Indholdsfortegnelse for Issue 1260 i MoneyWeek

“Warren Buffett... has been an epic compounding machine, turning a dollar invested at the start of his professional career into about $365,000 today... But, compared with professional investors, it is much easier for a little bit of that magic to rub off on your portfolio. Buffett was never about making a quick buck, and everyday investors can play the same long game. The fact that Buffett wasn’t a portfolio manager... gave him incredible freedom... He ignored critics who said he had lost it, such as during the tech bubble... [In] his six-decade [investing] run Buffett has trailed the market a third of the time and lost money in 11 years. It surely bothered him, but much less than it would a pro fund manager facing career risk... Not only don’t…

The share price of energy company Centrica, owner of British Gas, fell by 7% last week – despite a hike in the dividend. Centrica warned that the mild start to spring would lower first-quarter profits, says Ed Halford in The Times. Meanwhile, a shareholders’ revolt at the annual meeting saw nearly 40% opposing a pay deal for senior executives. Investors are particularly irritated with CEO Chris O’Shea, who received £4.3m last year. Advisory group Institutional Shareholder Services criticised the pay rises as “materially above those given to the wider workforce” and unsupported by a “cogent rationale” Still, says Hargreaves Lansdown, the group is making “good progress” towards its medium-term profitability targets across its various divisions, with the majority of them set to deliver ahead of schedule. Customersatisfaction scores are heading…

Germany’s top aircraft engine manufacturer, MTU Aero Engines, achieved a record profit of €764m in 2024, says WirtschaftsWoche. And there should be plenty more growth to come. According to Airbus, the number of commercial aircraft operating worldwide will double to 48,000 over the next 20 years. That presages further growth for the company’s maintenance division, which already makes up 66% of turnover. Servicing European fighter-jet engines should also prove lucrative in future now that the continent is spending more on defence. The group’s order backlog has reached €28bn, around four times annual sales. The bottom line should rise to around €800m this year.…

Unveiling his government’s white paper on immigration on Monday, Keir Starmer promised to cut net migration by 100,000 a year by 2029. The sweeping set of reforms include raising English-speaking requirements, making it harder to stay in the UK, stopping companies, including care homes, from recruiting abroad, and doubling the path to citizenship from five to ten years. His warning that Britain risks become an “island of strangers” triggered “howls of outrage” from the left, but now that he has broached the culture issue, he should explain “what the cultural costs are and how he intends to address them”, says The Telegraph. In terms of numbers, his measures to limit future flows are “thin gruel”, but the “issues of… division” are already here on our streets. Does he have a…

What’s in the India deal? The core of it is big reductions in tariffs on goods, but not much progress on services. India agreed to reduce tariffs on 90% of products – the most open agreement on goods it has struck – to be phased in over ten years. UK sectors getting the biggest reductions are cosmetics, clothes, food and drink. Indian tariffs on Scotch whisky and gin will fall from 150% to 75% immediately, and to 40% after ten years. And Indian tariffs on cars will fall from 100% to 10%, subject to a quota (to be confirmed). In return the UK is cutting its tariffs on Indian clothes, shoes and food. Total trade between the two countries is expected to rise by £25.5bn , or 38.8%. Will it…

China is undoubtedly the major stockmarket least popular with foreign investors (see right and also this page last week). Yet there is another economy with consumers who are reluctant to spend, an unhealthy obsession with residential property, and more than a decade of anti-business governments with no idea how to boost growth – but where valuations are low (relative to other markets) and sentiment has been at rock bottom. To be fair, that could describe a number of countries – but I am, of course, talking about Britain. My comparisons are more than a little glib (for a start, China has built too much housing, while the UK cannot build enough). Still, just as there is a case for at least a cyclical rally in Chinese stocks, you can make…

