The Bank of England has lifted interest rates from 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent in efforts to combat soaring inflation, which is currently at a 30-year high.
The BoE is also expected to signal further unwinding of its pandemic stimulus and a gradual reversal of its huge bond-buying programme.
Ofgem has confirmed a 54 per cent rise in the domestic energy price cap, which will jump by £693 per year to £1,971 for customers on default tariffs.
The rise will impact an estimated 22million people.
Shell has boosted its dividend and share repurchases after its fourth quarter profits soared to $6.4billion at the end of last year, thanks to higher oil and gas prices.
The group expects to increase its dividend by 4 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 and it will buy back $8.5billion worth of shares in the first half of 2022, including $5.5billion from the sale of its Permian shale assets in the US.
BT Group has entered exclusive discussions with Discovery to create a joint venture with BT Sport and Eurosport, giving customers of the former access to Discovery’s sport and entertainment content, including the discovery+ app.
The group saw revenue fall by 2 per cent in the final nine months of 2021 to £15.68billion, with declines in global and enterprise partly offset by growth in Openreach.
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The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates from 0.25% to 0.5% this afternoon
