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Sunday newspaper round-up: Taxes, BT, Taylor Swift

(Sharecast News) - The Chancellor has ordered cabinet ministers to search for cost-cutting reforms and to gird themselves for difficult choices over government spending. It is understood that Rachel Reeves still requires £16bn to close an estimated £22bn financing gap. Taxes on capital gains, pension contributions relief and inheritances are all being considered as possible avenues to raise funds. The Chancellor however does not dismiss the possibility of tweaks to fiscal rules that would allow her to invest slightly more. - Guardian

Media tycoon Patrick Drahi may have quietly whittled down his declared 24.5% stake in BT over the last few months. New research indicates that his direct ownership is now 10%, with the remainder held on his behalf by lenders as shares on loan. The move comes amid several asset sales by Drahi to raise cash after his Altice Group ran up debts of $60bn. So while the tycoon retains 24.5% of BT's voting rights, much of that is through borrowed shares. The analysis by New Street Research has been disputed by Drahi's allies. - Sunday Times

Figures due out this week are expected to show that the UK economy expanded at a 0.7% clip over the three months to June, according to analysts at Investec. The 'Taylor Swift' effect is expected to have played a large part, boosting demand in the services sector. Month-on-month growth meanwhile was pegged to have risen by 0.2%. - Financial Mail on Sunday

Bonds issued by TalkTalk have plumbed a fresh low as the telecoms carrier's rush to clinch a deal with debt-holders at the end of August. As of Friday, one of the company's bonds was changing hands at 66.25p, for a 9% loss on the week. The company has said that it had made "good progress" in its talks to refinance its more than £1bn of debt. If TalkTalk does not succeed by the end of the month its risks running afoul of its debt covenants. - The Sunday 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
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(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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