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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.

Friday newspaper round-up: Energy bills, John Lewis, EDF, HSBC

(Sharecast News) - Ministers have been warned that energy bills will cost more than two month's wages next year unless new help is given to households, as the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, told firms they must invest their "extraordinary" profits or face the threat of further taxation. The TUC ramped up calls for the government to cancel the October energy price cap rise, saying the cost of living crisis this winter was an "emergency of pandemic scale". - Guardian

John Lewis is to retire its 97-year-old price pledge "never knowingly undersold" on 22 August but has yet to reveal a catchy new slogan to take its place. The department store chain told customers in an email it will not accept new claims under the pledge from 23 August, instead promising them - rather long-windedly - it is "always knowingly committed to outstanding value". - Guardian

EDF energy customers in Britain are paying almost two-and-a-half times as much as their counterparts in France after Emmanuel Macron imposed strict caps on price rises. EDF customers in Britain have had their bills capped at £1,971 by energy regulator Ofgem, while French customers on regulated tariffs face bills of around €950 (£803). - Telegraph

The Chinese group that wants to break up HSBC has escalated its campaign against the bank by claiming its plan would unlock as much as $35 billion in value and dismissing the lender's warnings about the dangers of a split. Ping An, the insurer that is HSBC's biggest shareholder with a 9 per cent stake, has urged the FTSE 100 lender to spin off its Asian business into a separate company listed in Hong Kong. Bosses at the bank have rejected the idea, but a source close to Ping An said yesterday that HSBC had exaggerated the risks posed by a break-up. - The Times

Sam Laidlaw, the former Centrica boss and founder of Neptune Energy, has warned that the windfall tax could limit the oil and gas explorer's long-term investment in Britain. The new tax regime "increased uncertainty" and would lead to companies such as Neptune "favouring" projects in countries where energy policies "support a stable and predictable investment climate to encourage new investment", he said. - The Times

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(Sharecast News) - California's home-insurance safety net does not have enough money to pay all of the claims from damage caused by the Los Angeles wildfires and has asked private insurers to contribute $1bn toward those claims. All private insurers operating in California are required to contribute to the Fair plan, a plan of last resort established so all Californians would have access to fire insurance. More than 450,000 California homeowners got their insurance through the Fair plan in 2024 - more than double the number in 2020. As of 4 February, the plan had received more than 4,700 claims from the Palisades and Eaton fires, almost half of which were for "total losses". - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: British economy, Heathrow, FOS
(Sharecast News) - The British economy is on course to expand by 1.5% this year after the budget gave a boost to public spending but could be blown off course if Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened tariffs, a leading economic thinktank has warned. In a boost to Rachel Reeves after a bruising month of negative economic figures, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) upped its annual growth prediction from 1.2% to 1.5%. - Guardian
Tuesday newspaper round-up: OpenAI, EVs, gas prices
(Sharecast News) - Elon Musk escalated his feud with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman on Monday. The billionaire is leading a consortium of investors that announced it had submitted a bid of $97.4bn for "all assets" of the artificial intelligence company to OpenAI's board of directors. The startup, which operates ChatGPT, has been working to restructure itself away from its original non-profit status. OpenAI also operates a for-profit subsidiary, and Musk's unsolicited offer could complicate the company's plans. The Wall Street Journal first reported the proposed bid. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - An increasingly complex tax system is burdening the government and businesses with hundreds of millions of pounds more in administration costs, Whitehall's spending watchdog has warned. The report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also said "poor levels of service" meant some taxpayers and their representatives were "finding it more difficult to deal with their tax matters and are losing trust in HM Revenue & Customs [HMRC]". - 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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