US monthly inflation rate slows amid Trump tariffs

The pace of inflation slowed in April, the month that Donald Trump announced his sweeping “liberation day” tariffs on the US’s largest trading partners.The annual inflation rate was 2.3% in April, down from an annual rate of 2.4% March, according to a new inflation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).Core inflation, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, hit an annual rate of 2

Thames Water finances were ‘hair raising’, chair tells MPs

The chair of Thames Water has admitted its finances were “hair raising”, as he said bosses were in line for “substantial” bonuses linked to an emergency £3bn loan.The UK’s biggest water company came within just five weeks of running out of money, Adrian Montague told MPs on Tuesday.“Thames in the last year has come very close to running out of money entirely,” he said. He added there were times where it only had weeks’ worth of cash left. “Running a £20bn corporation on five weeks’ liquidity, honestly, it’s hair raising

Gold fever makes a comeback as buyers and bankers recoil from uncertainty

New York’s famous Diamond District was teeming last week. But the subject on many minds in the city’s jewelry district was not diamonds but gold.Covid, Ukraine and now Donald Trump’s trade wars have all sparked new interest in gold – which can trace its history as a currency back to 600BC.On West 47th Street, gold trader Becky Algozhoeva at GT Findings was showing coins and ingots stamped with the Roman goddess Fortuna, also known as “Lady Fortuna”, to customers.“Regular people are thinking gold is the key

Nissan to shut seven factories, cutting 20,000 jobs worldwide

Nissan is to close seven factories with the loss of 20,000 jobs around the world, after a tumultuous year for the Japanese carmaker.As it slims down production, Nissan will make a further 11,000 job cuts, after 9,000 job losses announced in November, collectively reducing its workforce by 15%. The decision will affect staff and contractor jobs across manufacturing, sales and administration, as well as research and development.Nissan did not say which factories were due to shut. However, its factory at Sunderland in north-east England, the carmaker’s only factory in Europe and where it employs 6,000 people, is not thought to be a likely candidate for closure

Drug price cuts: what is Trump planning and what will it mean for big pharma?

Donald Trump has used his executive powers to order sweeping cuts to the price of prescription drugs in the US, in an effort to bring them in line with other developed countries.The plans, first announced in a social media post on Sunday, triggered a sharp fall in drugmakers’ share prices on Monday. However, these later reversed amid growing scepticism that the shake-up would be as severe as promised.His order directs the US health secretary, Robert Kennedy, to send price targets to the pharmaceutical industry and kick off a round of negotiations within 30 days to reduce prices from their current levels. The US currently pays by far the most for its medications

Reeves’s tax rises on employers start to bite as unemployment jumps

For the past few months, the true impact of Labour’s increases in labour costs has been clouded by a fog of contradictory data, but the latest jobs figures suggest that murkiness could be beginning to clear.Those who feared the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) would lead to job losses are being proved right. The unemployment rate climbed by 0.2 percentage points to 4.5% between January and March – the highest level for nearly four years