FTSE 100 Live 24 May: Index recovers from early plunge but still down, retail sales shock
Live updates
150,000 to fly out of Stansted over bank holiday weekend
Stansted Airport will carry 150,000 passengers over the bank holiday weekend, as British Airways returns to the Essex hub.
In total, 845,000 passengers will be travelling to or from Stansted May 25 and June 2, including 150,000 departures on the Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Top destinations for Londoners seeking breaks include the Canary Islands, Turkey, Spain, Italy, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh and Barcelona.
'Mind-boggling': Mortgage brokers shocked as Barclays ups interest rates but TSB cuts
Mortgage experts were taken by surprise this week high-street bank Barclays opted to increase its mortgage rates on the same day as reductions were announced by TSB.
The price changes came soon after inflation fell to 2.3%, which brings it closer to the Bank of England’s target level but was higher than economists had expected, taking a June interest rate cut off the table. The figures most closely watched by the Bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee - core inflation and services inflation - were little changed and well above the levels that the Bank hopes for.
FTSE 100 steadies but still down
The FTSE 100 has steadied, and is now down only 0.2%, after this morning’s early fall.
Joint venture partners Ocado and M&S are the top risers.
Ofwat delays water bills price decision until after General Election
A hotly anticipated review of how expensive water bills could be over the coming years has been pushed back because of the General Election.
Water regulator Ofwat has pushed back the date for its consultation on draft pricing decisions for the sector until July 11.
The announcement had been pencilled in for June 12, but after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called an election for July 4 it will now be delayed.
Wizz Air marks 20 years with LSE opening
Wizz Air celebrate the 20th anniversary of its first flight by opening the London Stock Exchange this morning.
The celebration also marks the upcoming 10th anniversary of Wizz Air’s admission to the Exchange on 25th February 2015.
Since its first flight took off on 19th May 2004 from Katowice, Poland to London Luton, Wizz Air has flown more than 390 million passengers.
In fiscal year 2024 ended on 31 March 2024, it set a new record, carrying 62 million passengers, the highest number in the airline’s history.
Coventry Building Society confirms purchase of Co-op Bank in mega-deal
Coventry Building Society has finalised its £780 million deal to buy rival lender the Co-operative Bank, and confirmed it will not be giving its members a vote.
The tie-up will create a banking giant with millions of customers and about £89 billion worth of assets.
It means Co-op Bank will return to a mutual structure, meaning it is owned by individual members rather than shareholders and investors like most UK banks.
Most of our economic problems are beyond the control of politicians
Here is the terrible truth about the ability of politicians to grow the economy, and boost the stock market. They can’t really.
As Simon French at Panmure Gordon puts it: “Over the next six weeks there will be plenty of claims from both sides of the UK political divide as to their respective economic credentials. Most of these claims will be best ignored.”
He examines data going back to 1955 and finds that GDP growth is basically the same under Labour or the Tories.
Supermarket reports soaring sales of mashed potato – with new mash factory built
Mashed potato sales have soared at a UK supermarket, with a new multi-million-pound mash factory opening to help meet demand.
Tesco said its shoppers bought one million more packs of fresh ready-made mash in 2023 than in 2022.
The chain said demand for fresh mash had started to rise shortly before the pandemic, but whole potatoes were more popular in lockdown when Brits had more time to cook from scratch.
Poundland revenue lags after taking on former Wilko stores
Poundland’s owner has said the retailer has lagged behind expectations after a major overhaul of its product range, higher labour costs and the introduction of former Wilko stores onto its estate.
Pepco Group, which owns Poundland in the UK, said sales at the budget retailer grew 5.3% to 1.05 billion euros in the six months to March 31, behind the wider group’s sales growth of 16.3%.
Energy price cap down to £1,598
UK households are set to save another £122 a month on their energy bills from July, as Ofgem announced the latest energy price cap will be set at £1,598.
The cap will apply from the three months from 1 July, and is down from £1,690 for the April-June period. The cap itself is set per unit of energy, and the figure used for the cap refers to the amount an average household would spend in a year with bills at that level. This means that some households’ annual bills will be higher than the cap figure.
The cap is still 25% higher than in the winter of 2021-22, before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent the price of natural gas soaring.
Simon Virley, head of energy at KPMG, said: “This news will be welcomed by households who have been facing a cost-of-living crisis and struggling to pay their energy bills over the past few years.
“But we should remember that the price cap was only ever supposed to be a temporary measure, while the retail energy market was reformed.”