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Could the Bank of England leapfrog the Fed and cut interest rates first?

Markets are starting to consider whether we might start to see significant divergence between the Federal Reserve and other central banks. While the Bank of England has tended to wait until the Fed cuts rates, the different economic backdrop could push it to move faster.

New rules and higher rates resulted in a jump in the number of savers opening accounts at the start of this year's Isa season.

EV charging rates remain flat while petrol soars - and live charging prices get added to

Electric vehicle charging prices remained stable in the last month, while petrol prices soared. And some forecourts have started adding live charging rates to pricing boards. The AA's Recharge Report for March shows EV charging rates across the board remained flat, making EVs look much more appealing.

The influence of these social media figures has waned since the pandemic investing boom according to Charles Schwab, falling 13% among Gen Z.

Many mortgage borrowers are continuing to opt for two-year fixed deals in the hope that interest rates will be lower when they next come to remortgage. Is that still the right move?

The Royal Mint told This is Money that it has seen a 'record number' of customers selling back gold. We look at who is buying and selling - and how to do it.

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MARKET REPORT: Growth across Italy and Spain help Trainline post a big leap in annual

The online rail ticket selling platform saw its full year revenue jump by 21 per cent to £396.7m as ticket sales rose 22 per cent to £5.3billion, above £5billion for the first time, and at the top end of its previous guidance range. International net ticket sales surpassed £1billion, with combined growth in Spain and Italy of 43 per cent. For the new financial year, Trainline predicted net ticket sales growing by 8 per cent to 12 per cent, and revenue rising between 7 per cent to 11 per cent.

Mark Tucker faced boos and repeated interruptions from campaigners at the bank's annual general meeting in London.

The mining giant's top brass are weighing up an approach for Anglo after the London-listed miner rejected BHP's £31billion bid.

The iPhone maker saw shares jump more than 7 per cent as it revealed it will spend £88billion buying its own stock back from investors.

The Competition and Markets Authority said the deal could undermine Ofwat's authority as water regulator by wiping SES from its dataset.

Barcelona-based Puig Brands - which also owns Carolina Herrera and Jean Paul Gaultier - listed at €24.50 a share in Madrid.

Spruce up your portfolio: Three Great British brands that could benefit from DIY boom

Investors looking to buff up their portfolios will be interested to learn that the reluctance to commit money to large and small projects could be ending. Such is the confidence that more of us are about to embark on a makeover that analysts at Barclays have raised their target price for shares in kitchen joinery maker Howdens from 900p to 1010p, against 880p at present. But other bets on DIY, furniture and furnishings are worth considering, and three other players could update a portfolio with style.

It is also possible to have a secondary listing on another market. This strategy gives a company access to a greater pool of capital.

The energy giant earlier this year scaled back plans to cut oil and gas production by 40 per cent by 2030, indicating that it is targeting a 25 per cent reduction.

The best buy-to-let mortgages for landlords: Should they fix or risk a tracker?

Buy-to-let landlords are being hit by higher interest rates, higher costs and a less friendly tax regime. Many have seen their costs spiral, meaning that landlords will have watched the recent falls in mortgage rates with just as much interest as homeowners and first-time buyers. There are roughly 2 million buy-to-let properties that have a mortgage attached, according to the trade association for the banking and financial services sector, UK Finance.

What are passkeys... and are they really better than passwords for keeping your money safe

Passwords are the main line of defence with online security, but many can easily be overcome by crooks. Enter the passkey, which security professionals think will be the future of digital safety. Passkeys are unique identifiers that are generated by a user's device, such as a mobile phone.

How does the taxman deal with capital gains from investing in bitcoin? Is the tax due when you sell the asset or when you realise the benefit back in your (fiat) bank account?

I chose to transfer my Isa and went through the usual process, giving Shawbrook three weeks' notice, but it did not process the transfer until after my account matured.

Can I fix my mortgage if there is less than £20,000 to repay? DAVID HOLLINGWORTH REPLIES

My £32,000 mortgage is on a fixed rate for five years, ending on 31 March 2025. By that time I will have about 18 months remaining on the term with my mortgage anticipated to be paid off in September 2026. Should I try and negotiate a new fixed rate now, for the remaining time left on the mortgage? I am conscious that NatWest will not afford me any goodwill on the redemption costs, but I wonder if paying the charges will still work out cheaper than moving on to a higher standard variable rate for the remaining 18 months once the term does end.

