Business news live: Trump delays end of trade tariff pause and surprise June house prices data – UK Times

If this is you…please stop costing yourself money!

Analysis by savings app Spring shows Brits are holding a combined £186 billion in non-ISA easy access accounts which are earning an interest rate of 1.5 per cent or below.

While this would be a dismal rate of return on your cash at most moments, it’s actually costing you right now with inflation running at 3.4 per cent.

Market rates and competition have both gone down, sure, but there’s still plenty of options out there to be earning well over 4 per cent.

Shell has said it expects lower trading and production results for its integrated gas division as the firm battles amid a volatile wider market.

Shell – the world’s biggest LMG trader – also said trading results for its integrated gas division would be “significantly lower” than in the first three months of 2025, sending shares almost 3 per cent lower in morning trading on Monday.

In early trading today we’ve got signs that investors are in for a bit of a rollercoaster.

Overnight Asian stocks fell in Japan and Hong Kong, while the Shanghai Composite was just about flat, Australia was lower and the Asia Dow fell more than 1 per cent.

In Europe so far, the French CAC 40 is very slightly down after starting flat, the German DAX is up 0.4 per cent and the FTSE 100 on these shores is down 0.12 per cent.

Smaller firms are holding up though with the FTSE 250 up 0.17 per cent.

Mixed messages creates uncertainty, uncertainty creates irritated investors.

Stock markets are likely to be very up and down over the coming weeks, believe many analysts – even after Trump announced a delay to the delay of getting trade deals done by.

“Countries and regions are bracing themselves for trade letters from the US as the Trump administration moves to the next phase of its tariff regime,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

“Trump might be treating it in the same way as a final notice letter – get your act together and agree to a deal or be put back on the higher tariff rates outlined in the Liberation Day announcement.

“We now have some clarity on how the system will work. Rather than a hard deadline of 9 July where all countries without a trade deal will revert to the higher rates announced on 2 April, the new tariff regime begins on 1 August. More countries are expected to confirm trade deals in the coming days, and extensions are possible beyond the 9 July hurdle for countries where negotiations are deemed to be going well.

“In theory, this clarity – albeit still slightly murky rather than crystal clear – should have had a positive reception from investors as the hard deadline has effectively been pushed back three weeks. However, markets were mixed across Asia and Europe on Monday, with futures prices implying a red day for Wall Street later on.”

Insider trading pair Redinel and Oerta Kofruzi have been sentenced to six years and five years imprisonment respectively, following a guilty verdict of insider dealing and money launchering.

The pair were found guilty a couple of weeks back after Redinel used his position as an analyst to place trades on peoples’ accounts including his sister, Oerta.

The duo benefited to the tune of almost £1m.

Steve Smart, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight, said:

“The Korfuzis exploited their privileged position and the confidential inside information they had access to. They rigged the system to satisfy their greed.

“We’re committed to working with our law enforcement partners to fight financial crime and taking forceful action against individuals who undermine the integrity of our markets.”

This month’s Mansion House speech is expected to have a few key notes in it regarding peoples’ wealth – with a change to pension contributions likely to feature.

Minimum contributions for businesses to employee pensions is 3 per cent, but it has been reported that might rise – which would be another enormous burden on firms, says Rachael Chadwick-Harrison, managing director at Chadwick Accountants & Bookkeeping.

“Increasing employers’ pension contributions risks taking many struggling businesses to breaking point. For small and medium-sized enterprises in particular, these additional costs could prove unsustainable,” she said.

“The knock-on effect will almost certainly be felt by the average worker. There will be fewer job opportunities, reduced hours and even the possibility of redundancies as employers look for ways to manage rising expenses.

“This policy direction reflects a broader pattern of decisions that appear to disregard the realities faced by business owners. Instead of supporting growth and job creation, the government’s approach seems increasingly disconnected from the needs of those who drive the economy.”

Donald Trump called Elon Musk’s plans to form a new political party “ridiculous”, after the Tesla CEO suggested a new “America Party” will be his next focus.

Shareholders in the EV maker aren’t impressed, given he has only just left his DOGE role to return to what he said would be full-time attention on his business endeavours, sleeping at the office and so on.

US markets were closed on Friday for 4 July celebrations; ahead of the reopening later today, Tesla shares are down more than 6 per cent.

Imagine that your weekend had started a day earlier… and did so every week. Sounds good, right?

That could be the new reality many companies and employees face in the future, after the four-day business week took another step towards implementation in the UK.

This year, 17 businesses of different types have been trialling the move, organised by the 4 Day Week Foundation. Almost 1,000 different employees were involved, all retaining their normal salary – and after the culmination of that study, all 17 companies have opted to keep going, following an earlier trial which saw 5,000 people adopt the scheme permanently.

But the initial results for those taking part appeared positive, with nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of employees saying they noted a “reduction in how often they experienced burnout”.

Halifax’s house price index is out this morning and the headline numbers are zero and -0.3.

To make that a little more helpful, we’re talking zero monthly chance in average prices from May into June.

And that means across the second quarter of the year, April to June, prices on average decreased by 0.3 per cent.

Annual growth has dipped a little, therefore, but it’s still at 2.5 per cent – with Northern Ireland seeing the strongest price growth in the UK.

The big overnight news came from yet another flip-flop from President Trump, as the US leader rolled back the end date on 90-day pause on trade tariffs.

An announcement that deals would now continue to be negotiated until 1 August, more than a three-week extension, is perhaps testament to the fact only three agreements have been reached: UK, China and Vietnam.

Trump had earlier spoken of 90 deals in 90 days.