Reform’s calamitous reforms Editorial The Economist Now that the idea of Reform becoming a party of government is no longer “fanciful”, its policies demand scrutiny, says The Economist. Although the party has distanced itself from its 2024 election manifesto, the document remains on its website and Nigel Farage has “reaffirmed or expanded” on nearly half of the suggested tax cuts. It puts its “giveaways” at £140bn (5% of GDP a year), which it claims to offset with savings of £160bn. We estimate that those figures are closer to £200bn and £100bn; a gap that would “amount to a colossal fiscal shock, blowing up the deficit and straining the gilt market to its limits”. The party, for instance, claims its personal tax cuts cost £70bn a year, yet the lift to…

project-syndicate.org When economists celebrate the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations next year, US president Donald Trump’s mercantilism will “constitute an incongruous backdrop”, says Dani Rodrik. Trump’s zero-sum approach to global trade has revived mercantilist practices, “in defiance of Smith’s teachings”. Economists are mostly right to follow Smith. But it’s true that mercantilism was “never as dead” as they thought. East Asian governments, for example, have long pursued a mix of mercantilist and Smithian approaches that boost exports and private enterprise, but often behind protectionist walls. The result was what many saw as an “economic miracle”. Smithians, unlike mercantilists, miss that people don’t just care about consumption, but also about production and jobs, and the role of both in determining wellbeing. Each perspective has its blind spots.…

On the basis of its three-year record, Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust (LSE: ASL) does not look interesting. The annualised investment return of 1.1% has been just ahead of the Deutsche Numis Smaller Companies index but is behind over one year at -0.1%. The shares trade at a reasonable 8.6% discount to net asset value (NAV) and yield 3.6% but neither are at bargain levels. However, from a longer-term perspective, ASL looks much more attractive. Annualised returns since launch in 1990 are 11.4%. The fund is relatively liquid, with assets of £1.2bn, and it is the only UK smaller companies trust that is value-orientated but not activist. Triple discount ASL’s style has been very much out of favour, but that looks likely to change, and the fund’s strategy effectively trades at…

When Trainline (LSE: TRN) published its full-year results on 7 May, the market’s reaction was visceral. The shares plunged nearly 10% on the day, taking losses over the past year to 25%. The performance year-to-date is far worse. Since the shares hit a multi-year high of 415p in December, the stock has plunged by more than 40%. Investors, it seems, are really worried about two things. Firstly, international growth, which has flatlined over the past year, and a potential government competitor in the firm’s largest market, the UK. Worries about growth Last year, the group generated revenue of £442m. Of that, £208m came from its home market in the UK. Revenue from the international consumer was £53m, and income from the Trainline Solutions tech arm totalled £181m. Revenue across all…

● Five years on from Covid more than 25% of us still work from home for at least some of the working week, says Tom Haynes in The Daily Telegraph. “Anyone who is unable to work in an office can claim relief for additional household costs such as business phone calls and heating.” This can either be a flat £6 a week or the exact amount spent. However, you cannot claim the relief if you work from home simply because you prefer to. Now HMRC has issued a warning that if you are claiming the relief incorrectly you will get a repayment bill. ● “Energy customers can save more than £300 by switching away from a standard variable tariff,” says Ali Hussain in The Sunday Times. The price charged on…

● With both Santander and Lloyds Banking Group announcing more closures in recent weeks, the number of bank branches that have shut since 2015 has now reached more than 6,000. It’s a real problem for small firms that depend on banks to deposit their takings and to withdraw cash. And while the bank sector thinks new “banking hubs” (spaces shared by several banks) could help, it has so far only managed to open around 75 of these. Moving more of your banking online could help, but this isn’t possible for all firms. Which runs a handy online database of which banks are closing branches and where, so you can try to plan ahead. ● One in four small businesses now use credit cards to fund their business, twice as many…

While market volatility has endured over the last fortnight, my individual long shares have put in a mixed performance. Out of my five long tips, two rose, two fell and one stayed the same. Property developer Harworth declined from 178p to 174p, while food-packaging specialist Hilton Foods slipped from 881p to 866p. However, Domino’s Pizza Group stayed at 272p and AG Barr rose from 683p to 687p. Payments firm Corpay rose from $316 to $348. Overall, my net losses fell from £893 to £722. Sadly, my six short positions didn’t do so well, with four out of the six moving against me. Telecoms firm Lumen Technologies increased from $3.58 to $4.44 and drone maker Red Cat increased from $5.21 to $6.18. Computing group IonQ appreciated from $28.70 to $32.05 and…

