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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.

Sunday newspaper round-up: Middle East, Aston Martin, Defence

(Sharecast News) - Britons must accept that their country was now involved in the Middle East conflict, Tobias Ellwood said. The former defence minister warned that "nobody was in full control" of the growing conflict as more and more countries were sucked in. Ellwood also said that Tehran's strike had taken the conflict into a "new dangerous territory". - Sunday Telegraph Aston Martin chief executive officer Amedeo Felisa has come under criticism after news that he was given £1.3m to cover his expenses for the weekly commute form Italy to the Midlands on a private jet. The row follows a major revolt among AstraZeneca shareholders over the proposed pay package for its boss. Sky-high pay packages are also expected to trigger a rebellion among shareholders at Smith & Nephew and LSE Group. - The Financial Mail on Sunday

Top defence chiefs, including the heads of Airbus and Babcock, are calling for the UK to invest more in defence due to the heightened risk of conflict across the world. The UK and other countries need to take such threats seriously and respond appropriately, Airbus head of space and defence Ben Bridge said. Babcock chief David Lockwood also called for greater spending on defence, saying now was the first time that we were not taking Western freedoms for granted. - The Sunday Telegraph

Grocers are selling and then leasing back their stores in order to free up cash with which to lower their debt piles. Asda and Morrisons led the way in 2023 with transactions to sell their stores and warehouses. Indeed, such deals made up nearly half of all property deals last during the previous year, versus just 1% in 2022. - Financial Mail on Sunday

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Friday newspaper round-up: Barclays, BP, JPMorgan
(Sharecast News) - The UK government will "wait and see" whether tariffs announced by Donald Trump "actually come to pass", a senior minister said. The US president announced what he called "reciprocal tariffs" on all other countries on Thursday evening, claiming it was "fair to all". But it was unclear how this would apply to the UK, especially as Trump suggested his policy regarded VAT as a tariff. - Guardian
Thursday newspaper round-up: Solar panels, OBR, Chevron
(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

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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