Homeowners dealt fresh blow as experts warn mortgage rates could pass six per cent again

Homeowners have been dealt a fresh blow after experts warned key mortgage rates could surge above 6 per cent again as early as next week. More than 20 lenders have hiked their mortgage rates this week, pulling some of the most competitive home loans from the market, including several deals below 5 per cent. The cost of borrowing has been surging since Bank of England officials signalled last week that a long-awaited cut in rates would be delayed further. Santander yesterday increased its mortgage rates by up to 0.26 percentage points for the second time in four days. The move follows increases at NatWest, Halifax and Nationwide, which also pushed up the prices of their fixed-rate purchase and remortgage deals by up to 0.25 percentage points.

Is the Ferrari 12Cilindri the last of its V12s? It reveals the £370k 'two souls' supercar

Ferrari upped the ante at the 12Cilindri's launch by revealing not one but two new cars - a coupe and droptop described as 'two souls in the same car'.The matching pair will manage 0-62mph in under 3 seconds, have a 800hp V12 and cost almost £400,000. Ferrari says they take inspiration from the legendary 'Daytona Ferraris' and futuristic sci-fi films.

Have we hit peak self-checkout? Retailers love them but customers are divided, and theft

Since their introduction at the UK's largest retailer Tesco more than two decades ago, self-checkouts have become a fixture in our supermarkets - but so too have technical glitches, problems recognising customers' bags, and the dreaded phrase 'unexpected item in bagging area'. Will more retailers introduce them, or could customer backlash and rising theft halt their progress?

The lucky winner put the £100 into Premium Bonds just over a year ago. Check who scooped the £1million jackpot and all other major prices above £1,000 in our tables.

Manchester's Co-op Live Arena delayed its opening again this week. Ticket-holders are furious. The Mail's consumer lawyer DEAN DUNHAM explains their consumer rights.

The used electric car timebomb -  EVs could become impossible to sell on because battery

Many EVs will lose up to 12% of their charge capacity by six years. Yet the cost of replacing an EV battery is astonishingly high, our research found. A five-year-old Renault Zoe costs £9,100 but a new battery would set you back £24,124 if it needs to be replaced.

And that's especially the case with the value-for-money 1-litre petrol TCe 90 that I've been driving after the model was quietly reintroduced into the Clio range.

As England and Wales =go to the polls, it's been revealed that UK motorists don't feel their local council is doing enough to help the switch to electric vehicles.

House prices fall for second month due to higher mortgage rates, says Nationwide

House prices fell for the second month in a row, according to Nationwide, with rising mortgage rates putting off many would-be buyers. The average UK home fell in value by 0.4% in April, following a 0.2% fall in March, according to Nationwide, taking in account of seasonal effects. The fall came from a statistical quirk, as another traditionally busier month ended up slower than usual, it said.

Lenders continue to increase interest on their home loans, meaning borrowers may miss out on the cheapest deals unless they act quickly.

The average high street easy-access account pays 1.7% interest - but savers could earn 5% if they moved their money elsewhere. We look at which banks have the top rates.

The good, the bad and the ugly of the Magnificent Seven: Blue Whale manager on the

The Magnificent Seven have dominated stock market returns and the investment headlines for the past year-and-a-half. But which of the Magnificent Seven remain a good investment now? On this episode of the Investing Show, Stephen Yiu, manager of the Blue Whale Growth fund explains to Simon Lambert why he likes some of these stocks but would avoid others.

The Bank of England will cut the base rate to around 4 per cent by the end of this year, according to the latest forecasts from Capital Economics.

The 'worst-selling' sector in March was UK All Companies, which experienced outflows of £887m, according to the Investment Association.

My mum's £201 a week state pension is her only income -  then it suddenly stopped and her

Elizabeth Fletcher, 90, from Hemsworth, in West Yorkshire (pictured with daughter Wendy) is among the one-in-four retirees who treasure their state-pension as their main source of income in retirement. Crucially Elizabeth's £201-a-week state pension and pension credit payments also fund the fees for her new care home, which she moved into on January 15.

The mortgage broker I spoke to said it was normal for landlords to buy with interest-only mortgages, but that sounds reckless to me. Why do buy-to-let investors do this?

My granddaughter, 20, can't get money locked away in an NS&I Children's Bond: SALLY SORTS

My 20-year-old granddaughter is trying to locate a Children's Bonus Bond account with National Savings & Investments, which was set up in her name long ago by my mother and which, until recently, none of us knew anything about. My mother failed to let anyone know and, although I was her executor when she died in 2011, I didn't come across any paperwork relating to such an account. The first my granddaughter knew about it was when NS&I sent her forms to complete confirming all the addresses she had lived at.