US chipmaker Intel had a market capitalisation of $500bn back in 2000, says Lex in the Financial Times. Today, it’s about $98bn – a “piteous decline”. Hopes that this can be reversed under new CEO Lip-Bu Tan (pictured) are not high. He is not even promising a return to Intel’s golden age. “Far from it.” Intel has missed its own targets for years, but Tan’s first quarterly earnings call set out “no ambitious numerical goals, and no quick fixes”. He did vow to make “difficult decisions”, but “things may get worse before they get better for a company that has gone from $20bn of net income in 2021 to five consecutive quarters of losses”. Intel’s new boss, however, is “no stranger to comebacks”, says The Economist. Tan, now 65, was…

2024 Barbera d’Alba, G.D. Vajra, Piemonte, Italy £25, hedonism.co.uk; £25.95, nywines.co.uk G.D. Vajra is a legendary estate in Piemonte. Every year for the past decade, I have published an in-depth report on the wines from this awe-inspiring region, and this winery inevitably features heavily. Earlier this month, the new 2021 Barolos were released, and I must say that Coste di Rose, Ravera and the jewel in the crown, Bricco delle Viole, were all spectacular. I urge you to track them down if you adore top-flight Barolo. These are, admittedly, dear wines, but alongside the starry Barolos, you can enjoy Vajra’s epic winemaking at a much more affordable price and all three of my recommendations this week sit between £20 and £30. With each wine showcasing a different grape variety, it…

Ethical and legal questions have been raised over the Trump administration’s planned acceptance of a “lavishly appointed” $400m Boeing 747-8 jet gifted by the Qatari royal family, led by emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani (pictured). The jet would be upgraded by L3Harris, a military contractor, in Texas for it to be used “temporarily” to replace the ageing presidential aeroplane, known as Air Force One. That the US government could accept the jet and eventually pass it on to Trump for his personal use would be “the clearest example yet of how he [Trump] has further intertwined his personal and presidential business in his second term”, says The New York Times. Trump bought his current personal jet, dubbed “Trump Force One”, secondhand in 2011, but it first flew in the…

South Korea is heading for a “rage election”, says Christoph Heuser for IPS Journal. Asia’s fourth-largest economy holds snap presidential elections next month following the impeachment and removal from office of president Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law at the end of last year plunged his country into “its most severe crisis since the transition to democracy”, leaving voters deeply divided. With US tariffs looming over exporters, Korea’s rise from “war-torn” poverty to “leading industrial nation” has rarely looked more precarious. “Korea is certainly vulnerable,” with exports to the US representing 10% of GDP, says Craig Mellow in Barron’s. But the local Kospi share index has climbed more than 8% in 2025, supported by robust performances from computer-chip specialists and defence firms. On an average price/earnings ratio…

Much attention is lavished on the economic superpowers of America, Europe and China, but a fourth player in the global economy is ready for prime time, says Deutsche Bank. The “global south” – an informal group of the successors to the Cold War-era Non-Aligned Movement – is gaining strength. The block – which includes India, Indonesia, Brazil and Saudi Arabia – already accounts for 20% of nominal global GDP, outstripping China’s share. Almost two-thirds of the world’s working-age population lives in the global south, and it controls more than 40% of energy and transition metals. Yet despite these strengths, these emerging markets still only account for 11% of global equity market capitalisation, suggesting untapped investment potential.…

