16 h. ago British IT consultant who 'couldn't bear to live with non Muslims' so flew business class to Syria to fight for Islamist terrorists is jailed for nine years

Isa Giga (pictured), 32 from Hounslow in west London , devastated his family when he told them he was going to Birmingham but instead quit his job and travelled to Syria via Turkey in 2015.

Events

17 h. ago Wall Street hits record highs after US inflation report fuels interest rate cut hopes – business live

US consumer prices rose by less than expected last month, as markets digest breakdown of trade talks with CanadaUS prices rose at a 3% annual rate in September, slightly beating forecastsNewsflash: Conditions appear to be improving in the UK economy this month.The latest poll of purchasing managers at British firms has found that growth is picking up after the lull in September, partly helped by the resumption of manufacturing at Jaguar Land Rover after its recent cyber attack.“October’s flash UK PMI survey brings hope that September was a low point for the economy from which business conditions are starting to improve.Output has picked up, with a particularly welcome return to growth for manufacturing for the first time in over a year accompanied by an upturn in demand for services, notably among consumers. Business confidence has also brightened slightly, job losses have moderated, and inflationary pressures are coming back to levels consistent with the Bank of England’s 2% target...

Economics

21 h. ago Business conditions ‘starting to improve’ in UK economy as activity picks up – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsNewsflash: Conditions appear to be improving in the UK economy this month.The latest poll of purchasing managers at British firms has found that growth is picking up after the lull in September, partly helped by the resumption of manufacturing at Jaguar Land Rover after its recent cyber attack.“October’s flash UK PMI survey brings hope that September was a low point for the economy from which business conditions are starting to improve.Output has picked up, with a particularly welcome return to growth for manufacturing for the first time in over a year accompanied by an upturn in demand for services, notably among consumers. Business confidence has also brightened slightly, job losses have moderated, and inflationary pressures are coming back to levels consistent with the Bank of England’s 2% target. Continue reading...

Economics

22 h. ago Business condition ‘starting to improve’ in UK economy as activity picks up – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsNewsflash: Conditions appear to be improving in the UK economy this month.The latest poll of purchasing managers at British firms has found that growth is picking up after the lull in September, partly helped by the resumption of manufacturing at Jaguar Land Rover after its recent cyber attack.“October’s flash UK PMI survey brings hope that September was a low point for the economy from which business conditions are starting to improve.Output has picked up, with a particularly welcome return to growth for manufacturing for the first time in over a year accompanied by an upturn in demand for services, notably among consumers. Business confidence has also brightened slightly, job losses have moderated, and inflationary pressures are coming back to levels consistent with the Bank of England’s 2% target. Continue reading...

Economics

41 h. ago Volvo and VW say Dutch takeover of Chinese chipmaker could halt car factories

Japan also affected as manufacturers report Nexperia has warned them of possible supply problem Business live – latest updatesCar companies across Europe and Japan including Volvo, Honda and Nissan, have warned that the Dutch takeover of a Chinese-owned chip manufacturer could hit production at factories.Last week’s decision by the Netherlands government to take control of Nexperia has sent shock waves around the auto industry, which is already facing potential shortages in products such as magnets amid China’s latest restrictions on rare earths exports. Continue reading...

Politics

42 h. ago UK manufacturers hit by largest drop in orders since 2020; FTSE 100 hits record high – business live

Shares in oil companies jump after US sanctions Russian energy firms, while manufacturers see weak prospects aheadYesterday’s weaker-than-expected UK inflation report has sparked chat that the Bank of England could cut interest rates sooner than expected.Deutsche Bank say there is now an “interesting debate” on whether there may be enough ammunition for the Bank’s monetary policy committee to cut borrowing costs as soon as its next meeting in early November.What’s the case for November? Relative to the Bank’s projections, growth has surprised to the downside, private sector AWE growth has surprised to the downside, unemployment has risen in line with Bank expectations, and inflation now sits a healthy amount below the Bank’s projections. Indeed, one could make the argument that the ingredients for a November rate cut are there.So, why not November? We think three things will be important for the MPC to see before dialling down restrictive policy again. One, the MPC may want to see s...

Economics

44 h. ago UK manufacturers hit by largest drop in orders since 2020; FTSE 100 hits fresh record high – business live

Shares in oil companies jump after US sanctions Russian energy firms, while manufacturers see weak prospects aheadYesterday’s weaker-than-expected UK inflation report has sparked chat that the Bank of England could cut interest rates sooner than expected.Deutsche Bank say there is now an “interesting debate” on whether there may be enough ammunition for the Bank’s monetary policy committee to cut borrowing costs as soon as its next meeting in early November.What’s the case for November? Relative to the Bank’s projections, growth has surprised to the downside, private sector AWE growth has surprised to the downside, unemployment has risen in line with Bank expectations, and inflation now sits a healthy amount below the Bank’s projections. Indeed, one could make the argument that the ingredients for a November rate cut are there.So, why not November? We think three things will be important for the MPC to see before dialling down restrictive policy again. One, the MPC may want to see s...

