Tuesday newspaper round-up: Mortgage rates, KPMG, tax fines, Ocado

(Sharecast News) - The average price of two- and five-year fixed-rate mortgages in the UK has hit its highest level for seven months, putting further pressure on borrowers who are reaching the end of their deals. Data from the financial information firm Moneyfacts showed the cost of a two-year deal for homeowners rising to 6.23% on Monday, up from 6.19% at the end of last week and its highest since last November. Meanwhile, the average cost of a five-year deal rose to 5.86%, from 5.83% on Friday. - Guardian The UK's post-Brexit border strategy risks further pushing up food prices, according representatives of Britain's fresh produce industry. Traders in the food supply chain are warning they will not be able to absorb the extra cost of charges levied for import checks on goods entering the country from the EU and the rest of the world, due to be introduced in the new year. - Guardian

Rising corporate profits played a bigger role in driving Europe's inflation crisis than the energy shock caused by the war in Ukraine, according to analysis by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Profit increases accounted for almost half the increase in the eurozone's post-pandemic inflation rate, according to research by IMF staff, as "companies increased prices by more than spiking costs of imported energy". - Telegraph

Auditor KPMG is to cut around 5pc of US jobs as demand for its consulting services slows. Paul Knopp, the "big four" auditor's US chief executive, said the cuts are designed to address the "significant mismatch" between its US workforce and the reduced demand amid global economic uncertainty. - Telegraph

Four in ten of all fines issued by HM Revenue & Customs for late filing of tax returns are meted out to people who earn too little to owe any tax in the first place, according to an investigation by tax campaigners. Between 2018 and 2022, 420,000 late-filing penalties issued by the tax authority were to people who earned less than the personal tax allowance and therefore owed no tax. - The Times

Lingotto, the new fund backed by Italy's billionaire Agnelli dynasty and chaired by George Osborne, has substantially raised its stake in Ocado despite the online grocer having proved to be the biggest drag on its portfolio last year. The purchase, which lifted Lingotto's holding above the 5 per cent disclosure threshold, was completed on June 23, the day after shares in the FTSE 100 retail technology group rose by almost 50 per cent amid market speculation of takeover interest from Amazon and other tech heavyweights. - The Times