Last week, International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), which owns British Airways, announced a multibillion-pound spending spree on dozens of new long-haul aircraft, says Robert Lea in The Times. It has agreed to buy 53 new intercontinental aircraft, from both Boeing and Airbus, with an option to acquire a further 23. These are the “most expensive commercial aircraft on the market”, with a list price of more than $10bn. But the actual cost to IAG should be far lower as bulk-buying of aircraft comes with big discounts. The idea is to “bulk up” IAG’s fleets on its core transatlantic routes, increase the capacity of the group’s budget long-haul operation, and replace pricey short-term leases. No wonder IAG is expanding its fleet, says the Financial Times. It has reported a series of…

Cobalt Holdings plans to list in London in June, says the Financial Times. The company, which buys and holds physical cobalt, aims to raise $230m, with commodity trader and miner Glencore and investment firm Anchorage taking a combined 20.5% stake. They are betting on the clean-energy transition increasing demand for cobalt, which is used in electric-car batteries, despite a drop in the price last year owing to oversupply. CEO Jake Greenberg said the group gives investors exposure to the metal “without the direct risks and liabilities associated with cobalt exploration, development or mining operations”.…

Day one of Donald Trump’s four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE saw the unveiling of a $142bn arms deal, alongside other investments that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said could eventually be worth $1trn. The “whirlwind tour”, aimed largely at wooing foreign investors to the US to boost the American economy, is Trump’s first major foreign trip since taking office in January, say Sarah Smith and Bernd Debusmann on the BBC. President Trump, who was accompanied on the trip by a number of business leaders including Elon Musk, Sam Altman and Larry Fink, said that commerce and economic development would help the Middle East “transcend violence and division”. During his speech, Trump voiced his wish that Saudi Arabia would sign the Abraham Accords, a deal he brokered…

Streaming television and music has started to turn into a seriously profitable industry. Last week, Disney reported a 7% rise in overall profits. It made decent returns from its films and theme parks, but it was the figures from its Disney-Plus service, with hits including Rivals and Andor, that stood out, with the unit reporting that it had signed up an extra 1.4 million subscribers. Its rival Netflix has been doing even better. Earlier this year it punched through 300 million paid subscribers globally, a 15% year-on-year rise, and, even better, it is getting them all to pay more as well. Netflix had successfully clamped down on “password sharing” – allowing lots of people to use the same account – and it has pushed up prices, with the standard plan…

Gearing refers to the extent to which debt rather than equity is used to fund an investment. The term can be applied to a business – which might issue bonds to help pay for the construction of a new factory or take out a mortgage to allow it to buy an office building – but equally to the use of borrowings by an investment trust or hedge fund to increase returns. Gearing is also known as leverage – the former term is more common in the UK, while the latter is preferred in the US. The extent of a company’s gearing can be measured through ratios such as debt/equity. Let’s assume that a company has assets worth £100m and debt totalling £30m. Shareholders’ equity, which is equal to assets minus…

“The third wife got two properties, one was in London and one was in New York, and we had to sell the other three. I’ve actually given the flat behind Peter Jones to Jennifer [Wade, his fourth wife], so I don’t have a house, I don’t have a car.” Comedian John Cleese (pictured), quoted in The Times “We often hear that when the US sneezes the global economy catches a cold. This is not the US sneezing. This is the US cutting off its own arm. The self-inflicted economic cost naturally weakens the dollar.” Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Global Wealth Management, on Donald Trump’s tariffs, quoted in The Guardian “They [Disney] asked me to do season two, and they offered me half the money. [I thought] wow, it’s going…

spectator.co.uk The last living ninja, Jinichi Kawakami, is now 76 years old, the master of a centuries-old tradition that trained Japan’s legendary covert operatives and assassins, renowned for their elusiveness and portrayed in fantastical form in many popular films and TV shows, says Philip Patrick. The wisdom in the tradition is passed down orally, and Kawakami has chosen not to take on any apprentices, so when he goes, that will be it: “no more ninjas”. That’s a shame, for a lot more was taught than how to dispatch an enemy swiftly. Their main purpose was, in fact, to prevent war – to win without fighting. The training involved overcoming the passions and desires – including how to go for long periods without food or visits to the toilet. A special…

