Business

Oil prices plunge 15% to below $100, stocks surge and dollar slumps after Trump announces US-Iran ceasefire – business live
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Gas prices slide 20%, government bond yields fall sharply as rate hike expectations recede

Despite the sharp drop in crude oil prices today, Mohit Kumar, chief European economist at Jefferies, does not expect oil prices to go back to pre-war levels anytime soon, and warned it could take months for energy supply to return to normal levels.

Here are his thoughts.

We would view the Iran 10 point proposal positively and do think that it could become the basis for further negotiations. The important background is that Trump really wants a deal and wants to get out of the war and hence would be open for negotiations.

The two contentious elements from the Iran proposal are 1) no mention of nuclear deal 2) the proposal to charge a fee which would be unacceptable to the US or its allies.

Potential alternative routes for the strait of Hormuz would be in focus. For Iran, sadly we fear that apart from reconstruction, it would continue its efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon as a credible deterrent.

Hence we do not see oil going back to pre-war levels anytime soon. We would also need to price a geopolitical risk premium across asset classes which would produce winners and losers.

Shell oil trading profits soar amid Iran war but Qatar strikes hit gas output
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Earnings at renewable energy division expected to soar to between $200m and $700m in first quarter

Business live – latest updates

Shell is expected to report “significantly higher” profits from its commodity trading desks in the first quarter of this year after weeks of market volatility triggered by the Iran crisis.

The surge in energy commodity markets over recent weeks is expected to drive up trading results at Shell’s chemicals and products unit, which includes its main oil trading desk.

UK house prices fall in March amid uncertain impact of Middle East conflict
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Average price dips back below £300,000 after higher energy costs have knock-on effect on mortgage rates

UK house prices fell in March, as the housing market lost momentum amid uncertainty over the conflict in the Middle East and the impact on the economy and interest rates.

Figures from Halifax, which is part of Lloyds – Britain’s biggest mortgage lender – showed property prices dipped by 0.5% in March compared with a month earlier. As a result, the average price of a home slipped back below £300,000, to £299,677, after first crossing the milestone in January.

‘This is about people’s livelihoods’: how surging tool thefts are leaving tradespeople penniless and afraid
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

More than 80% of the UK’s tradespeople have had tools stolen. Some have lost months of work as a result. With thefts up 16% in a year, can the police and the government do anything to protect them?

If you’re on social media and have even a passing interest in home improvement, there’s a good chance you will have seen Kevin Tingley’s work. The 39-year-old decorator is known as Paint Warrior – and has millions of followers across TikTok and Instagram. He’s in demand, highly skilled, generous in sharing tips from his many years of experience and even has his own range of products on sale in the UK and the US.

But even with his social media army and branded brushes, he’s still not immune to the biggest threat faced by British tradespeople: tool theft. “It was Boxing Day morning,” Tingley says. “I was still in bed, my wife was on her way to the gym. She came running back in and told me that all the doors of my van were open.”

Bristol airport loses legal challenge against Cardiff rival over £205m subsidy
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Tribunal dismisses claim that the Welsh government’s financial package breached competition rules

Cardiff airport has won a legal challenge brought by its rival in Bristol over the fairness of a £205m Welsh government subsidy package.

A judgment by the competition appeal tribunal on Tuesday unanimously dismissed Bristol airport’s case against the Welsh government, which Bristol had argued distorted the market and breached the Subsidy Control Act.

UK opening new oil and gas fields would imperil global climate goals, experts say
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

Senior climate figures warn North Sea drilling would encourage fossil fuel exploitation by developing countries

Opening new oil and gas fields in the North Sea would “send a shock wave around the world”, imperilling international climate targets, undermining the UK’s climate leadership and encouraging developing countries to exploit their own fossil fuel reserves, experts have warned.

The UK government is under stiff pressure from the oil industry, the Conservatives, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, some trade unions and parts of the Treasury to give the green light to new oil and gas fields, despite clear evidence that doing so would not cut prices and would have almost no effect on imports.

‘A full-on embrace’: how the EU’s largest news publisher fell in love with the US
Posted on Wednesday April 08, 2026

After recent purchase of UK’s Daily Telegraph, Axel Springer and its ‘guru-like’ CEO, Mathias Döpfner, have sights on transatlantic expansion

In Mathias Döpfner’s 2023 book Dealing with Dictators, the chief executive of the German media company Axel Springer SE proposed a fix for western democracy: states that respect the rule of law should stick together and prioritise trading with each other. Better that, he declared, than indulging the illusion that doing business will tame “self-styled strongman leaders”.

So it came as quite the surprise when last month Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was given a prominent opinion article in Welt am Sonntag, less than four weeks before the riskiest elections of the rightwing populist’s career. “It caused a lot of strong irritation,” said a former editor at the Springer-owned broadsheet.