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Wednesday newspaper round-up: Stagflation, Amazon, Scottish jobs

(Sharecast News) - The UK economy is suffering from a 1970s-style "British disease" that means inflation will not fall back to the Bank of England's 2 per cent target until after 2027, a think tank has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said the economy had suffered from five years of "lost economic growth", with stubbornly high inflation and semi-permanent government deficits expected in the foreseeable future. Jagjit Chadha, director of the institute, Britain's oldest independent economics think tank, said the country's woes had led to the "re-emergence of the British disease" - a reference to the stagflationary trap of the 1970s, when the term was coined. - The Times

Amazon has been accused of pushing small businesses to the edge of collapse after warning it would hold onto thousands of sellers' cash temporarily. The US tech giant told small firms using its platform in the UK and continental Europe that it will withhold their sale proceeds for over a week, triggering fears businesses will not have the cash to keep going. - Daily Mail

Scotland's jobs market is struggling and pay growth is falling behind the rest of the UK as its oil industry declines, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). Figures show that Scotland's employment rate has suffered a "marked deterioration" since 2014, and is now one percentage point below the national average. At the same time, earnings have grown much more slowly than in the rest of the country. - Guardian

Britain's taxpayer-funded infrastructure bank has invested £24 million in a mining start-up hoping to produce lithium for electric vehicle batteries in Cornwall. Cornish Lithium said the UK Infrastructure Bank had led a £53.6 million funding round that would "significantly accelerate progress toward the creation of a domestic supply of battery-grade lithium compounds". The first equity investment by UKIB, which is taking a 13 per cent stake in the company, has been matched by a further £24 million from EMG, an American private equity group, and £5.6 million from TechMet, an existing investor. - The Times

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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
Thursday newspaper round-up: Car production, UK retailers, water bills, KPMG
(Sharecast News) - The architect of a ban on newspaper takeovers by foreign states has demanded that an Abu Dhabi fund be forced to sell The Telegraph by Easter. Baroness Stowell, the Conservative chairman of the Lords communications and digital committee, said the Government should impose an ultimatum on RedBird IMI. It should be backed by the threat of regulatory action, she said, to strip the fund of control of what has been dubbed "the newspaper auction from hell". - Telegraph

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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