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Monday newspaper round-up: BMW, shop prices, Waitrose, Bernanke

(Sharecast News) - BMW will unveil a significant investment in its electric Mini plant in Oxford on Monday, a move that will secure 4,000 jobs and strengthen the UK's electric vehicle supply chain. The investment by the German carmaker is the result of "extensive" engagement with the UK government, according to the business and trade department, and marks a reversal of plans to move electric Mini production abroad to China. - Guardian The largest solar farm in Europe to be built on a closed landfill site has begun generating renewable electricity from a former rubbish dump in Essex. The Ockendon solar farm, the third largest in the UK, includes more than 100,000 solar modules covering 70 hectares (173 acres) of land. - Guardian

Rising taxes risk "severely undermining" the fight against inflation, a group of more than 40 major British businesses have warned the Chancellor. In a letter to Jeremy Hunt, the bosses of Tesco, Aldi, Ikea, Greggs, M&S and dozens more retailers have warned an anticipated rise in business rates will ramp up costs and make it harder to cut prices. - Telegraph

Waitrose has cut the price of roast dinner staples and other items in the grocer's latest bid to retain cash-strapped customers. The supermarket chain said it was lowering the cost of 250 items from Wednesday as part of an ongoing £100m investment. Among the goods falling in price are higher-welfare, medium whole chickens, which will drop from £4.90 each to £4.50 each. - Telegraph

When experts at the Bank of England begin their next round of forecasting for the nation's economy, they will be watched closely by an outside observer. Ben Bernanke, the Nobel prizewinning economist and former US Federal Reserve chairman, has been charged with leading an independent review of the Bank's forecasting models. He is the latest in a series of American economists to have been drafted in by the Bank to provide an independent evaluation of its work since it gained its independence from the Treasury in 1997. Before Bernanke, Don Kohn, David Stockton and Kevin Warsh were Fed officials to have written reviews of the UK's monetary policy framework. - The Times

A "perfect storm" in the jobs market risks generating a "wage-price spiral" that would make inflation tougher to bring down, a report has warned. Resilient demand for workers, despite the economy slowing, is said to have strengthened employees' confidence over pay rises. In research by Robert Half, a recruitment agency, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research consultancy, faith in future pay awards pushed its jobs confidence index into positive territory for the first time in more than a year. - The Times

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Thursday newspaper round-up: CMA, Riverford, Lloyds, Arm Holdings
(Sharecast News) - The appointment of the former boss of Amazon UK to lead the competition watchdog poses a threat to its independence and pledge to hold big tech to account, according to a group including tech companies and the former business secretary Vince Cable. The group - which includes the News Media Association, the Firefox developer Mozilla, the consumer group Which? and the Future of Technology Institute - has written to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, to raise concerns about the appointment of Doug Gurr as the interim chair of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Johnson & Johnson, BoE
(Sharecast News) - Thames Water may need as much as £10bn in debt and equity investment to repair its finances, according to a representative of creditors hoping to lend the struggling utility another £3bn. London's high court heard evidence on Tuesday that suggested the UK's largest water company may need significantly more resources than the roughly £6.3bn it has previously indicated. - Guardian
Monday newspaper round-up: Zero-hours contracts, Barclays, Asos
(Sharecast News) - Hundreds of thousands of British workers are on zero-hours contracts despite being with the same employer for years, according to analysis from the TUC. The majority of zero-hours contract workers have been with their employer for more than 12 months, while one in eight have not been granted regular employment rights after more than a decade working in the same place, the organisation said. - Guardian
Friday newspaper round-up: Apple, Daily Mail, OpenAI, Homebase
(Sharecast News) - Apple slightly beat analysts' expectations in its first-quarter earnings for fiscal year 2025 on Thursday. The iPhone-maker's revenue rose by 4%, coming in at $124.30bn, barely above estimates of $124.12bn. Earnings per share were $2.40, just ahead of analysts' expectations of $2.35. Shares rose more than 8% in extended trading after CEO Tim Cook indicated in an earnings call on Thursday that Apple is on the trajectory for revenue growth next quarter. - 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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