Business news live – Banks bet on interest rate cut this week and UK household bills rise 8% in a year

Here is some data that shows the impact social media can have, as well as how young adults may not know that social media makes them taxable.

HMRC provides each person with a trading allowance of £1,000; This is basically the income you can make from places without having to declare and pay taxes.

But some people a) don’t know what this entails and b) need to declare that the threshold has been exceeded.

For example, people selling second-hand items on platforms like Vinted can make a lot of money; but just £84 a month throughout the year will get you over that £1,000 threshold.

Now, İşbank company TideIts research shows that more than half (55%) of 18 to 24-year-olds have earned money or been given gifts from platforms such as TikTok and Instagram; but only one-third (36%) filed a tax return to declare this income.

The average social media user is reported to earn £1,223 a year; This means some may be fined for unpaid taxes.

An additional note about the extra £200 the average Brit has in their disposable income.

The report says most people plan to use it to increase their long-term financial resilience rather than extra spending or lifestyle changes.

“Consumers have reported annual increases in loan repayments (+4%), credit card repayments (+14%) and personal and workplace pension spending (+17%) since 2024,” the report stated.

“Our latest MoneySuperMarket Household Money Index shows energy spending fell last year, but bills could rise again this winter following the price cap change in October. So it’s worth reviewing your tariff and considering a fixed-rate deal if it suits your needs,” said Lis Barton, Chief Customer Officer at Mony Group.

MoneySuperMarket has published its Household Money Index report and it shows that UK households’ spending on essential bills and everyday expenses has increased by 8 per cent compared to last year.

The MSM says Brits spend £55.26 a day on these, while Londoners are spending more than £2,000 a month on these essential costs for the first time since they started the report two years ago.

But it wasn’t all bad news in the report.

The report claims the average person’s disposable income has risen from £684.70 to £900.91 (a 32 per cent increase), meaning people have more than £200 extra to spend or save a month.

This is partly because wage growth outpaced inflation at one point earlier this year.

NS&I says the two £1 million winners in this month’s draw are from York and Shropshire.

In the 69th anniversary since the Premium Bond rewards first launched, more than £401 million in total prizes have been awarded.

Starting tomorrow, you can check if you’ve won a prize using the usual methods:

To check rewards on the NS&I website, Bond holders will need the Premium Bond holders number. Those using the Premium Bonds app can use their holders’ numbers or NS&I numbers.

Here are the two winning tricks if you already know yours:

Both winners had a maximum PB of £50,000.

Credit score company Experian will take rent payments into account for the first time.

According to PA, this means tenants will see their payment history reflected in their scores – while the bands are also set to be expanded and overhauled.

With the five groups being given new names and colors, the points will now increase to 1,250 instead of 999.

Experian says there will be no change in someone’s ability to get a loan just because of these changes.

Ryanair has announced a rise in earnings after increasing airfares and early aircraft deliveries that helped it fly more passengers.

The low-cost airline reported pre-tax profits of 2.9 billion euros (£2.6 billion) in the first half of the financial year; This is 40% higher than the same period last year.

Boeing flew 119 million passengers, up 3% on last year, after an improvement in aircraft deliveries meant it could carry extra passengers.

Ryanair has been hit by a slowdown in production following strikes among Boeing workers in late 2024.

A quick look at the stock markets this morning, with the FTSE 100 up 0.15 per cent.

It was seen that the index reached a new record in the middle of the week last week.

Here’s some morning analysis from one of our regular industry experts:

“The FTSE 100 is off to a solid start, with oil helping to grease the wheels of the index,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The decision by producer cartel OPEC+ to halt further production increases at the beginning of next year due to concerns over supply gluts has helped lift oil prices and in turn boosted UK market heavyweights BP and Shell.

“Prudential was among the top risers on the FTSE 100 last week as it rode the wave of goodwill generated by strong third-quarter figures. Shares in precious metals miner Fresnillo rose as gold prices stabilized following the recent sell-off.

“Elsewhere in the mining sector, there was pressure on share prices on signs that China’s economic growth is slowing due to the negative impact of US tariffs and factory activity is weakening across Asia. Vodafone was the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 after investment bank UBS downgraded its recommendation on the stock to ‘sell’, citing various competitive risks.”

Rachel Reeves is thought to be planning to break into the top third of earners as part of a bid to plug a black hole of up to £50bn in the public finances.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with everything to do with interest rates, how much they’re changing and the wider impact they’re having.

This chart at least helps illustrate the rate of change: We had essentially zero interest rates for a long time post-Covid, but the cost of living of the crisis in 2022 and 2023 has caused interest rates to rise in rapid succession as the BoE tries to stem inflation that has reached 11%.

Since last year, the base interest rate started to decrease, we made five reductions in total.

This year three of them came in February, May and August.

Thomas Pugh, chief economist at tax firm RSM UK, is among those who think the MPC will remain cautious for now.

“F“Financial markets have moved from pricing the chances of another rate cut by the end of the year at less than 25 percent to now a two-thirds chance, due to rumors of a lower inflation peak and a lower-inflation budget,” he explained.