Closing post
Time to wrap up… here are today’s main stories, starting with the UK energy price cap changes.
Great Britain’s energy price cap has fallen to £2,074 a year, but the average household will still pay almost double the rate for their gas and electricity than before costs started to soar.
About 27m households can expect a modest drop in energy bills this summer after the regulator Ofgem lowered the cap on the typical annual dual-fuel tariff to reflect a steep drop in global energy prices over recent months.
From July, when the change takes effect, households will see their average gas and electricity bill fall from the £2,500 a year level set by the government’s energy price guarantee.
However, those who struggled to pay their bills over the winter will feel little relief, because government top-ups worth £400 between October to March have come to an end.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said he “is willing to do what it takes” and increase support for households if energy bills rise again this autumn.
He told Sky News:
“All I can say is that I think I’ve demonstrated in the autumn statement, and the spring budget where I extended the energy price guarantee for another three months, funded in part by a windfall tax on the oil companies, that we are willing to do what it takes.”
Households also face being charged an extra £10 a year on their energy bills from October to bolster the profits of their energy provider, under plans put forward by the regulator alongside the new cap.
The move to cut the energy price cap is expected to trigger a revival of switching between suppliers as firms bring back more competitive fixed deals – but consumers have been told not to expect “a deluge of cut-price offers”.
UK borrowing costs have jumped to their highest levels since the mini-budget panic last autumn, which has prompted several mortgage lenders to reprice deals….
Germany has sunk into a winter recession, after revised data showed its economy shrank over the last six months:
The founder of Starling Bank, Anne Boden, is to step down as chief executive in a surprise move that she said was designed to shield the online bank from potential concerns over a conflict of interest, because she is a major shareholder.
Shares in chipmaker Nvidia have surged 25% after it predicted a boom in demand for its computer chips to meet the needs of artificial intelligence products such as ChatGPT.
Cineworld has said it expects to exit bankruptcy protection in July as the troubled cinema group secured further backing from lenders for its restructuring plan.
The decision by United Utilities to hand more than £300m to shareholders has prompted fresh anger over water companies’ multimillion-pound payouts, at a time when the industry is under pressure to spend more on tackling leaks and stopping sewage pollution.
The bookmaker Paddy Power sent a promotional push notification to customers who had signed up to exclude themselves from gambling, inviting them to bet on a football match.
The founders of fast fashion retailer Boohoo.com doubled their pay to about £1m each last year as they were handed hefty bonuses despite missing financial targets.
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Nvidia shares surge 25% after predicting AI-driven boom in chip demand
Shares in US chipmaker Nvidia have surged by a quarter in early Wall Street trading, after it. predicted a boom in demand for its computer chips to meet the needs of artificial intelligence products such as ChatGPT.
Nvidia’s share price is up 25%, giving it market valuation well over $900bn (£730bn) today, heading towards the $1trn market cap club.
The stock surged in after-hours trading on Wednesday, after Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang identified artificial intelligence (AI) as a key driver of increased demand.
$NVDA shares are surging following an outstanding Q1 earnings report, with the pop set to add more than $180B to the stock's market cap. @KristinaParts explains. pic.twitter.com/NrTXJt9VWK
— Worldwide Exchange (@CNBCWEX) May 25, 2023
AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould explains that Nvidia beat forecasts with its latest financial results yesterday:
“Full-year sales and earnings fell in 2022 and Mr Huang’s guidance for Q1 of the new fiscal year had been cautious back in February, but NVIDIA simply breezed past analysts’ forecasts. Sales fell year-on-year, but by a lot less than expected, and net profit actually rose both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.
“First-quarter sales came in at $7.2 billion, compared to forecasts of $6.5 billion and the prior period’s $6.1 billion, to give investors grounds for believing that mid-2022’s stumble was just a blip. Net income reached $2.0 billion, against consensus forecasts of $1.5 billion, and the prior quarter’s $1.4 billion. Net profit even advanced from Q1 2022’s $1.6 billion.
Bulls of the stock could also draw encouragement from how inventory dropped by $500 million to $4.6 billion.
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