Economics

44 h. ago UK manufacturers hit by largest drop in orders since 2020; Oil price jumps after Rosneft and Lukoil sanctioned – business live

British manufacturers see the weakest prospects for orders since Covid-19 pandemic, CBI reports, after demand weakened in last three monthsYesterday’s weaker-than-expected UK inflation report has sparked chat that the Bank of England could cut interest rates sooner than expected.Deutsche Bank say there is now an “interesting debate” on whether there may be enough ammunition for the Bank’s monetary policy committee to cut borrowing costs as soon as its next meeting in early November.What’s the case for November? Relative to the Bank’s projections, growth has surprised to the downside, private sector AWE growth has surprised to the downside, unemployment has risen in line with Bank expectations, and inflation now sits a healthy amount below the Bank’s projections. Indeed, one could make the argument that the ingredients for a November rate cut are there.So, why not November? We think three things will be important for the MPC to see before dialling down restrictive policy again. One, ...

Economics

45 h. ago FTSE 100 Live 23 October: Index near record, results boost for Rentokil and LSEG

Lloyds Banking Group and Unilever are among the companies in the spotlight amid a busy session for FTSE 100 updates.

Society

47 h. ago FTSE 100 Live 23 October: Index higher as Rentokil and LSEG surge, Foxtons warns

Lloyds Banking Group and Unilever are among the companies in the spotlight amid a busy session for FTSE 100 updates.

Events

48 h. ago FTSE 100 Live 23 October: Lloyds posts lower profit, Foxtons cuts guidance

Lloyds Banking Group and Unilever are among the companies in the spotlight amid a busy session for FTSE 100 updates.

Politics

48 h. ago Oil price jumps after US sanctions Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil; White House considers software curbs on China – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsThe oil price has jumped after the US has sanctioned Russia’s two largest oil companies to increase pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate an end to its war against Ukraine.The White House’s new measures against Rosneft and Lukoil are the US’s first sanctions against Russia since Trump’s return to office in January. All assets belonging to the two companies in the US have been frozen, and US companies and individuals will be barred from doing business with them. Continue reading...

Events

67 h. ago Work to link HS2 to west coast mainline to be delayed for four more years

Decision to extend pause on 18-mile stretch north of Birmingham part of ‘reset’ to troubled rail project• Business live – latest updatesWork to connect HS2 to the west coast mainline will be deferred for another four years as part of a “reset” of the troubled high-speed rail project.The work between Birmingham and Handsacre in Staffordshire was originally halted in early 2023 by the previous government to limit spending on HS2. Continue reading...

Politics

69 h. ago FTSE 100 Live 22 October: Inflation surprise lifts stocks, Barclays rallies despite car loans redress

Rachel Reeves was handed a pre-Budget boost today as the rate of inflation unexpectedly remained unchanged at 3.8% in September.

Economics

3 d. ago FTSE 100 Live 22 October: Inflation surprise lifts index, Barclays rallies despite car loans impact

Rachel Reeves was handed a pre-Budget boost today as the rate of inflation unexpectedly remained unchanged at 3.8% in September.

Economics

3 d. ago FTSE 100 Live 21 October: Borrowing setback for Chancellor, gold price falls

Government borrowing rose in September to the highest level in five years, piling more pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves over the nation’s public purse.

Politics

3 d. ago FTSE 100 Live 21 October: Borrowing highest since 2020, index maintains progress

Government borrowing rose in September to the highest level in five years, piling more pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves over the nation’s public purse.

Politics

4 d. ago Amazon says Web Services are recovering after outage hits millions of users – business live

Fortnite, Roblox, SnapChat, Lloyds Bank, Ring doorbells and Amazon’s own shopping site among services hit by online outageFull story: Amazon Web Services outage hits dozens of websites and appsHeads-up: UBS have upgraded their view on global equities to ‘attractive’, a sign that they think investors should be putting more money into shares.Despite the angst in parts of the market that valuations have risen too high, UBS reckon share prices have further to climb.“We think investors should review current allocations to equities and ensure they are at least consistent with, or modestly higher than, their long-term strategic asset allocation targets. If investors are currently under allocated to equities, we believe they should reallocate excess cash, bond, or high yield credit holdings toward stocks.”“We prefer areas that are exposed to secu­lar growth, like the US, China, (particularly China’s tech sector, which we rate among the Most Attractive sectors globally), as well as global te...

Economics

4 d. ago Amazon battles to fix Web Services outage after millions of users report disruption to websites and apps – business live

Fortnite, Roblox, SnapChat, Lloyds Bank and Ring doorbells among services hit by online outageFull story: Amazon Web Services outage hits dozens of websites and appsHeads-up: UBS have upgraded their view on global equities to ‘attractive’, a sign that they think investors should be putting more money into shares.Despite the angst in parts of the market that valuations have risen too high, UBS reckon share prices have further to climb.“We think investors should review current allocations to equities and ensure they are at least consistent with, or modestly higher than, their long-term strategic asset allocation targets. If investors are currently under allocated to equities, we believe they should reallocate excess cash, bond, or high yield credit holdings toward stocks.”“We prefer areas that are exposed to secu­lar growth, like the US, China, (particularly China’s tech sector, which we rate among the Most Attractive sectors globally), as well as global technology, transformational i...

Economics

4 d. ago Amazon Web Services outage shows internet users ‘at mercy’ of too few providers, experts say

Crash that hit apps and websites around world demonstrates ‘urgent need for diversification in cloud computing’Business live – latest updatesExperts have warned of the perils of relying on a small number of companies for operating the global internet after a glitch at Amazon’s cloud computing service brought down apps and websites around the world.The affected platforms included Snapchat, Roblox, Signal and Duolingo as well as a host of Amazon-owned operations including its main retail site and the Ring doorbell company. Continue reading...

Politics