How much have house prices risen near YOU  since Covid? Our map reveals biggest risers and

Some local areas have seen prices surge far more than the UK average over the past four years, while other locations have seen prices fall. Thanks to analysis by the property firm, Hamptons we can reveal the ten local authority areas that have seen the biggest property price booms since March 2020, and the ten where prices have performed the worst.

A survey of people who have bought a property since 2014 found that 38% have been gazumped by a rival bidder - and many think the practice should be outlawed.

A number of best buys have disappeared from the market, meaning the lowest rates available to borrowers have ticked up.

Debt-laden Asda strikes huge £3.2bn refinancing deal

The firm said it finalised refinancing on over £3.2billion of its £3.8billion debt, which was mainly accumulated when the Issa brothers and private equity giant TDR Capital bought the group for £6.8billion three years ago. The deal includes the largest high-yield bond this year and the second-biggest sterling bond in the European leveraged finance market.

Nik Jhangiani intends to join Diageo as chief financial officer this autumn following an eight-year spell at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP).

Shell chief Wael Sawan is having trouble pleasing all investors all of the time. In spite of reporting better than expected profits, many are disgruntled.

Nikhil Rathi (pictured) has been summoned to appear before a parliamentary committee as it launched an inquiry into the proposals.

Peloton's chairwoman Karen Boone and director Chris Bruzzo have replaced McCarthy (pictured), who had been in the job for two years.

MARKET REPORT: Cheers! Nightcap in talks to buy Revolution bars

Revolution met Nightcap to discuss proposals up to and including a full offer for the struggling business, and added that talks are not part of the formal sales process it unveiled in early April. The bar operator said then it had received commitments from investors under a £12.5m fundraise to keep it afloat as it undergoes a restructuring.

Melrose's full year guidance remained unchanged, with an expected 33% year-on-year rise in adjusted operating profit to £560m.

In the first three months of the year, total insurance contract written premiums (ICWP) increased 8.3% to $1.5billion.

Shell's first quarter profit came in at a hefty £6.1bn, beating analyst forecasts, but falling short of the the figure raked in a year ago.

Universal, which controls a third of the world's songs, including hits by Olivia Rodrigo (pictured), pulled millions of tracks from TikTok in February.

The Jaguar XJS is reborn as a £225k supercar - but TWR will make just 88

Reborn racing legend TWR has unveiled its debut 21st century road car today, and will catch the eye of enthusiasts with deep pockets and a taste for classic Jags. The V12 Super-GT Supercat will be built from the foundations of the iconic Jaguar XJS, and will bring the legacy of the '80s and '90s dominating Tom Walkinshaw Racing team to high-performance road vehicles.

My new car has been delivered and it's the wrong colour. The car dealer has agreed to take it back but says I won't get a new one for months. Can I claim compensation from the dealer?

Car brand Dacia, and JustPark have combined to offer UK drivers £10,000 worth of parking across the early May bank holiday. Drivers can get £20 off their parking costs.

I paid my Thames Water bill when I moved - now it says I owe more and marked my credit

When Andrew moved house last November, he was told to settle the £5.24 balance on his Thames Water account and close the account, but instead he has been chased for months. The water supplier even said he had missed payments, negatively affecting his credit score.

Despite those between 18 and 34 having squirrelled away an average of £6,375 each in their savings, a whopping 50% don't even know their current savings interest rate.

A Pret A Manger posh cheddar baguette was my favourite workday treat. But several months ago, I swore I'd never buy one again - nor anything else from the ubiquitous chain.

I transferred £61,000 into a new HSBC Isa - and my money vanished

Customers who opened HSBC's one-year fixed rate Isa say they have been unable to see the new Isa they opened or the money they transferred in. One HSBC customer, whose name we have changed at his request, told This is Money that a £61,000 transfer he authorised on opening the Isa was withdrawn from his accounts and sent to an account he didn't recognise.

Royal Mail will cease charging recipients £5 to collect post sent with stamps that it has deemed counterfeit until at least July while it develops a smartphone app to highlight fakes.

Government has finally acted to fix the problem by launching an online pension top-ups tool - but one expert warns the new system could still lead to delays.

My dementia sufferer mother has been paying my brother thousands. I feel jealous and

As my mother's Power of Attorney, I can see from her accounts that she has been sending my brother thousands of pounds. She suffers from dementia, so I am worried she is doing so without fully understanding it, or that my brother has talked her into it. I also feel jealous as my brother lives abroad and I do all of the 'on call' care for her but I don't get a penny - nor would I want it. Should I confront him?

