Months of “frenzied buyer activity” have driven the average asking price for a home in Britain to a new high, according to the property website Rightmove. The property portal said it expected figures from HMRC due later this week to show that June was the busiest month on record for sales, with buyers rushing to complete before stamp duty rules change in parts of the United Kingdom. – Guardian
The UK’s top business lobby group and Marks & Spencer have joined a growing chorus urging the government to tackle a nationwide “pingdemic” by immediately amending the self-isolation policy for people notified by the NHS test-and-trace app. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said “speed was of the essence” as crippling staff shortages threatened to close supermarkets and bring car production lines to a halt. – Guardian
Rishi Sunak faces an extra £10bn bill over the next two years as inflation surges, driving up interest bills on Government debts that are linked to the cost of living. About a quarter of the Government’s debt, amounting to £460bn, is tied to the retail price index (RPI) measure of inflation, so the Treasury must pay out more money to savers and investors when prices rise. – Telegraph
Ocado customers face a week of disruption to orders following a fire at the online grocer’s biggest warehouse. The blaze broke out late on Friday after three robots used to handle orders collided at the Erith facility in southeast London, the FTSE 100 company said. – Telegraph
Most of the world’s biggest oil-exporting nations have agreed a deal to boost supply in a move expected to help cool the runaway rise in the cost of crude, which has sent prices at the pump soaring and helped fuel inflation. They agreed to boost oil production by 400,000 barrels a day as demand increases, as part of a deal to reverse an earlier cut of 5.8 million barrels per day by September next year. – The Times
One of the biggest shareholders in FirstGroup has urged the Financial Conduct Authority to investigate the transport company’s alleged failure to disclose information about incidents of child abuse on its US school buses. The US hedge fund Coast Capital, which owns a 15 per cent stake in FirstGroup, accused the company of withholding information, which meant that investors could not properly assess the sale of the school buses business. – The Times
