British Gas ends price freeze with 12.5% hike
British Gas will raise electricity prices by 12.5% from
mid-September, its owner Centrica has announced. The BBC says this
means the average annual dual-fuel bill for a typical household on
a standard tariff will rise by £76 to £1,120, up by 7.3%. In
February, British Gas froze its gas and electricity prices for six
months. It will publish its half-year results today.
Dollar down 2.9% amid worse run for six years
The dollar has endured its worst run in six years while sterling
continues to make up ground lost after the European referendum
result, says The Times. Amid political chaos Stateside, the dollar
recorded its fifth consecutive monthly fall against a basket of
global currencies, down 2.9% over the month – its worst run since
April 2011. The pound rose 1.5% against the dollar last month.
Moody’s warns on dangerous household debts
British household debts are rising to disturbing levels, warns
Moody’s. “Household debt is high and still growing, leaving
consumers vulnerable to an economic downturn,” said spokesman Greg
Davies. Poorer households are in particular peril because when
living costs rise faster than income they are less able to respond
to any financial shocks, he added.
Nicky Morgan asks Mark Carney for Brexit plan
Tory MP Nicky Morgan has asked the Bank of England’s Mark Carney
to release comprehensive details of the City’s readiness for a hard
Brexit, reports The Guardian. Newly appointed the chair of the
Treasury select committee, Morgan also called on the BOE to provide
its views on what a Brexit transition deal should look like to
minimise harm to the financial sector.
Selfridges opens Christmas department in July
Father Christmas opened Selfridges’ Christmas department
yesterday – a whole 147 days before the big day. The Guardian says
the fourth floor of London’s Oxford Street features six fake fir
trees “decked out with fairy lights and £50-a-pop corgi and union
flag baubles”. From Friday, the department store will also start
selling Christmassy food.
Quote of the day… The bell is tolling for lucrative
overdrafts
“When the regulator says it is considering whether unarranged
overdrafts should even have a place in modern banking, it is
already obvious that the current set-up is not going to
survive.” Nils Pratley says the game is up for banks earning
hefty fees from unauthorised overdrafts.
THE NUMBERS… AT 0732 GMT
FTSE 100: up +0.05 to 7372.00
Dow Jones: up +0.28 to 21891.12
Dax: down -0.37 to 12118.25
Cac 40: down -0.73 to 5093.77
Nikkei: up +0.31 to 19986.70
Hang Seng: up +0.68 to 27510.94
US dollar: buys €0.84640 and £0.75720
Sterling: buys $1.32080 and €1.11780
Oil: $52.68 up +0.9
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