Business

Food prices may not fall at all, the chief economist at the Bank of England has said. The cost of sustenance “could still remain higher than it was” before the invasion of Ukraine caused the rate of food price rises to accelerate. “Unfortunately the days of seeing food prices fall, that does seem to be

Consumers spent less in shops as wet weather dampened demand for typical seasonal goods in July, latest figures show. Total UK retail sales increased 1.5%, according to the retail sales monitor from retail representative British Retail Consortium (BRC) and big four accountancy firm KPMG. But at the same time official figures showed the rate of

House prices fell by 2.4% in the year up to July – but there are signs the market is showing ‘resilience’, according to the Halifax. The fall in property values is less than the 2.6% annual decline it recorded in June, which was the biggest annual drop in more than 10 years. Month-on-month, house prices

A final decision is in sight for Microsoft’s protracted bid to acquire the maker of Call Of Duty now that the UK’s competition regulator has closed its public consultation on the matter. The Competition and Markets Authority will consider comments from the public – which were submitted over the past week – and Microsoft’s amended

UK car sales have grown all year, despite borrowing becoming more expensive and a cost of living crisis creating difficult financial conditions for consumers. The number of new cars registered grew 28% in July, compared to a year earlier, in the seventh month of growth this year, according to data from the Society of Motor

UK energy chiefs will gather in Downing Street today to discuss net zero as a debate rages in both main parties about the future of green policies. Industry leaders from EDF, SSE, Shell and BP will meet Grant Shapps, the energy security secretary, just days after the government announced it would grant more than 100

Uber has recorded the first operating profit in its history, after trips rose by more than a fifth in the last year. The American company, best known for its ride-hailing app, recorded pre-tax earnings of $326m (£255m) from its operations after a rise in demand led to 22% more trips booked on the platform in

House prices will likely fall further in the coming months after a closely-watched index reported the biggest drop in 14 years, experts predict. It comes after Nationwide reported that annual property values declined by 3.8% in July – the sharpish fall since July 2009. The average home is now worth £260,828 – a fall of

A consumer debt advice start-up aimed at helping Britons weather the cost-of-living crisis has secured external funding ahead of its public launch. Sky News understands that SuperFi, which is aimed at an estimated 18m adults who are wrestling with monthly household bills, will announce on Friday that it has raised $1m in a pre-seed round.

Tech giant Meta is the latest company to beat Wall Street revenue expectations as the number of people using its platforms grew, but Metaverse losses mounted and AI spending rose. Revenue at the WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook parent company was up 11% to $32bn (£24.7bn), greater than the 7% growth expected by analysts. User numbers

A long-time Twitter user has given up the @X username following Elon Musk’s controversial rebrand. “Alls well that ends well,” said the account, which now goes by @x12345678998765. It has been on the platform since March 2007, less than a year after Twitter‘s initial launch. The account is based in San Francisco, California, the same

The energy regulator has published a series of proposals that, it hopes, will provide greater protections for households and businesses in time for the coming winter when gas and electricity charges peak. Ofgem said it was responding to complaints about poor customer service standards through planned new rules to ensure households can contact suppliers and

Robinhood Markets, the US stock trading app, has hired a senior executive from Freetrade, a British fintech company, to spearhead revived plans for a UK launch. Sky News has learnt that Jordan Sinclair, a former Barclays executive, has been appointed as Robinhood’s UK CEO. A filing registered with the Financial Conduct Authority shows Mr Sinclair’s

Spotify is raising the price of its ad-free premium service in more than 50 countries, including the US, UK and Ireland. The music-streaming company, which has more than 200m Premium subscribers, said the move will result in a $1 (78p) increase for US-based plans. This means the price of a single plan will now start

The BBC has issued an apology to Nigel Farage over a story on the closure of his Coutts bank account, “which turned out not to be accurate”. In a statement, the broadcaster said: “Because of this evidence, we have since changed the headline and the copy on the original online article about his bank account

A decision by Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to invest in electric vehicle battery production in the UK is “very welcome”, a Labour MP has said. Darren Jones, chair of the cross-party Business and Trade Committee, was responding to reports that Tata will establish a battery gigafactory in Somerset for its JLR operation, potentially creating thousands

Self-driving vehicles could be used to bridge the gaps in the UK’s public transport network, according to the results of a new government-led study. The study, the first of its kind in the country, found up to 72% of people believed the vehicles could be used to improve transport links – particularly in rural areas.

Young adults and renters are some of the groups of people worst hit by rising prices as official figures show around 1 in 20 said they’d run out of food in the past 2 weeks and couldn’t afford more. Those aged 25 to 34 were at greater risk of financial vulnerability than those over the

The UK’s national debt could hit 300% of GDP by the 2070s because of the string of major challenges still facing national governments after a “rapid succession of shocks”, according to a report for the Treasury. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility laid out how climate change, defence and the fact people were living longer

The economy contracted in May as the additional public holiday for the King’s coronation weighed on output, according to official figures. Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed negative growth of 0.1% during the month, better than economists had predicted but continuing the yo-yo pattern seen throughout the last year that has left