The average service charge on a flat in England and Wales is currently £2,247 a year, nearly a third higher than in the first quarter of 2019.

Charities have warned MPs that some drivers are being forced to choose between buying food or insurance. However, the latest rise of 1 per cent gives motorists some hope the worst may be over.

I'm struggling to hit a tight deadline to turn six pensions into a £17,500-a-year annuity:

One provider gave me two weeks' notice of a platform change which required a period when no transfers could be made. The period ends three days before the Aviva guarantee on my annuity quote ends. If transfers are not made before that its current rate will apply, which is approximately £1,200 a year less than the original quote. Is there something wrong with the whole process as surely it is unlikely annuity broker best quotes are ever achieved? Of course, in theory this could also work positively but doesn't seem so for myself.

Alarm bells rang in my head as I analysed the potential trap of comparing the UK with addiction. I dodged the question and answered that I thought we were dependent on cheap money.

The European Central Bank looks set to become the first among global peers to begin cutting interest rates after consumer price inflation held steady in April.

We wasted thousands on state pension top-ups after WRONG advice - savers tell how their

Untold sums of top-ups cash could be sitting in Government coffers, instead of being repaid to people who are still in the dark about what has happened to their money. Kathryn Tattum, pictured right, is among those who followed official advice to check with Government staff first, before she handed over around £3,300 in May last year in the belief it would boost her state pension. Sylvia Popplestone, pictured left with her husband Paul, paid £5,700 last October after a four-month wait for a letter from the DWP that confirmed this amount would increase her state pension - but she unwittingly overpaid by £4,600.

The soaraway UK funds that even beat the mighty Warren Buffett over 20 years

Buffett is the Goliath of the investing world. Since he started in 1965, he has delivered returns of 4,384,749 per cent to savers in his investment vehicle Berkshire Hathaway. That means someone who put in $100 at the beginning would now be sitting on a knockout $4.3 million (£3.4 million). Surely no one beats this? Well, not exactly. We have teamed up with investment platform AJ Bell to identify the funds and investment trusts that have beaten Berkshire Hathaway's returns over the past 20 years.

I cannot get redemption of my capital or payment of interest that is due. I am told this depends on a sale of emeralds that suffers from constant delays.

Specialist litigation company RGL has confirmed that Woodford investors who joined its group action against Link will not be charged a penny in fees.

Is the UK stock market finally due its moment in the sun? This is Money podcast

You can wait a long time for a FTSE 100 record high but for peak-starved British investors this week delivered a bonanza. The podcastteam look and what's moving the UK market, why it is judged to be cheap. Plus, top investment trusts for retirement, what to do about inheritance tax, state pension top-ups - and are you a backseat driver?

The Ekko Planet Saver account sees customers receive their deposit and profit, minus the interest that they have waived that goes towards environmental projects.

How well does YOUR bank protect you from mobile and online fraud?

Weaknesses in some banks' security measures for online and mobile banking could leave customers more exposed to scammers, new data from Which? reveals. Thirteen major banks were tested on their login procedures, security, account management and navigation and automatic logout and then ranked.

Enzo invented a puzzle with moving parts to help his students understand space, problems and geometric forms, which became known as the Rubik's Cube.

Customers who took out 'low rate' creit cards have been angered by Barclays move to hike them beyond the level they have already risen to with base rate rises.

I have £300,000 invested in a pension - how can I leave it to my six grandchildren?

I have £300,000 in a Sipp that I don't need for my living expenses, as I have final salary pension income and Isas that I can draw on for extra tax-free income. I'm widowed, with six young grandchildren, and am considering leaving this pension pot to them, but how does this work if they wanted to take money out of it after I die?

The DIY investing platform says there was a 10% increase in the number of its early birds this year, and a 31% jump in those who immediately maxed out their whole £20,000 annual Isa allowance.

Best stocks & shares Isas: Pick the right investment account

Choosing the right DIY platform is crucial but a wealth of choice and a variety of charges can leave investors scratching their heads. We pick some of the best. We pick some of the best. We also highlight why investing in an Isa makes sense, as it should protect your hopefully growing investments from tax forever.

If you are planning on investing, or just want to know more, we tell you the 10 essential things to consider for a successful buy-to-let investment

Fixed mortgage rates are continuing to fall back from their summer peak, with a number of fixed rates deals now less than 5 per cent.

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