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Karen HogganBusiness reporter, BBC NewsGetty ImagesCompanies are planning to cut jobs or recruit fewer people ahead of rises to National Insurance payments and wages, according to a survey of UK employers.Businesses questioned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) also said they would raise their prices to cover increasing employment costs.Separate research conducted by the Federation of Small Business found that in the final three months of last year confidence among small firms hit its lowest point for 10 years, not including the Covid pandemic.The Treasury said it was delivering the stability businesses need to invest and grow.…

Elon Musk listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb. 11, 2025. Kevin Lamarque | ReutersPresident Donald Trump’s moves to fire thousands of federal government workers have coincided with a surge in jobless claims in Washington, D.C., that could get worse as the efforts intensify.Since Trump has taken office, nearly 4,000 workers in the city have filed for unemployment insurance as part of a surge that began at the start of the new year, according to Labor Department figures not adjusted for seasonal factors.In all, just shy of 7,000…

A customer at a food market in Palma, Mallorca, Spain.Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAs economists ring alarm bells over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy on consumers and the U.S. economy, there’s a group of Americans who may benefit: tourists traveling abroad.That’s due to the impact of tariffs on the U.S. dollar and other global currencies. Economists expect tariffs imposed on foreign imports to strengthen the U.S. dollar and potentially weaken major currencies like the euro.In such a case, travelers would have more buying power overseas in 2025, economists said. Their dollar would stretch further on purchases like…

Consumers sharply curtailed their spending in January, indicating a potential weakening in economic growth ahead, according to a Commerce Department report Friday.Retail sales slipped 0.9% for the month from an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in December, even worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline. The sales totals are adjusted for seasonality but not inflation for a month, in which prices rose 0.5%.Excluding autos, prices fell 0.4%, also well off the consensus forecast for a 0.3% increase. A “control” measure that strips out several nonessential categories and figures directly into calculations for gross domestic product fell 0.8% after…

U.S. Treasury yields dropped on Friday as investors assessed the state of the economy after a slew of reports this week.The 10-year Treasury yield was more than 4.5 basis points lower at 4.478%, while the 2-year Treasury yield was more than 5 basis points down at 4.263%.One basis point equals 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.Data released Friday showed retail sales slipped 0.9% in January from an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in December, which came out worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline.”While January’s report was weak, some of that weakness was offset by the fact…

U.S. Treasury yields dropped on Friday as investors assessed the state of the economy after a slew of reports this week.The 10-year Treasury yield was more than 4.5 basis points lower at 4.478%, while the 2-year Treasury yield was more than 5 basis points down at 4.263%.One basis point equals 0.01%, and yields and prices move in opposite directions.Data released Friday showed retail sales slipped 0.9% in January from an upwardly revised 0.7% gain in December, which came out worse than the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.2% decline.”While January’s report was weak, some of that weakness was offset by the fact…

Trucks line up outside of the Bayport Container Terminal at the port of Houston in Seabrook, Texas, US, on Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. Mark Felix | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTexas and California have lately been at odds over both political and economic ideologies, but when it comes to both the existing and reciprocal tariffs proposed by President Trump on Thursday, the two states have something in common: they are projected to be the biggest losers among U.S. states when it comes to the impact across states economies from the latest moves in the widening U.S. trade war.Businesses across the U.S. will…

Workers walk past manufacturing equipment at Eli Lilly & Co. manufacturing plant in Kinsale, Ireland, on Sept. 12, 2024. Lilly has been bulking up its production capacity since 2020, investing more than $17 billion into developing new plants and expanding existing facilities for the weight-loss and diabetes drugs that are expected to become some of the best-selling medicines of all time. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe U.S. imported roughly $600 billion worth of goods from European Union member states in 2024, and as President Trump prepares to potentially extend his tariffs beyond metals to a wide range of products from…

Asiavision | E+ | Getty ImagesCollectively, Americans now owe a record $1.21 trillion on their credit cards, according to a new quarterly report on household debt from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.Credit card balances jumped by $45 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven in part by holiday spending, and are now 7.3% higher than a year ago.At the same time, credit card delinquency rates “remained elevated,” the New York Fed researchers found — with 7.18% of balances transitioning to delinquency over the last year. That uptick could indicate “borrowers are having some difficulty repaying,” the researchers…

The UK government has given its strongest signal yet that it will seek exemptions from tariffs being threatened on British steel entering the US.US President Donald Trump has announced 25% taxes on steel entering the country, meaning American businesses face having to pay more to import the metal.But Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC that the UK had a strong case to avoid the border taxes, given the amounts Britain exported to the US were small in comparison to other countries and because the steel was used in areas such as defence. Trump has previously said the tariffs will…