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  • Today's business and finance round up 14th April 2022

Today's business and finance round up 14th April 2022

Inflation nation rolls on

April 14, 2022

14th April 2022

Bite-sized business news from the UK and beyond

Good morning Well done, you’ve made it to the end of the working week and can now look forward to a four day weekend with good weather forecast.Market Loop will be taking a slightly extended break over Easter so will be back in your inbox next Thursday.Happy Easter!

Today's stories

  • Inflation nation rolls on

  • UK financial wellbeing app raises $175m

ECONOMYInflation nation rolls on

What’s going on?

Why is this important?

Regular readers of financial, or quite frankly any news for the past six months may be tired of hearing the word "inflation,” but it simply can’t be avoided. UK inflation rose again in March to the highest level since 1992. The increase was driven by rising fuel costs and shopping bills. 

  • Average petrol and diesel prices jumped more by more than 30% over the past year – the biggest rise since 1989.

  • The cost of furniture, household equipment and maintenance jumped 10.4%.

  • The price of clothes and shoes rose by 9.7% and groceries were up 5.9%.

Unfortunately for consumers there’s more price rises to come. March inflation figures didn’t take into account the 54% rise in the energy price cap at the start of April that hit over 20m households. The war in Ukraine could also continue to disrupt energy markets and keep fuel prices high.That means that economists expect inflation to hit double digits in the coming months. All the while, wage growth continues to lag with the latest ONS data showing that pay (excluding bonuses) is only rising by 4%.

Zooming out

  1. Organic causes, such as supply chains smoothing out and Brits pulling back on spending (e.g., “the cure for high prices is high prices”).

  2. Policy interventions, most notably the Bank of England hiking interest rates to raise borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.

Other stories to keep you in the loop

  • Tesco vows to rein in prices as profits treble

  • Students and graduates face 12% interest on student loans from September

  • iPhone maker halts Shanghai production due to Covid lockdown

  • Abramovich hit by multibillion-pound crackdown on assets in Jersey and France

  • Pizza Hut warns price hikes are inevitable as dining chains face 'perfect storm'

  • CNN streaming service only draws 10,000 subscribers, far short of 2m prediction

  • Facebook spends record $27m on Mark Zuckerberg's security and private jet travel in 2021

FINTECHUK financial wellbeing app raises $175m

Stat of the day

There are 170,000 ways to customise a Starbucks drink order

Interesting links from around the web

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