Chrysalis Investments – the specialist investor in private growth companies – is considering its future after investors owning 27% of its shares called for a continuation vote to be held next year. Chrysalis has rejected the proposal – which was backed by activist Asset Value Investors, its largest investor – and plans instead to ask shareholders to vote to affirm its current capital allocation policy. This calls for it to spend £100m on share buybacks, plus an ongoing 25% of net realised gains, to try to close its discount to NAV, which stands at 34%. However, given a “diversity of views” on issues including how best to return capital to investors and whether it should make any new investments, the board will now launch a formal shareholder consultation.…

In 2024 alone, there were more than 170,000 domestic burglaries, roughly 472 a day, according to the Office for National Statistics. To avoid suffering the same fate, start with the basics. Windows and doors are entry ways to the home, so keep them secure. More than a third of break-ins are thought to be made through the front door. Phil Spencer, founder of Move IQ and presenter of Location, Location, Location, suggests both a Yale and a double-action mortice lock, which used together will make your front door much more secure. Spare keys are also a point of weakness: keep these safe by avoiding the more obvious ‘safe keeping’ locations. “Don’t undo all your hard work by leaving a spare key under a plant pot... If you need to leave…

Hundreds of thousands of self-employed workers and business owners who operate as sole traders face major upheaval. Many will already have received a letter from HM Revenue & Customs warning them that from next April they will have to file income-tax returns digitally using specialist software – and that they will need to provide quarterly updates on their trading. It’s a big shake-up. Self-employed workers and sole traders currently use the self-assessment system to declare their income to HMRC. Tax returns are due in by 31 January in the year following the end of the previous tax year, so by 31 January 2026 for the 2024-2025 tax year that ended on 5 April 2025. You can either file a paper return, although earlier deadlines apply for these, or complete your…

Many investors chase high returns by buying companies in a fast-growing industry. The problem is that these areas tend to attract a great deal of competition, so firms must work hard to win market share while fending off new entrants, with a large number of them falling by the wayside. If you can find one that is successful, it will tend to be very expensive. However, another strategy is to opt for a company that has found itself a profitable niche in a market (one big enough to provide some room for growth) and managed to dominate it. A good example is ME Group International (LSE: MEGP). ME Group focuses on vending and self-service machines. It operates around 50,000 machines in 20 countries in continental Europe, the UK and Asia-Pacific.…

“Most people aren’t after a specific brand of new fridge or basin; they want choice” Over the last decade, stockmarket returns have been excellent. Over the ten years to 22 April 2025, the Magnificent Seven soared by a factor of 21.6 in sterling terms. Good news, surely? Well, yes and no. High returns are wonderful. But when supersonic returns persist for years and years, they breed two deep-seated problems. Firstly, they horribly distort investors’ behaviour. Risk-seeking becomes ingrained. And when the music stops, the riskiest stocks suffer massive setbacks. Risk-seeking positions suffer giant, permanent losses of capital. Secondly, outright winners often have a degree of similarity. Persistent success leaves the market littered with correlated positions. That doesn’t matter on the way up, but at the peak, it does. So what…

Going… A 1989 Takamine FP360SC (LH) acoustic electric guitar, played by Kurt Cobain of Nirvana (pictured with Cobain), during a recording session on 25 November 1991, has the highest pre-sale estimate of the many guitars that are featuring in Julien’s Auctions sale on 30 May. The session took place in Hilversum, in the Netherlands. Because the band was due to play a gig that evening, the instruments Nirvana used for the recording session were rented. The Japanese Takamine guitar still has its H.V.K. Music (Herman Van Keeken) sticker affixed to the back of the headstock. It is expected to sell for up to $500,000. Gone… A prototype Ibanez “Limited Edition” walnut and maplewood electric guitar, that had been made in Japan in around 1978, and owned by Jeff Beck, was…

