Business

Inflation is rising faster than expected but the latest data is unlikely to shift the Bank of England’s stance on interest rates. The headline rate of inflation hit 3% in January, up from 2.5% the previous month and higher than the 2.8% forecast by economists and the Bank of England. It’s expected to go even

Yes there are all sorts of provisos. The UK economy is still flatlining. A 0.1% contraction, in one key measure, is about as close as you can get to zero. Gross domestic product per head – a better measure of our living standards – is shrinking (indeed, it’s been shrinking for two quarters). And the

A group led by Elon Musk has made a $97.4bn (£78.7bn) bid to buy OpenAI just months after the X owner sued the artificial intelligence start-up. Mr Musk co-founded OpenAI with its current chief executive Sam Altman in 2015, but left before the company took off after it released ChatGPT in late 2022. Initially launched

The contribution to energy bills from a government deal with a biomass electricity provider will fall in the coming years as subsidies are cut under a new agreement. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) revealed that consumers would save £170m per year under a new deal with Drax covering 2027-2031. That projection

Apple has reportedly been ordered by the UK government to allow it access to encrypted data stored by the company’s users worldwide in its cloud service. At the moment, only the Apple account holder can access such data – not even the US technology giant can see it. Apple, which makes iPhones, iPads and iMacs,

Purplebricks, the online estate agent owned by Sir Charles Dunstone, one of Britain’s most prolific entrepreneurs, has parachuted in an interim chief executive 18 months after it delisted from the London stock market. Sky News has learnt that shareholders in Strike, Purplebricks’ parent company, were notified this week that Stuart Bartlett, a former automotive industry

The government is spending £22bn on “unproven” technologies which will have a “very significant effect” on energy bills, according to an influential committee of MPs. There has been no assessment of whether the programme to capture and store carbon from the atmosphere is affordable for billpayers, said a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

The head of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) has effectively been forced out of the role after losing the confidence of its board amid growing government pressure on economic watchdogs. Sky News understands that Abby Thomas, whose departure was announced earlier on Thursday, was at the centre of several disputes with fellow directors over issues

China has, as expected, hit back at Donald Trump’s imposition of a 10% tariff on its exports to the United States. Beijing has slapped levies of between 10-15% on a range of energy products that imports from the US. But what has surprised observers – particularly when Mr Trump kicked off the trade war over

KKR, one of the world’s biggest private equity investors, is advancing plans to play a crucial role in a rescue of Britain’s biggest water supplier. Sky News has learnt that KKR, which manages assets of more than $600bn, has hired investment bankers and lawyers to help formulate a plan to inject billions of pounds of

The boss of GB Energy has told Sky News it could take 20 years to deliver a Labour government pledge of 1,000 jobs for Aberdeen. Sir Keir Starmer promised voters his flagship green initiative, which will be headquartered in the northeast of Scotland, would cut consumer energy bills by as much as £300. It is

President Donald Trump has been threatening increased tariffs on China for months and now he says he’s delivering it. Trump has said nothing can delay these tariffs, and for China that means an extra 10% slapped on to the cost of its exports. For China’s government, this is all part of the great game of

Donald Trump has said he will place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China from Saturday. The move raises fears of price increases for US consumers as the US president suggested he would try to blunt the impact on oil imports. He has been threatening the tariffs

Donald Trump plans to impose 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China. The expected move raises fears of price increases for US consumers as the American president suggested he would try to blunt the impact on oil imports. He has been threatening the tariffs to ensure greater

A group of technology billionaires including the bosses of Google and Microsoft have triumphed in an auction of the Lords-based London Spirit team in a deal which will set a record benchmark for the sale of a sporting franchise. Sky News can exclusively reveal that the consortium led by Nikesh Arora, the chief executive of

We all know Donald Trump loves a tariff. Not long ago he said it was his favourite word in the English language. But one thing that might perplex people somewhat is why he is quite so keen on imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada. After all, in his first term, his main focus when it

Trouva, an online marketplace for fashion boutiques, is calling a halt to trading while it explores its fourth sale in less than three years. Sky News understands that the current owners of Trouva, which was founded in 2013, are working with the accountancy firm RSM to find a buyer. Trouva is now owned by Project

Every Thursday, our Money blog team interviews chefs from around the UK, hearing about their cheap food hacks and more. This week, we chat to Phil Kearsey, executive chef at the London-institution and Michelin-starred Pied à Terre. A top tip for amateur chefs is… acidity is a seasoning! Just like salt and pepper, citrus or

Marshmallow, the British insurance unicorn, is close to finalising a new capital injection valuing it at more than £1.5bn, despite the difficult funding environment facing many technology companies. Sky News has learnt that Marshmallow is in advanced talks to secure tens of millions of pounds in its first major equity fundraising in more than three

US tech firms exposed to big artificial intelligence (AI) investments are seeing their shares take a hammering over the emergence of a low-cost Chinese competitor. The likes of Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Alphabet all saw their stocks come under pressure as investors questioned whether their share prices, already widely viewed as overblown following an