BUSINESS LIVE: Wage growth slows; Unilever faces eco claims probe; FCA warns platforms on client cash gains

Just before close, the FTSE 100 was 0.05% up at 7,548.66.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 0.28% lower at 18,697.02.

An explosion of online and social media fraud led to a series of warnings from banks over the past year, as they see more of their customers scammed.

Now, Britain’s biggest bank Lloyds has revealed where it expects most people to be ripped off in 2024.

AstraZeneca has expanded its growing vaccine business with the takeover of US developer Icosavax.

The deal will see the FTSE 100 Anglo-Swedish firm pay up to $1.1billion (£875million) for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) specialist, reflecting a 91 per cent premium to Icosavax’s closing market price on Monday.

Cheaper gasoline mostly offset price increases for housing and other services – easing pressure on the Federal Reserve.

Janet Mui, head of market analysis at wealth manager RBC Brewin Dolphin, comments on the latest US inflation statistics:

Going forward, we expect inflation to continue slowing as the labour market softens, but with bumps along the way. Rent inflation will be a big part of the puzzle, but leading indicators from more timely rents indices propose things are cooling into 2024.

The market expectation of around five rate cuts in the US is barely changed after the report. It seems markets have already made up their mind on rate cuts and it will take quite a lot for those expectations to be challenged at this stage, as inflation is consistently slowing down, and gasoline prices have fallen sharply.

The event risk will be the Federal Reserve’s decision tomorrow where the latest economic and interest rate projections will be released, which may challenge markets’ current dovish consensus.

Accounting firm Ernst & Young has announced layoffs across all US businesses just before the holidays, sighting decreasing post-pandemic demand for services.

The company will let go more than 100 consultants and over 30 partners in strategy and transactions at both junior and senior levels, reported The Wall Street Journal.

Sosandar swung to a loss in the first half, but the fashion retailer anticipates a strong Christmas period after achieving record trading last month.

The womenswear specialist revealed its turnover exceeded £10million over October and November, a 16 per cent boost on the equivalent period in 2022.

More savers have to pay tax on their interest as savings rates rise – but the good news is that a technique called ‘paying away’ can help slash these bills.

In 2023, 37 per cent of savers made enough interest on their savings to breach their Personal Savings Allowance (PSA), research from Paragon Bank reveals.

Ever looked at your investment portfolio and thought why on earth did I buy that fund?

Or perhaps scrolling through your list of holdings you spot a share with a name that you recognise but you can’t recall what the company actually does.

Ofwat has reached the next stage of enforcement cases related to the regulator’s probe into non-permitted sewage discharges by UK water firms.

The watchdog, which regulates water firms in England and Wales, said in a statement it has notified Northumbrian Water, Thames Water and Yorkshire Water of its provisional findings.

(PA) – Poundland’s owner has revealed annual profits slumped by more than a third as expansion and higher costs took their toll, but said it was “cautiously optimistic” for the year ahead.

Pepco Group, which owns the Pepco and Dealz brands in Europe and Poundland in the UK, posted a 35.8% constant currency drop in reported pre-tax profits to €147million (£126million) for the year to September 30.

Chief executive Andy Bond said the result was “disappointing” as the cost of opening another 668 stores across the group, as well as inflation and interest rate pressures, offset record sales of €5.6billion (£4.8billion), up 17.7%.

Poundland’s appreciate-for-appreciate sales lifted 5.6% over the year, but Pepco said trading since the start of the year financial year had been “mixed” across its brands, with overall group comparable sales down 3.1% in the eight weeks to November 26.

Poundland sales are “slightly above” year-on-year as weaker clothing sales drag on the overall performance, according to the group.

Pepco said: “While we expect the challenging trading conditions outlined above to continue in the near term, we are cautiously optimistic as we enter 2024.”

Mr Bond said the group was taking action to slow store openings and address higher costs to boost its bottom line.

He added: “While we expect industry-wide short-term sales challenges to continue, we are cautiously encouraged by recent third-party data pointing to an expected easing of certain pressures on household budgets, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.

“We also continue to expect gross margin recovery throughout the year, and are already seeing encouraging signs here.”

Britain’s financial regulator is clamping down on investment platforms profiting unfairly on customer cash balances and warned firms against ‘double dipping’.

While investor inflows have weakened this year amid economic uncertainty, platforms have been earning a fortune on the interest on customer’s uninvested cash deposits.

Unilever faces a regulatory probe over claims made by the consumer goods giant about the environmental credentials of its products.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday it will scrutinize the claims made by the group, which owns brands including Cif, Comfort, and Lynx, amid concerns it ‘may be overstating how green certain products are’.

Toymaker Hasbro is cutting 20 per cent of its workforce, affecting 1,100 jobs as the malaise in the toy business extends through another holiday shopping season.

The Rhode-island based firm behind Monopoly, Play-Doh and My Little Pony disclosed the layoffs in a memo published in a regulatory filing on Monday.