Neither America nor China “wants a decoupling”, says US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent. The world’s two largest economies stepped back from the brink this week, as negotiators meeting in Geneva unveiled a deal to slash tariffs. For the next 90 days, US import duties on Chinese goods will fall from 145% to 30%, with China cutting rates from 125% to 10% in return. Markets surged in response, with the US S&P 500 recouping all of its year-to-date losses. The US index has gained 18% since the worst point of the sell-off in early April. Other markets have also snapped higher, with the FTSE 100 rising 12% since last month’s nadir and Japan’s Topix up 20% (see page 5). The markets have forced US president Donald Trump to “back down from…

The president’s attempt to cut US drug prices may soon run into trouble – as it did during his first term. Matthew Partridge reports Shares in pharmaceutical companies fell worldwide on Monday after US president Donald Trump said he planned to order a cut in US prescription drug costs to bring them into line with other countries, says Bloomberg. As America pays the most in the world for medicines, this has raised concerns that profits “will take a hit”. It is primarily US companies that are at risk, but European ones that depend on the US for a large proportion of revenue are vulnerable too. Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Roche, Novartis, GSK and Sanofi make between 40% and 60% of their sales in the US. Trump may have suggested that the…

Five to buy J Sainsbury The Telegraph J Sainsbury’s stock yields 5%, with payouts rising by an “inflation-beating” 3.8% in the supermarket giant’s latest financial year, and there is scope for even higher dividends. Full-year sales rose 3.1% and earnings grew 4.5%. A supermarket pricing war could reduce cost savings, but earnings are set to expand in 2027, while lower inflation and interest rates bode well. 273p Raspberry Pi The Times Raspberry Pi may benefit from US president Donald Trump’s “oscillating” tariffs, having moved manufacturing from China to South Wales over a decade ago. Many of its US competitors source products and components from China. However, this advantage depends on US demand for semiconductors not declining amid economic tumult. Fullyear revenue rose 10% in the Americas, the group’s second-largest market.…

● Wealth manager St. James’s Place (SJP) “defies the idea of efficient markets”, says Nicholas Megaw in the Financial Times. People pay a premium to invest their money with the firm, even though low-cost funds achieve similar results. “Wealth management is more about making customers feel wealthy than actually maximising wealth.” That helps explain why SJP has been the best-performing stock in the FTSE 100 over the last year on the back of CEO Mark FitzPatrick’s efforts to “rebuild a reputation damaged by criticism over opaque fees and complaints about poor service”. Customers are “flocking back”, even before a new, “more user-friendly” fee structure has come in. This is a warning for “the phalanx of banks and asset managers looking to break into wealth management”. Attracting the “mass affluent” will…

“Ignore China at your peril,” says Tom Slater, lead manager of Scottish Mortgage, the £14.5bn global growth trust. Many of the country’s companies have become international players and can “operate at scale in a way that is challenging Western companies”. “People have given up on China over the past two or three years, but we think some of the most exceptional growth companies in the world are to be found there,” Slater told a roundtable, reported in Investment Week. Take BYD, the Chinese carmaker, which was added to the Scottish Mortgage portfolio last year. It emerged from a “viciously, ruthlessly competitive” domestic electric-vehicle (EV) market, he says. “Chinese EV penetration is much higher than anywhere else, but there is a huge list of companies competing.” “To be the winner in…

ft.com America’s trading partners are imposing tit-for-tat tariffs in response to Donald Trump’s trade levies, says Cory Doctorow. But that’s the stuff of 19th-century geopolitics. Aggrieved foreign leaders have a much more powerful countermove to hand – and one that could have a devastating effect on the US’s most profitable companies. They could simply repeal the intellectual property law known as “anticircumvention”. This law prohibits tampering with or bypassing software locks that control access to protected work. It’s why farmers struggle to repair John Deere tractors, for example, or why you can’t allow your printer to use cheaper, generic ink cartridges. The laws were made in the US, but are among its most successful exports. The deal is that countries impose the law in return for tariff-free access to US…

