US oil prices could see another day of wild fluctuation as Iran war drags on

US oil prices could see another day of wild fluctuation as the US-Israel campaign against Iran extends into a third week, with one analyst predicting that prices at the pump might hit $3.85 per gallon on Monday.Petroleum prices have spiraled upward as the broadening conflict has imperiled oil and gas production infrastructure in the region. On Friday, the US conducted strikes on Kharg Island, an essential oil processing hub in Iran. Tehran, meanwhile, continues to block ships from passing through the strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the international oil supply typically passes through

Chinese-owned Syngenta to build new £100m bioscience hub in UK

Syngenta is to build a new £100m research centre for agricultural bioscience, a move hailed by the government as a vote of confidence in the UK’s science base.The Chinese-owned company, one of the biggest agrichemical groups in the world, will open the centre at its Jealott’s Hill site in Berkshire to host hundreds of scientists.The decision will provide a boost to relations between the research industry and government after a public row with the pharmaceutical sector over drug pricing and other issues, which led to big drugmakers cancelling or pausing nearly £2bn in UK investments last year.AstraZeneca’s planned £200m expansion of its research operations in Cambridge is still on hold.Switzerland-based Syngenta said the new bioscience hub would focus on a range of technologies such as biological pesticides – the next generation of crop protection

Sobering times: alcohol-free beer added to UK inflation basket

The UK’s increasing sobriety will be recognised from next month in the basket of goods used to calculate inflation after alcohol-free beer was added to a list by the Office for National Statistics totalling 760 items.Hummus and pet grooming were also included in the list of goods and services used to help judge the impact of rising prices on the cost of living.The new data will feed into the consumer prices index (CPI), the retail prices index (RPI) and the consumer prices index including housing costs (CPIH), which is the ONS’s preferred measure of inflation.Alcohol-free beer was included after sales increased, as did “the product range and shelf-space devoted to the product,” the ONS said.Hummus gained the attention of statisticians after the “increasing popularity of this item among health-conscious consumers, with estimates of expenditure rising to around £170m in 2024”

European takeover battle hots up with UniCredit’s ‘unfriendly attack’ on Commerzbank

Two European banking powerhouses have become embroiled in a €35bn (£30bn) takeover battle after Italy’s UniCredit stepped up its long-running pursuit of German lender Commerzbank, despite strong opposition from the German government.UniCredit first took a stake of 9% in Commerzbank in September 2024 and has since built up its holding to just under 30%. It said on Monday it was pushing to increase that holding further and push the rival lender into formal merger talks.Under German law, a shareholder that has a more than 30% stake is required to make a takeover bid. The Milan-headquartered bank said on Monday it was planning a share swap that would imply a €30

Taxpayer bill for saving Scunthorpe steel furnaces could top £1.5bn by 2028, auditor says

The cost of keeping the UK’s last remaining blast furnaces going at British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant could exceed £1.5bn by 2028 if it continues at its current rate, according to the government’s spending watchdog.Ministers took the plant into public control in April last year, after its Chinese owner – industrial firm Jingye – threatened to shut down the loss-making site.The National Audit Office (NAO), which monitors state spending, said the intervention saved thousands of jobs at Scunthorpe and prevented a “serious impact” on UK industry, including Network Rail, which buys steel for the railways from the plant.Shutting the plant would also have ended Britain’s “primary” steel-making ability because blast furnaces allow steel to be made from scratch, rather than relying on scrap metal

Thames Water lenders float new £10bn rescue plan

Thames Water’s lenders have put forward a £10bn rescue plan that would involve paying off the troubled water company’s hundreds of millions of pounds-worth of fines for leaks and pollution, as part of an effort to stave off financial collapse.A group of private equity firms and investment groups said they would inject about £3.35bn of cash into Thames Water and raise £6.65bn in debt, in exchange for the company not falling into a government-handled administration, in effect a temporary nationalisation.Bills for Thames Water’s 16 million customers in south-east England are already due to rise steeply until 2030 but the rescue plan would, at least, hold them at that level rather than pushing them even higher