Hospitality bosses branded the Covid Inquiry a ‘farce’ yesterday for focusing on the Eat Out to Help Out scheme rather than on ‘catastrophic’ lockdowns.

Luke Johnson, part owner of Gail’s bakery and the former boss of Pizza convey, argued that the hearing should look into whether they were ‘proportionate’ or ‘worth it’.

The telecoms regulator has proposed a ban mid-contract inflation-linked price hikes for phone, broadband and TV services.

Ofcom on Tuesday outlined plans that would force companies to enlighten customers upfront ‘in pounds and pence’ about any price rises included in their contract, amid concerns that ‘sufficient’ certainty on costs is not currently being provided.

Shoppers have been warned to watch out for scams when buying tickets, pets, vehicles and designer goods online in 2024.

Thousands of people hunting for tickets, cars, pets, and much more were tricked into handing money over to fraudsters this year, with purchase scams soaring 42 per cent compared to last year.

The world economy risks descending into a second Cold War that wipes out the benefits of three decades of peace and growth, a senior official at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned.

Gita Gopinath, the IMF’s second in command, said the fragmentation of nations into competing power blocs threatened ‘an annihilation of the gains from open trade’.

The owners of the O2 and the Hammersmith Apollo look set to fight it out over one of the UK’s biggest ticketing merchants.

French media giant Vivendi has been courting potential buyers for See Tickets and its events arm in a deal that could value it at over £250million.

Shares in Macy’s soared after investors made a £4.6billion bid for the company.

On a bumper session on Wall Street, the department store’s stock shot up more than 20 per cent following reports that Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital have offered to take the group private.

The investors already have a stake in Macy’s – which has 700 sites including the more expensive Bloomingdale’s department store brand – and lodged their bid for the shares they do not already own at the start of the month.

The UK financial watchdog has written to investment platforms and self-invested personal pension operators concerning interest earned on customers’ cash balances.

The Financial Conduct Authority said earnings of interest on cash blances have continued to boost, with evidence suggesting the ‘majority’ of firms make money this way.

Many firms also charge a fee to customers for the cash they hold, known as ‘double dipping’, the FCA said, which ‘may not be providing fair value to customers and may not be understood by consumers or properly disclosed’.

Sheldon Mills, executive director of consumers and competition at the FCA said:

‘Rising rates mean greater returns on cash. Investment platforms and SIPP operators need now to ensure how much of the interest they retain and, for those who are double dipping, how much they’re charging customers holding cash, results in fair value. If they cannot make that case, they need to make changes.

‘If they don’t, we’ll intervene.’

Shares in a Welsh car battery firm nearly tripled after it hired three former Tesla executives.

DG create surged 176 per cent after it named Peter Bardenfleth-Hansen as chief executive while Christian Eidem and Jochen Rudat will unite as executive directors.

All three have previously wo

rked at the US electric car giant, with Bard

Britain’s competition watchdog will research environmental claims made by Unilever about certain household essential items, such as a number of cleaning products and toiletries.

The Competition and Markets Authority said it is seeking to scrutinize the claims made by the consumer good giant to make sure shoppers are not being misled, adding it had concerns that the maker of Dove soap ‘may be overstating how green certain products are’.

‘We’ll be drilling down into these claims to see if they measure up,’ said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell.

Thomas Pugh, economist at RSM UK:

‘Another sharp slowdown in pay growth… gives advocate justification to the MPCs decision to keep interest rates at 5.25 per cent and strongly suggests that the committee is unlikely to make any changes at its next meeting on Thursday.

‘However, pay growth is still double the 3 to 3.5 per cent that the MPC thinks is consistent with 2 per cent inflation and it will take time to come down to a level that the MPC is comfortable with, that’s why we’re not expecting any cuts in interest rates until the second half of next year.

‘Overall, the loosening in the labour market seems to be slowly feeding through into easing pressure on wages, that should meet the MPC that it just needs to continue to be patient in order to see wage growth and inflation return to more normal levels.

‘But given wage growth is only coming down slowly, the prospects of interest rates being cut early next year still seems unlikely to us.’

GSK has scored another win for its drug pipeline. European watchdogs have given a cancer treatment developed by the pharma giant the thumbs up.

Jemperli has been cleared by the European Commission for use alongside chemotherapy to treat endometrial cancer, which affects the uterus.

Wage growth slowed to 7.3 per cent in the three months to 31 October, lower than forecasts of 7.4 per cent, but will remain a provoke for concern for the Bank of England as it struggles to drag inflation back to its 2 per cent target.

Fresh data from the Office for National Statistics shows a slowdown in regular pay growth from an upwardly revised reading of 7.8 per cent growth in the three months to September and from a peak of 7.9 per cent immediately before that.

Including bonuses, which are typically volatile, pay growth slowed to 7.2 per cent from 8 per cent in the three months to September.