Business

Retail sales rebounded in January after falling in December, posting their biggest monthly rise since the shops reopened last spring. Despite rising prices due to inflation, volumes jumped by 1.9% last month following a drop of 4% in December, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), triggered by surging rates of Covid-19. The figures
NatWest announced a swing back to profit in 2021, aided by the UK’s economic recovery, but warned of storm clouds on the horizon as inflation begins to bite. The taxpayer-owned bank reported pre-tax profits on Friday of £4bn for 2021, up from a £351m loss it made the previous year. British lenders have been boosted
Inflation hit 5.5% in January, its highest rate since March 1992, as the cost of living in Britain continued to surge, official figures show. The consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation, up from 5.4% in December, was in line with economists expectations – as clothing, housing, and furniture prices climbed higher, the Office for
Markets around the world were rattled on Monday morning as they digested news that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could be imminent, dealing a blow to investors already nervous about rising inflation. European indexes, including the UK’s FTSE 100, Germany’s Dax and France’s CAC 40, all fell several percentage points at the start of the
Jack Monroe has praised Asda for cutting the cost of products in its Smartprice range – and making them more widely available. The poverty campaigner had gone viral last month after writing a Twitter thread to warn official inflation figures “grossly underestimated” the impact that the cost-of-living crisis was having on Britons with low incomes.