, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found. The loss to the public purse came as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) moved thousands of tax compliance staff to Covid support schemes, reducing its capacity to investigate people and businesses not paying the right amount, according to the National Audit Office. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Goldman bankers, train strikes, Uber
Goldman Sachs bankers are reportedly at risk of having their bonus pool slashed by up to 40%, in what could be the lender’s largest cut to payouts since the 2008 financial crisis. The bank is still in the process of deciding the size of its bonus pools for 2022, but the prospective cut could mean its 3,000 investment bankers endure the most significant drop in variable pay among their peers, according to the Financial Times, which first reported the news. – Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Rail strikes, Binance, Asos
The price of a fresh turkey centrepiece for Christmas dinner has increased by as much as 45% because of shortages caused by the bird flu outbreak, which has wiped out 1. 6 million of the birds in the UK. Not only are prices up but the choice of fresh turkey is more limited in the major supermarkets, with the number of whole bird and crown options falling by about a third this year. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Rail strikes, gas shortages, easyJet
Shoppers tearing their hair out in the search for Christmas presents online amid strike-hit parcel deliveries have been urged to try a low-tech solution: their local high street. With a quarter of annual toy sales rung up in December, the boss of The Entertainer toy chain told the Guardian it had been forced to extend its delivery window to up to seven days and drop its next-day offer due to the holdups. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Twitter, power prices, Channel 5, National Grid
Twitter is relaunching its subscription service on Monday, offering users verified status for $8 (£6. 50) a month or $11 a month on their iPhone. The move follows a botched revamp of the service last month that resulted in a host of impersonator accounts appearing on the platform as some users took advantage of the chance to launch bogus “verified” accounts for major companies and public figures. – Guardian.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Power prices, Broadband bills, Brexit protocol
Power prices hit a record high due to a combination of a cold snap and a dearth of wind. Power prices in the UK for a day ahead hit a record £675 per megawatt hour on the Epex Spot Exchange on Sunday as the country was blanketed with snow and temperatures fell below zero. At the peak hours between five and six o'clock power costs surged to £2,586 per megawatt hour. Furthermore, National Grid forecast that power demand would peak at nearly 46,700 megawatts on Monday, versus 43,000 MW on Sunday.
Friday newspaper round-up: Rail strikes, National Grid, Morrisons
A “permanent” strike at the factory that makes Jacob’s Cream Crackers and Twiglets has come to an end after biscuit bosses crumbled and upped a pay deal for workers. More than 750 of about 800 workers returned to work at the brand’s factory in Aintree on Thursday having won a 6. 5% pay increase, backdated to January, with a £500 bonus payment on top and a further £250 bonus to follow in January next year. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Energy support, hospitality industry, Bulb
Britain’s biggest business group has urged ministers to quickly decide which industries will receive energy support from next spring as hundreds of companies brace for their bills to more than double. The Confederation of British Industry called on the government to urgently set out details of how it plans to extend the energy bill relief scheme for firms with large bills beyond March 2023. The scheme, which discounts the wholesale cost of energy for all companies, charities and public sector organisations, was introduced in October to replicate the support offered to households in cushioning the shock from rapidly rising energy bills.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Mortgages, Twitter, Bulb, Glencore
The chancellor will urge the UK’s largest banks to do all they can to support those struggling to pay their mortgage during the cost-of-living crisis when he holds his first talks with chief executives on Wednesday. Jeremy Hunt will host a roundtable with heads of major mortgage lenders, including Debbie Crosbie of Nationwide, HSBC UK’s Ian Stuart and NatWest’s Alison Rose to discuss the impact of rising interest rates and living costs on customers. – Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Rail strikes, housebuilding, Vodafone
Hopes of a deal to avert severe Christmas rail disruption were dashed on Monday night when the RMT union announced additional strike dates and rebuffed a pay offer from Network Rail just before the industry’s deadline. The union said it would put the offer to members in an electronic referendum this week but recommend that they reject it. It affirmed that two 48-hour strikes that will stop much of the railway next week would go ahead either way. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: RMT, Christmas cost, Smith & Nephew
The RMT has rejected an offer from rail employers aimed at heading off more strikes. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) offered the union a pay rise of 8% over two years with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies to April 2024, in an attempt to resolve a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. The RMT’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long-term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working conditions.
Sunday newspaper round-up: House prices, Brexit, Credit Suisse
The founder of property website Rightmove, Harry Hill, is nervous about a potentially deep recession, which he believes could see transactions and house prices fall by double figures with the latter possibly down by 20%. With monthly mortgage repayments set to double next year, many mortgage holders may opt to sell. However, Hill also pointed out the housing market's brilliant run over recent years, such that most property values are well above the acquisition price.