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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Energy bills support, prepayment meters, financial ombudsman

(Sharecast News) - The Treasury has performed a U-turn on a planned cut to energy support for households after warnings that it would plunge many thousands more families into poverty. In an announcement on the morning of the chancellor Jeremy Hunt's budget speech, the government confirmed that the energy price guarantee would continue at its current rate, which limits a typical annual household bill to £2,500. It is being extended from April, when it was due to expire, for a further three months until the end of June. - Guardian A ban on the forced installation of prepayment meters by energy companies has been extended beyond the end of March, Ofgem has said. The energy regulator's chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, told MPs that suppliers would not resume the installations until a code of practice was published and Ofgem was satisfied it was being adhered to. - Guardian

Saudi Arabia is to spend £30bn on a fleet of 72 Boeing jets as it seeks to dominate the Gulf with a new airline. Riyadh Air, launched on Sunday, has agreed to buy the Dreamliners in the plane maker's fifth biggest order of all time amid a scramble to eclipse neighbouring flag carriers Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad. - Telegraph

About 13,000 complaints made to the financial ombudsman have not been resolved after more than a year, the head of the service told MPs, as she admitted there is "more we could do to bring that number down". Abby Thomas, who joined the Financial Ombudsman service six months ago as its chief executive and chief ombudsman, told an influential cross-party committee of MPs that 7,500 of the cases are subject to legal proceedings or have had to be put on hold because the companies involved have gone into administration. - The Times

Tesco's imposition of fees for online suppliers has led to widespread calls for a referral to the grocery regulator. The UK's largest supermarket wrote to suppliers last week informing them it would be introducing Amazon-style fulfilment fees on all products sold on its UK and Ireland websites and app. - The Times

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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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