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US consumer expectations match economic calculations that show conflict in Iran will cause higher inflationThe US stock market opened on Friday with a selloff that briefly sent the Dow into correction territory as a new survey showed US consumer sentiment plummeted in March.Within an hour into trading on Friday, the Dow fell more than 400 points, briefly pushing the index into correction territory. Oil prices continued to climb, with Brent crude, the global benchmark, hitting $110 a gallon. Continue reading......

Yields on 10-year debt reach highest since the 2008 financial crisis, raising concerns of faster interest rate risesUK government borrowing costs have risen above 5% amid an intensifying global bond market sell-off fuelled by the Iran war.The yield – or interest rate – on 10-year debt hit its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, rising 13 basis points to 5.081%, as investors acted on concerns about the economic fallout from the conflict. Continue reading......

Promotion of beauty products to young girls may fuel compulsive habits and potential health risks, says watchdogItalian regulators are investigating Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics over the apparent use of “covert marketing strategies” to sell beauty products to young girls that might be fuelling an unhealthy skincare obsession called “cosmeticorexia”.The Italian Competition Authority said it was looking into promotions for skincare products such as face masks, serums and anti-ageing creams that in some cases appeared to target girls under 10. Continue reading......

Allan Leighton predicts food prices will inevitably rise as group's full-year profits dive by a third to £764mAsda's executive chair has called on the government to “stand up and start doing stuff” to support farmers and ease the price of fuel as he warned that food prices would inevitably rise as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.Allan Leighton said farmers were under pressure but the supermarket had so far received “a trickle of requests not an avalanche” of cost price increases from its suppliers, as they were under pressure from higher fertiliser, energy and fuel costs. Continue reading......

Allan Leighton's comments come as squeeze on supplies drives average UK petrol price above 150p a litreBusiness live – latest updatesThe boss of Asda has warned of “temporary shortages'” at petrol pumps as supplies are squeezed by the conflict in the Middle East, which has driven up average UK petrol prices to above 150p a litre.Allan Leighton, the executive chair of the supermarket chain, which is the UK's second largest fuel retailer, said it had been experiencing high demand from drivers as fuel prices have jumped about over the past four weeks since the war started. Continue reading......

Driving fast is in 'the German DNA', say lovers of the speed-limit free autobahn, but support in the country for a restriction is growingDeath-defying thrills are not what draws Lutz Leif Linden to zip down the autobahn faster than a plane taking off. Instead, the feeling of freedom and an appreciation of technological mastery play a part in his “almost loving relationship” with driving cars faster than most people can imagine.The top speed he has reached on the road in Germany, the world's only democracy without a blanket speed limit on motorways, is 400km/h (249mph). “It's like an airplane,” said Linden, the president of the Automobile Club of Germany (AvD). “You are faster than an Airbus at start.” Continue reading......

Report shows black music accounts for 80 per cent of money generated by UK industry in past 30 yearsLeading figures in the UK music industry are calling for more work to be done to support black talent in executive roles as a report finds that 80% of UK music revenue has been generated by black music in the past 30 years.A recent report by UK Music states that black music has made £24.5bn out of the £30bn generated by the UK music industry in the past 30 years. However, industry figures have highlighted that black people are still kept out of top executive roles. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Research finds sharp rise in models evading safeguards and destroying emails without permissionAI models that lie and cheat appear to be growing in number with reports of deceptive scheming surging in the last six months, a study into the technology has found.AI chatbots and agents disregarded direct instructions, evaded safeguards and deceived humans and other AI, according to research funded by the UK government-funded AI Safety Institute (AISI). The study, shared with the Guardian, identified nearly 700 real-world cases of AI scheming and charted a five-fold rise in misbehaviour between October and March, with some AI models destroying emails and other files without permission. Continue reading......

The real defining image of this presidency should be the bank statement of the average American citizenShockingly, inexplicably, Donald Trump keeps finding new places to put his face. Also, his name. Or initials. Or one of those drawings a turkey a kid does by tracing the outline of their hand. He's got his ballroom, the Kennedy Center, and a proposed 250ft arch that would become one of the tallest buildings in all of Washington DC – a city with longstanding height restrictions for development. His signature will be on US dollars later this year, in a first for a sitting president. I'd ask if he was getting tired of all the attention, but I think we know the answer to that. Up next is a commemorative gold coin – worth exactly $1 – featuring Trump's scowling visage looming menacingly over the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.It's a pretty classic Trump pose, designed to make a nearly-80-year-old man with a variety of mystery bruises who eats McDonald's on a regular basis look physically intimida...

Weak demand and global trade pressures hit ouput, with energy price rises expected to bring further dropBusiness live – latest updatesFewer cars rolled off UK production lines in February in what the industry called an “extremely worrying” slump even before the impact of the Iran war was felt.Vehicle production was 17% lower last month on the same period in 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, as exports dropped sharply. Continue reading......

People's payments, account details and national insurance numbers visible to other users, says Treasury committeeLloyds Banking Group exposed the personal data of nearly 500,000 customers in an IT glitch that left people's payments, account details and national insurance numbers visible to other users, a committee of MPs has revealed.A letter from Lloyds, published by MPs on the Treasury select committee on Friday, blamed the glitch on a software defect introduced during an IT update to its Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland mobile banking apps overnight into 12 March. Continue reading......

