We have seen another week dominated by news in the world of technology, specifically Artificial Intelligence, with the CEO of Nvidia standing down after an affair with an alleged Chinese spy, and now today Microsoft is enduring a global outage of its key services. It is Friday 13th after all. In a world where we become increasingly dependent on technology in our daily lives, it has been interesting to see the markets also become obsessed with the next AI listing, or the effic

The Bank of England (BoE) has raised interest rates for the first time in three years and warned of another increase to come to combat rising inflation unleashed by the Iran war. Businesses have so far reported in the Bank’s surveys that they have been able to absorb the higher oil and gas prices – by hedging their energy costs, for example – but the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) believes they will soon have to start passing higher prices on to consumers. Despite a rapid fa

The wait is once again over – for 2026, at least. As ever on the afternoon of Budget Day, with the contents of the famous ‘Red Book’ now public, attention turns to the real-world implications of Wednesday’s announcements. The economic and fiscal context is, undoubtedly, challenging, and Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget comes at a pivotal moment for the UK economy. While inflation has fallen significantly from the multi-decade highs seen earlier this decade, growth has be