UK grocery price inflation slows as retailers launch pre-Christmas promotions
The pace of grocery inflation in Britain slowed last month as retailers ramped up promotions before Christmas, providing a little relief for consumers bracing for further tax rises in this month’s budget.Grocery inflation stood at 4.7% in the four weeks to 2 November, easing from 5.2% in the previous four weeks, according to figures from Worldpanel by Numerator, formerly known as Kantar.Official data published last month showed overall UK inflation held steady at 3.
8% in September, with food inflation slowing,The next official figures are due on 19 November, shortly before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, presents her budget on 26 November,Worldpanel said prices were rising fastest on chocolate confectionery, fresh meat and coffee and were falling fastest on kitchen roll and toilet paper, sugar confectionery and dog food,It said grocery sales grew 3,2% year on year over the four-week period – with spending on deals rising 9.
4% compared with an increase of 1,8% on full-priced goods,The figures, which show spending growth lagging behind the rate of grocery price inflation, suggest that households are buying fewer items or switching to cheaper options, including supermarket own label alternatives and discounters, in order to save money,The discount chain Lidl was by far the fastest growing of the grocers with physical stores,Its sales rose 10.
8% in the 12 weeks to 2 November as it benefited from the hunt for better value and new store openings.Tesco and Sainsbury’s, the UK’s two biggest supermarket chains, also continued to gain market share, while Asda continued to struggle, with sales down 3.9%.Asda’s market share slipped one percentage point to 11.6%, while Morrisons is within a whisker – 0.
1 percentage points – of being overtaken by Lidl as the UK’s fifth largest supermarket as the Bradford-based chain’s sales rose by just 2,3%,However, the rise in disposable income for higher earners benefited the upmarket grocers Marks & Spencer and Ocado, with sales rising 8,8% and 15,9% in the 12 weeks.
Shares in the UK stock market-listed retailers Tesco, Sainsbury’s and M&S fell on Tuesday.Freddie Wild, an analyst at Jefferies, suggested the slowdown in growth could be “the new normal”.Analysts at Citi said Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s “performance relative to the discounters worsened” and suggested there was a risk that a worsening macro economic environment could further drive shoppers to seek out bargains at the likes of Aldi and Lidl.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionFraser McKevitt, the head of retail and consumer insight at Worldpanel, said: “Christmas ads are hitting our screens and the race to the big day is on in the supermarket sector.Retailers are very alive to the financial struggles that some households are facing, not least ahead of this year’s budget.
“They’re eager to show how they’re offering shoppers value for money, putting the emphasis on price cuts rather than multibuy offers.“It’s not just the Grinch who’s looking for savings, with just shy of 30% of consumer spending at the grocers on promoted items in October, a figure that we expect to go even higher as we get closer to Christmas.”Reuters contributed to this report
Datacenters meet resistance over environmental concerns as AI boom spreads in Latin America
This Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian’s TechScape newsletter. Sign up for this weekly newsletter here.The datacenters that power the artificial intelligence boom are beyond enormous. Their financials, their physical scale, and the amount of information contained within are so massive that the idea of stopping their construction can seem like opposing an avalanche in progress.Despite the scale and momentum of the explosion of datacenters, resistance is mounting in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in Latin America, where datacenters have been built in some of the world’s driest areas
Can OpenAI keep pace with industry’s soaring costs?
It is the $1.4tn (£1.1tn) question. How can a loss-making startup such as OpenAI afford such a staggering spending commitment?Answer that positively and it will go a long way to easing investor concerns over bubble warnings in the artificial intelligence boom, from lofty tech company valuations to a mooted $3tn global spend on datacentres.The company behind ChatGPT needs a vast amount of computing power – or compute, in tech jargon – to train its models, produce their responses and build even more powerful systems in the future
Tech giants vow to defend users in US as spyware companies make inroads with Trump administration
Apple and WhatsApp have vowed to keep warning users if their mobile phones are targeted by governments using hacking software against them, including in the US, as two spyware makers seek to make inroads with the Trump administration.The two technology giants made their statements in response to queries from the Guardian as the two cyberweapons makers – both founded in Israel and now owned by American investors – are aggressively pursuing access to the US market.Paragon Solutions, which makes a spyware called Graphite, already cemented a deal with the Trump administration in September to give US immigration agents access to one of the world’s most sophisticated hacking tools, after the Department of Homeland lifted a freeze on a $2m contract with ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).Paragon did not respond to requests for comment.Another company, NSO Group, which was accused by the Biden administration in 2021 of engaging in business that was “contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the US”, announced this weekend that David Friedman, the US ambassador to Israel during Donald Trump’s first term, had agreed to become executive chairman of the holding company that owns NSO
Elon Musk makes himself far-right fixture after White House departure
The Tesla CEO once hinted he was done with politics – but he’s been leaning further into the international far rightWhen the far-right activist Tommy Robinson emerged from a London courtroom this week after a judge cleared him of a terrorism charge, he gave thanks to the man he said had bankrolled his defense.“Elon Musk, I’m forever grateful. If you didn’t step in and fund my legal fight I’d probably be in jail,” Robinson said. “Thank you, Elon.”In the period immediately after Musk’s messy departure from the White House, the Tesla CEO repeatedly suggested that he was done with politics
ChatGPT accused of acting as ‘suicide coach’ in series of US lawsuits
ChatGPT has been accused of acting as a “suicide coach” in a series of lawsuits filed this week in California alleging that interactions with the chatbot led to severe mental breakdowns and several deaths.The seven lawsuits include allegations of wrongful death, assisted suicide, involuntary manslaughter, negligence and product liability.Each of the seven plaintiffs initially used ChatGPT for “general help with schoolwork, research, writing, recipes, work, or spiritual guidance”, according to a joint statement from the Social Media Victims Law Center and Tech Justice Law Project, which filed the lawsuits in California on Thursday.Over time, however, the chatbot “evolved into a psychologically manipulative presence, positioning itself as a confidant and emotional support”, the groups said.“Rather than guiding people toward professional help when they needed it ChatGPT reinforced harmful delusions, and, in some cases, acted as a ‘suicide coach’
‘Musk is Tesla and Tesla is Musk’ – why investors are happy to pay him $1tn
For all the headlines about an on-off relationship with Donald Trump, baiting liberals and erratic behaviour, Tesla shareholders are loath to part with Elon Musk.Investors in the electric vehicle maker voted on Thursday to put the world’s richest person on the path to become the world’s first trillionaire, despite the controversy that is now seemingly intrinsic to his public profile.Shareholders approved the $1tn compensation plan, which could yield the largest corporate payout in history if he meets a series of tough-looking goals, not least pushing Tesla from its current market value of $1.4tn to $8.5tn (£1
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