Oakland and New York campaigns for $30 minimum wage gain steam as workers battle high costs and pushbackMark Dorsey, a lifelong East Oakland resident, works two jobs to make ends meet. The 35-year-old Californian relies on manufacturing and service work through temp agencies and tries to work overtime or 10- to 12-hour shifts because “that's the only way you can see a paycheck that's worth something”.Dorsey often makes minimum wage or close to it. The city of Oakland's minimum wage is currently $17.34 an hour, higher than the minimum wage for the state of California, currently $16.90 an hour, but still not enough to support Dorsey. Continue reading......

Liz Kendall urged by online safety figures to hand job to Jeremy Wright ahead of Labour grandee Margaret HodgeMinisters are facing pressure to appoint a former Conservative cabinet minister as the new chair of the media regulator Ofcom, as he battles for the job against a Labour peer.The job of running the regulator has become a key post in public life, as concern over online content has grown rapidly, alongside the rise of more politically partisan broadcasting. No successor has yet been named to replace Michael Grade, the former BBC chair who has just weeks left in the job. Continue reading......

Prime minister says government needs to show it is on families' side as new screen-time guidance launched• UK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has promised a “fight” with social media firms amid efforts to limit children's use of mobile phones, tablets and TVs, as new official guidance recommends children under five spend no more than an hour a day on screens.The guidance, developed by a panel led by the children's commissioner, Rachel de Souza and children's health expert Prof Russell Viner, advises screen time for children under two should be avoided other than for shared activities. Continue reading......

Undercover reporter gets a taste of the sprawling fraud industry in which cryptocurrencies play a crucial roleFive firms including Autotrader and Just Eat investigated over fake review failingsThe holiday flat near(ish) the Roman ruins of Pompeii was “disgusting”, and smelled of “a mix of dampness and sewage”, according to one reviewer on Google Maps. I never visited, but I gave it five stars.I did the same for an DoubleTree by Hilton hotel across the Thames river, Ibis budget hotel in east London, that is part of the Accor group, a central Travelodge and the nearby Hyatt Place – some of the best-known hotel brands in the world. Scattered in there were requests for reviews for hostels and B&Bs in Genova, Naples, Maastricht, Krakow and Brussels. For a few days I had a new job: writing fake reviews on Google Maps in exchange for cryptocurrency. Continue reading......

CMA also looks into Pasta Evangelists, funeral operator Dignity and review company Feefo in latest crackdownThe UK competition watchdog has launched investigations into five companies including Autotrader and Just Eat over concerns they have not done enough to tackle fake and misleading online reviews.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has previously investigated the tech companies Amazon and Google, said its latest crackdown includes the funeral services operator Dignity, the review company Feefo and the restaurant chain Pasta Evangelists. Continue reading......

In Mexico and Spain, leaders who have capped public costs have been rewarded at the ballot box. As another cost of living surge arrives, it may be a policy our leaders are unable to resist Politicians are not supposed to meddle with prices. Even though much of politics is about whether voters can afford things – especially in an era of recurring inflationary shocks – ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union's planned economy four decades ago, the orthodoxy across much of the world has been that only markets should decide what things cost.As the hugely influential Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek argued, in a complex modern society, information is too dispersed among potential sellers and buyers of goods or services for government to make informed and correct decisions about the prices of those goods. Hence, his disciples say, the inefficiency of state-run economies, from post-colonial Africa to the eastern bloc.Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsMiddle East crisis live: Trump pausing strikes on Iran energy sites; Houthis say 'no reason' to halt Red Sea shippingTrump's new 10-day extension for Iran came shortly after Wall Street posted its biggest daily loss since the Iran war began.Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone, suspects the US stock market fell close to the White House's 'pain threshold':Call me a cynic, but the latest 'TACO' coming just eleven minutes after the S&P had closed out its worst day since the conflict began, having notched a loss of 1.7% on the day, is surely not a coincidence.Yet again, this shows us that not only is Trump still receptive to pressure from financial markets, but that we are also still very, very close to the Admin's pain threshold. Put even more simply, 6,500 in spoos is the strike price for the 'Trump Put'.“A ripple of fear is spreading as is evident from the six-point fall in perceptions of the general economic sit...

Number fell 23% year on year in 2025 but waste companies say recycling systems still under strain from sheer volumeMore than 6m vapes and vape pods are still being discarded every week in the UK, with waste management companies warning the sheer volume continues to strain recycling systems despite the ban on disposable e-cigarettes.According to research by the recycling campaign group Material Focus, the 6.3m vapes and pods thrown away each week in 2025 represented a 23% reduction from the previous year. Continue reading......

The party seems to have woken up to its need for an old-style intellectual heavyweight to counter the vacuousness of recent yearsNature famously abhors a vacuum. So when Morgan McSweeney departed government, leaving a hole where much of Keir Starmer's thinking used to be, it was always going to be filled eventually. And increasingly, that filling looks Ed Miliband-shaped.The energy secretary's influence has visibly grown in recent weeks, and not just because of a spiralling energy crisis in the Gulf. The idea that he is the real prime minister now – the one supposedly calling the shots over everything from whether Britain should join the war on Iran to how far it should pursue its “fatwa against fossil fuels”, as Michael Gove, the former Tory minister turned Spectator editor-in-chief, huffed recently – is on one level just another attempt by the opposition to humiliate Starmer, painting him as a lame-duck leader pushed around by underlings. But if the truth is a bit more nuanced than that, there...