■ Alexander Darwell’s struggling European Opportunities Trust may face “existential issues” following its upcoming tender offer, say analysts at Deutsche Numis. The trust will conduct a tender for up to 25% of shares at a 2% discount to NAV in June, and the significant number of activist investors on its register suggests take-up could be high. While the fund is still a meaningful size – with net assets of £575m – investors may subsequently push for further capital returns that could leave it sub-scale. A continuation vote is due next year, while a further 25% tender offer must be held if it fails to beat its benchmark over the three years to May 2026. ■ Greencoat Renewables has sold a portfolio of six Irish onshore wind assets amounting to 115.7MW…

For straightforward exposure to the infrastructure sector, consider the iShares Global Infrastructure UCITS ETF (LSE: INFR). This exchange-traded fund tracks the FTSE Global Core Infrastructure index, focusing on the largest listed infrastructure companies globally. Utilities comprise roughly half the portfolio, alongside industrial and energy companies and real-estate investment trusts. Top holdings include US and Canadian renewables firm NextEra Energy (NYSE: NEE) and pipeline operator Enbridge Inc (NYSE: ENB). The portfolio’s price-to-earnings ratio stands at 18.2%, with a total expense ratio of 0.65%. An actively managed alternative is the Kempen (Lux) Global Listed Infrastructure Fund. Managed by Jags Walia, it targets listed companies deriving at least 70% of their income from operating infrastructure assets. The fund prioritises firms with inflation-linked contracts and relatively short capital-expenditure cycles, offering greater resilience against economic…

This month’s base rate cut from 4.5% to 4.25% was a warning to cash savers, writes Kalpana Fitzpatrick – if you have money sitting in an account earning little or nothing, act now. Consultancy Capital Economics expects a further 25 basis-point cut in the base rate in November. Deutsche Bank, however, is pencilling in three more cuts, to a base rate of 3.5%, by the end of this year. Savers are running out of opportunities to make the most of the best rates. Half a trillion pounds is languishing in zero- or low-interest accounts; 29 million adults hold a total of £526bn in them, according to Spring Savings, part of Paragon Bank – forfeiting roughly £20bn of potential interest. Savers tend to leave their cash in a current account for…

Small companies dependent on Google for customers to find them may need to rethink the way they operate. New data suggests that almost 60% of searches conducted on Google last year ended without the user clicking on one of the links provided in the results. If your business relies on people being directed to your website following a Google search, your traffic is under threat. The rise of “zero-click search” reflects a number of different trends, including the way in which Google now presents AI-generated summaries at the top of many search results. The search engine has also got better at summarising key information from sites within its search results, reducing the need for people to click through to these sites. Zero-click search can create a vicious circle for businesses…

In just over three weeks the voters in the constituency of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse will go to the polls to elect a new Member of the Scottish Parliament following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie Hamilton. At present, the Scottish National Party is the narrow favourite to retain the seat, with Ladbrokes putting it at 4/5 (55.5%), with Labour at 11/10 (47.6%), Reform UK at 10/1 (9.1%), Conservatives at 20/1 (4.8%), Liberal Democrats at 66/1 (1.5%) and Greens at 100/1 (1%). At the last Scottish Parliament election in May 2021, Hamilton retained the seat with a comfortable majority. However, since then the SNP has experienced the turmoil of Nicola Sturgeon resigning, followed by the departure of Sturgeon’s successor Humza Yousaf barely a year later. Last July’s general election…

Russell “Rusty” Schweickart, who had flown on Apollo 9, was among the astronauts to receive an 18-carat gold Omega Speedmaster Professional wristwatch (pictured) from the watchmaker at the Hotel Warwick in Houston on 25 November 1969. The other 25 went to the astronauts who had walked on the Moon and to those whose space missions had helped them to get there. Another two watches – those numbered one and two – were offered to president Richard Nixon and vice-president Spiro Agnew, who refused them – they can be found in the Omega museum. Otherwise, the lower the number of the watch, the longer the recipient had worked with Nasa, so watch number three went to Alan Shepard, the first American in space, while Neil Armstrong, the first man on the…