Taking Stock on Wednesday 4th October 2023
Taking Stock: Is a look at today's top business news & investment views plus we cover the winners, losers, the most read company news & the most followed. Today this includes:
Big sell offs provide big opportunities - what are they?
Why the sell off? Bonds are selling off, meaning yields are going higher, meaning the cost of debt / capital is increasing.
Cost of national debt hits 20-year high
The interest the government pays on national debt has reached a 20-year high as the rate on 30-year bonds reaches 5.05%.
A rise in the cost of borrowing comes at a difficult time for the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, as he prepares for the autumn statement on 22 November.
Mr Hunt has already made clear that tax cuts will not be announced in November.
The higher cost of servicing the country's debt pile could influence the decisions he makes on spending.
The total amount the UK government owes is called the national debt and it is currently about £2.59 trillion.
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
Tesco doing all it can to lower prices, boss says
Tesco is trying to "lower prices wherever we can" as customers continue to grapple with cost-of-living pressures, its boss has said.
Ken Murphy said the pace of rising food prices would continue to slow this year, easing the pressure on shoppers.
The UK's biggest supermarket chain reported a jump in profits for the first half of the year after wholesale food costs came down.
It said customers had been buying more own-label products to save money.
In the six months to the end of August, Tesco's sales were up by 8.4% compared with the same period last year, mainly due to higher prices.
Its retail profits rose by 13.5% to £1.4bn, as the grocer cut its own costs and attracted more customers.
HS2 West Midlands-Manchester line to be scrapped
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce the scrapping of the HS2 high-speed rail line from the West Midlands to Manchester.
In his Conservative Party conference speech later, the PM is expected to set out a range of alternative projects in the north of England and Wales.
He is likely to argue these projects will be better value for money and can be delivered more quickly.
It comes after weeks of speculation about the future of the line.
Fuel retailers deny profiteering as pump prices shoot up
Fuel retailers have dismissed claims that drivers are being overcharged following a surge in pump prices.
Data released by the RAC on Wednesday showed an 8p per litre surge in the cost of diesel last month to a new average of 163.1p.
Petrol prices rose by nearly 5p per litre to 157p.
The motoring group blamed the continued hikes on production cuts agreed by the Opec+ group of oil-producing nations, which have helped send Brent crude oil costs up since July.
A barrel stood at around $72 then.