Market Buzz
Sunday newspaper round-up: Battery Technologies, Rolls Royce, Energy bills
Britain needs to invest in key battery technologies in order to avoid becoming dependent on countries like China in the energy transition, the head of the Faraday Institution said. The country required "sovereign capabilities" and its own supply chains, she said. Her remarks followed Tata's announcement that it would construct a £4bn battery gigafactory in Sommerset after securing £500m of subsidies from the government. - Sunday Telegraph.
Friday newspaper round-up: Wilko, Bank of England, Oil prices
Budget homeware chain Wilko was yesterday teetering on the brink of collapse, putting around 12,000 jobs at risk. The retailer, which has around 400 stores, said that it was primed to appoint administrators after struggling to find a financial lifeline. In recent years the High Street has been struggling with painful cost increases, while shoppers’ budgets have been restricted by historically high inflation levels. - Daily Mail.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Drax, French air traffic, Arm
Drax has been accused of costing consumers more than £600 million after choosing not to run a biomass power plant unit that would have supplied electricity at well below market prices during the energy crisis. Instead it burnt biomass in three other units that were able to cash in on high market prices and also profited by selling some biomass pellets to other companies instead of burning them, an investigation by Bloomberg claimed. - The Times.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Bank of England, US credit rating, Shoplifters
The Bank of England should carry out an interest rate rise of a quarter of a percentage point tomorrow to keep control of stubbornly high inflation, The Times shadow monetary policy committee has argued. An overwhelming majority of the shadow MPC voted by 8-1 in favour of a 25-basis-point increase to the base rate this month, a step down from the rise of half a percentage point that the Bank was forced to carry out in June, when wage growth accelerated more than expected.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Food prices, Aston Martin, WANdisco
The UK’s biggest retailers have reported the first monthly fall in shop prices for two years, as stores tried to tempt in customers with big discounts during July’s unseasonably wet weather. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said its annual shop price inflation rate, compiled with the help of NielsenIQ, had declined to its lowest level of the year, sliding to 7. 6% last month from 8. 4% in June. – Guardian.