Business

The Bank of England has revealed it no longer believes the UK will face a technical recession this year, as it raised the interest rate by a further quarter percentage point. The unexpected change to its forecast was contained in the minutes alongside its decision to raise borrowing costs for an eleventh successive time to

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates for the 11th time in less than 18 months after Wednesday’s surprise jump in inflation.  It is due to announce its latest decision at noon as it tries to reconcile the UK’s weak economic outlook and an international banking crisis. Any increase would be part

Striking Amazon workers have vowed to step up industrial action following an “insulting” new pay rise. It comes after Amazon announced on Wednesday that it will increase the minimum starting salary of its UK workforce by at least 50p to between £11 and £12 per hour from April. The company said the exact amount will

Delivery giant Just Eat has announced it is to axe 1,700 jobs as it ceases to employ its delivery riders and drivers. The service said it will use entirely gig economy workers to deliver food in the UK, as opposed to the hybrid system of employees and self-employed workers. Delivery staff have been given six

Mozzarella, cornflakes and brie are some of the food products to have more than doubled in price in the last year, new analysis has found. The cost of some everyday groceries has increased by more than 100%, consumer brand Which? found, when it looked at 25,000 food and drink products from eight major supermarkets. Own-brand

As many as eight bids could be made for Manchester United before Wednesday’s deadline for second offers, it is understood. The Glazer family will definitely sell the club, but only for the right price – with £6bn believed to be their valuation. If their asking price is not met, the owners will raise capital to

The problems of the financial system today are perhaps best summarised by the title of the Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All at Once”. Lots of noise, lots of small explosions, lots of confusion and idiosyncratic episodes happening throughout the developed world, which seem to amount to a chaotic mess. To top it off, some of

UBS will take over Credit Suisse in a deal aimed at stemming what was fast becoming a global crisis of confidence. Credit Suisse, the 167-year-old embattled lender had been brought to the brink of financial calamity last week, despite securing a $54bn (£44bn) credit line from Switzerland’s central bank. The credit line was agreed in

The Swiss government will hold a news conference later after UBS made a takeover offer for embattled Credit Suisse, local media reports. The possible emergency rescue comes after the authorities raced over the weekend to secure the rescue of the 167-year-old bank, which is among the world’s largest wealth managers, in a move hoped to

The British arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB UK) has handed out millions of pounds in employee bonuses just days after its insolvency was averted through a Bank of England-orchestrated rescue deal. Sky News has learnt that the payouts to staff including its senior executives were signed off by HSBC, SVB UK’s new owner, earlier

Ann Summers boss Jacqueline Gold has died at the age of 62, her family has said. The multi-millionaire businesswoman, who passed away with her family at her side on Thursday evening after seven years of treatment for breast cancer, was hailed an “absolute warrior” by her sister. It comes just two months after the death

A tumultuous week in the markets ended on an uncertain note – suggesting fears remain after large losses from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The FTSE 100 (Financial Times Stock Exchange) index of the most valued companies on the London Stock Exchange started the day at around the 7,500 mark – better than all

More than 1,000 Passport Office staff across the UK will strike for five weeks in an escalation of a dispute over pay, jobs and conditions. Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union working at passport offices in Durham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newport, Peterborough and Southport will walk out from 3 April to 5 May.

Security guards at Heathrow Airport are to strike over Easter in a dispute over pay, with passengers warned they face “severe delays”. The Unite union said flights using Heathrow Airport will “experience severe delays and disruption this Easter” as the workers stage a 10-day walkout. More than 1,400 security guards employed by Heathrow Airports Ltd

The European Central Bank (ECB) has maintained its fight against inflation and imposed a large set of interest rate hikes despite financial market turmoil. Bank balance sheets have suffered because of the effect of interest rate increases, which have contributed to recent crises at Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse. But the central bank –

Credit Suisse has said it will borrow up to 50bn Swiss francs (£44.5bn) from the Swiss central bank to shore up its liquidity. The bank said it was “taking decisive action to pre-emptively strengthen its liquidity”, after a drop in its shares intensified fears of a global financial crisis. “This additional liquidity would support Credit

The FTSE 100 and other major European stock markets have taken a beating as concern over the health of US banks crosses the Atlantic. London’s blue chip index lost £75bn in combined market value by the close after suffering its deepest fall, on a points basis, since the early days of the COVID crisis. Sentiment

Tempting as it is to believe that the chaos with Silicon Valley Bank and its British arm are of interest only to members of the tech community and financial nerds, it has already had a very real bearing on all our lives. For evidence, look no further than the money markets, where investors bet on

A total of 220,000 working days were lost to strike action in January, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. In the first month of this year, strike action was taken by teachers, rail workers, driving examiners, bus drivers and NHS staff. The number is down on the 822,000 days lost to strikes

The low point came on Sunday evening. For two days and two nights the Bank of England had, alongside the Treasury and its fellow financial regulators, been locked in talks with a stream of potential buyers for the UK branch of Silicon Valley Bank. With the clock ticking down to the opening of financial markets