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Important information: The value of investments can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This is a third-party news feed and may not reflect Fidelity’s views.

Wednesday newspaper round-up: HS2, CBI, mortgages

(Sharecast News) - The cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 has raised "urgent unanswered questions" and the government does not yet understand how the £67bn high-speed railway will now function, according to a scathing report from parliament's spending watchdog. The remaining London-Birmingham line will be "very poor value for money", the public accounts committee of MPs said, with costs now forecast to significantly outweigh the benefits. - Guardian The new president of the Confederation of British Industry has admitted that the Guardian's revelations about sexual misconduct at the lobbying group were "an appalling shock" that tipped it into a "near-death experience". Rupert Soames said the scandal had triggered an existential crisis, from which he is trying to rescue the organisation. - Guardian

The Bank of England has pushed the UK into recession by refusing to clearly communicate its plans to cut interest rates, top economists have warned. Britain fell into a recession at the end of 2023, according to estimates by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), as GDP fell by 0.1pc in part because of the Bank's insistence high interest rates would not fall soon from their current 16-year high of 5.25pc. - Telegraph

A new Dutch-style mortgage lender is set to release fixed-rate mortgages where the rates will automatically reduce as borrowers repay them. April Mortgages, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority in October, plans to offer loans to existing homeowners remortgaging and new buyers by the end of March. - The Times

Estimated energy output from wind farms should be subject to independent checking, according to MPs, after claims that operators overestimate ­production to reap financial benefits. Wind farm operators are often paid to switch off their turbines when generation outstrips demand to prevent the electricity grid from being overloaded. These curtailment payments are based on the amount of energy that a wind farm company says it will produce. - The Times

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Thursday newspaper round-up: JCB, M&S, smart meters
(Sharecast News) - The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal. Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had "voluntarily paused exports" to Russia. - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Brexit border outages, Boeing, Stellantis
(Sharecast News) - Lorries carrying perishable food and plants from the EU are being held for up to 20 hours at the UK's busiest Brexit border post as failures with the government's IT systems delay imports entering Britain. Businesses have described the government's new border control checks as a "disaster" after IT outages led to lorries carrying meat, cheese and cut flowers being held for long periods, reducing the shelf life of their goods and prompting retailers to reject some orders. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Tesco, OpenAI, housebuilding
(Sharecast News) - Tesco is facing criticism from "shocked" charities who say they are struggling to distribute unwanted food to homeless and hungry people after they claim the retailer brought in rules that mean unwanted food can only be collected in the evening. The supermarket group has switched to a new system which asks charities to pick up unwanted food, such as items reaching their best before date, only in the evening when a store is closing rather than the following morning, the charities have claimed. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: BT, ultra-long mortgages, Fever-Tree
(Sharecast News) - BT has said it is increasingly using artificial intelligence to help it detect and neutralise threats from hackers targeting business customers amid repeated attacks on companies. The £10.5bn group is aiming to build up its business protecting customers from online criminals and has patented technology that uses AI to analyse attack data to allow companies to protect their tech infrastructure. British businesses are routinely facing hacking attempts, and some recent high-profile victims have included including the outsourcer Capita, Royal Mail and British Airways. - Guardian

Important information: This information is not a personal recommendation for any particular investment. If you are unsure about the suitability of an investment you should speak to one of Fidelity’s advisers or an authorised financial adviser of your choice. When you are thinking about investing in shares, it’s generally a good idea to consider holding them alongside other investments in a diversified portfolio of assets. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

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