Business

There has been a surge in the pace of wage growth but a rise in the unemployment rate, according to the latest official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that both basic pay excluding bonuses, and average weekly earnings, rose at an annual rate of 5.6% in the three months to November. That

One of the things that made President Donald Trump’s inauguration distinctive was the prominence of Silicon Valley elite. Easily identifiable were the world’s three richest men – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. And that’s not to mention some of the billionaires not placed directly in view of the cameras. When the riches of

Rachel Reeves will hold talks with some of Wall Street’s leading financiers in Davos this week, less than hours after Donald Trump’s second US presidency gets underway. Sky News understands that the chancellor will attend a breakfast hosted by JP Morgan on Wednesday amid speculation about the threat of US tariffs being imposed on the

TikTok has begun restoring service to the app in the US after Donald Trump said he would sign an executive order pausing its ban. A law signed by President Joe Biden last April required ByteDance, TikTok‘s China-based parent company, to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner by Sunday or face a ban. Some users

The private equity owner of Asda has struck a deal to buy a controlling stake in a group which specialises in backing British SMEs. Sky News has learnt that TDR Capital has agreed to acquire a majority interest in CorpAcq, less than six months after the so-called ‘corporate compounder’ aborted a deal to list in

The owner of Poundland, one of Britain’s biggest discount retailers, has drafted in City advisers to explore radical options for arresting the growing crisis at the chain. Sky News has learnt that Pepco Group, which has owned Poundland since 2016, has hired consultants from AlixPartners to address a sales slump which has raised questions over

TikTok has said it could go dark on Sunday after the Supreme Court ruled against its bid to avoid a ban that could shut the app down. The looming ban is the end result of 2024 legislation passed on national security concerns that called for TikTok parent ByteDance to sell the popular short-video app or

The UK’s benchmark stock index has reached another record high. The FTSE 100 index of most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange closed at 8,505.69, breaking the record set last May. It had already broken its intraday high earlier on Friday, meaning it reached a high not seen before during trading hours. The weakened

Fears have been raised over the robustness of Britain’s trade sanctions against Russia after the main government department enforcing the rules admitted it has no idea how many cases it is investigating. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which monitors and polices flows of goods in and out of the country, says it had no central

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned against the prospects of a renewed US-led trade war, just days before Donald Trump prepares to begin his second term in the White House. The world’s lender of last resort used the latest update to its World Economic Outlook (WEO) to lay out a series of consequences for

The UK economy just about returned to growth in November after two months of contraction, the latest official figures show. Gross domestic product (GDP), the standard measure of an economy’s value and everything it produces, grew by 0.1%, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. It was expected to grow by 0.2%. Money

Forget this week’s minor decrease in the UK inflation number.  The most important European data release was the confirmation from Germany that, during 2024, its economy contracted for the second consecutive year. Europe’s largest economy shrank by 0.2% during 2024 – on top of a 0.3% contraction in 2023. Now it must be stressed that

There’s been a surprise fall in inflation to 2.5% after two months of rises, official figures show. It means prices are still rising but at a slower pace than before, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data for December. Economists had expected the figure to remain at 2.6%, the level recorded in November. Inflation

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been accused of refusing to “face up to her own failures” by “jetting off to Beijing” during a week of market turmoil. Shadow chancellor Mel Stride accused the chancellor of ducking difficult questions as the “government was losing control of the economy” while Ms Reeves visited China over the past week

A key port connecting Wales and Ireland has partially re-opened a month after it was closed due to storm damage. Holyhead port off the coast of Anglesey in North Wales was closed after one of its ferry berths suffered damage during Storm Darragh on 6 and 7 December. Part of the structure of the terminal

Pizza Hut’s biggest UK restaurant franchisee is closing in on a rescue deal that would salvage the vast majority of its British outlets and jobs. Sky News has learnt that Directional Capital, an investment firm which already controls much of Pizza Hut’s dine-in operations in Denmark and Sweden, is in advanced talks to acquire roughly

Britain’s leading small business group has issued a clarion call to economic watchdogs to heed Sir Keir Starmer’s edict to tear up regulatory barriers to growth with a fresh list of demands for reform. Sky News has obtained a letter from the FSB to more than half a dozen regulators, including Ofgem and the Financial

The health secretary has said that the cabinet is aware of the “pressure” on Chancellor Rachel Reeves amid volatile markets and a challenging broader economic picture – but appealed for the public to “give her time”. Wes Streeting argued that the public “underestimates” the “amount of heavy-lifting” Ms Reeves has had to do and will

The proportion of 25 to 34-year-olds living with their parents has risen by more than a third in just under two decades, according to new analysis. Last year, the share of the age group living at home was almost a fifth (18%), up from 13% in 2006, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said in

The London Stock Exchange is preparing to do battle for one of Europe’s biggest initial public offerings for years as Verisure, the domestic security systems provider, kicks off plans for a flotation valuing it at more than €20bn (£16.7bn). Sky News has learnt that Verisure’s owner, the private equity firm Hellman & Friedman (H&F), is