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Novo Nordisk share price plunges after blaming lower US drug prices, patent protection issues and rising competition The maker of Wegovy and Ozempic, Novo Nordisk, has predicted a sharp drop in revenues this year owing to a push by Donald Trump to lower US weight-loss drug prices, rising competition and the loss of key patent protections.Denmark's Novo , once the poster-child for the growth in weight-loss treatments, said sales this year were likely to fall between 5% and 13%, despite the launch of its new Wegovy pill in the US. Its share price plummeted 18% on Wednesday morning, erasing all gains so far this year. In the past year the stock has lost nearly 50% of its value. Continue reading......

UK arm brands FCA's compensation scheme 'overreach' as Spanish owner signs surprise $12bn takeover of Webster Bank in USSantander has accused the City watchdog of overreach after its bill for the UK motor finance scandal reached £461m, as the Spanish lender inked a $12bn takeover of an American bank.The bank – which announced the surprise takeover of US-based Webster Bank on Tuesday night – took a fresh swipe at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Wednesday over a compensation scheme for the scandal. Continue reading......

Signalling issue and train derailment in south London hits Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express servicesA “do not travel” alert has been issued by the UK's largest railway franchise, after a train derailment and signalling issues affected services across south-east England.Train operators Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express – all part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise in south-east England – urged passengers not to travel on Wednesday morning “if at all possible” because of “multiple incidents”. Continue reading......

For Labour veterans of the financial crisis the Epstein files revealed a betrayal – but 16 years on, is the City calling the shots? Today's advocates of a windfall tax on the UK's highly profitable banking sector detected a whiff of familiarity in Peter Mandelson's suggestion, back in 2009, that JP Morgan should “mildly threaten” the chancellor.Feeding a Wall Street financier market sensitive titbits was an extraordinary breach of trust – perhaps even illegal, it seems – but for Labour veterans of the financial crisis, Mandelson's collusion with the banks against his own colleagues was the worst betrayal. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.A selloff in software and data company stocks that began in Europe yesterday has spread to Asia-Pacific markets, via the US, today.The relief that came with the easing selloff across the metals space lasted until news broke that Anthropic, an AI startup backed by Amazon and Google, had rolled out a new AI tool designed to handle legal and research work traditionally done using paid databases.The announcement spooked markets, triggering a sharp selloff in software companies that sell data analytics and decision-making tools to lawyers, banks and corporates, on fears that AI and new players are coming for their lunch — and at an accelerated pace.9am GMT: Eurozone services PMI report for January9.30am GMT: UK services PMI report for January10am GMT: Eurozone inflation report for January10am GMT: House of Lords inquiry on stablecoins in the UK t...

Moves to ban under-16s from social media should raise deeper questions about who controls democracy's digital infrastructureThe last UK general election of the 20th century was also the first to anticipate, albeit faintly, the coming technological revolution. The 1997 Labour and Conservative manifestos both included pledges to connect schools to something they called “the information superhighway”.That metaphor soon fell out of use, unmourned, although it contains an interesting policy implication. Roads need rules to prevent accidents. Superhighways do not sound like the kind of places where children should play.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnistGuardian Newsroom: Can Labour come back from the brink? On Monday 30 April, ahead of May elections join Gaby Hinsliff, Zoe Williams, Polly Toynbee and Rafael Behr as they discuss how much of a threat is Labour from both the Green party and Reform and whether Keir Starmer can survive as leader of the Labour party? Book tickets here or at guardian.live Contin...

With 1.8m fixed-rate deals due to end this year, now's the time to dig out the details and look at what's on offer About 1.8m fixed-rate mortgage deals are due to end in 2026, and most of these borrowers will need to get a new home loan. If that includes you, but you are not sure when your deal expires, dig out the details. Continue reading......

Decaying town centres are fuelling a sense of disillusionment with mainstream parties. Labour's regeneration strategy must be bolder“In the 60s it was a fabulous place to live,” sighed one resident of the north-east English town of Newton Aycliffe, in an interview published last week as part of our investigation into the state of Britain's high streets. “The town centre was absolutely beautiful … You would be ashamed to bring someone here now. It's unrecognisable.”Similar perceptions of decline are now the norm across the nation. In postwar Britain, high streets became the thriving hubs of a more affluent society and a source of local identity and pride. But almost 13,000 shops closed in 2024 – an attrition rate of around 37 a day, which particularly affected the north of England, the Midlands and deprived coastal areas. The emergence of superstores and retail parks, and the post‑pandemic boom in internet shopping, has hollowed out the centres of towns a...

While most focused on competition issues, Josh Hawley accused Netflix of promoting trans content to childrenNetflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos faced tough questioning over whether the streamer is “overwhelmingly woke” or killing competition on Tuesday afternoon during a congressional hearing focused on its pending acquisition of the film and streaming assets of Warner Bros Discovery.The hearing was conducted by the Senate subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy, and consumer rights. Bruce Campbell, chief revenue and strategy officer for Warner Bros Discovery, also testified in the packed Senate hearing room. Continue reading......

'Mid-career' females also being sidelined by rigid hiring processes, says City of London CorporationWomen working in tech and financial services are at greater risk of losing their jobs to increased use of AI and automation than their male peers, according to a report that found experienced females were also being sidelined as a result of “rigid hiring processes”.“Mid-career” women – with at least five years' experience – are being overlooked for digital roles in the tech and financial and professional services sectors, where they are traditionally underrepresented, according to the report by the City of London Corporation. Continue reading......

Jump of £37bn in budget deficit by 2040 would force government to increase taxes, NIESR predictsThe UK economy would be 3.6% smaller by 2040 if net migration fell to zero, forcing the government to raise taxes to combat a much bigger budget deficit, a thinktank has predicted.The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said falling birthrates in the UK and a sharp decrease in net migration last year had led it to consider what would happen if this trend continued to the end of the decade. Continue reading......

In 2010 then business secretary contacted Jes Staley, then at JP Morgan, about funding for £700m listing on London Stock ExchangeJeffrey Epstein described Peter Mandelson as “devious” after lobbying a bank to underwrite a mining project launched by their mutual friend Nat Rothschild, emails included in the latest tranche of Epstein files suggest.In April 2010, the then business secretary appears to have contacted banker Jes Staley, then at JP Morgan, from his personal email account in what appears to be an attempt to secure funding for Rothschild, Mandelson's longtime friend. Continue reading......

Merger with loss-making xAI looks to some investors more like a bailout than a rocket trip to the futureElon Musk merges SpaceX with xAI at $1.25tn valuationTo Elon Musk's fan club, there is nothing to see apart from more evidence of the great man's visionary genius. SpaceX, the rocket firm, is buying xAI, the artificial intelligence developer, and the combination of these two Musk-controlled entities is being valued at $1.25tn (£910bn). Feel the positive vibes ahead of a stock market debut due in June! The most valuable private company in history! The largest ever transaction!Or, as Musk described it, he is creating “the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth, with AI, rockets, space-based internet, direct-to-mobile device communications and the world's foremost real-time information and free-speech platform”. Continue reading......

AIs are not sentient – but tweaks to their ethical codes can have far-reaching consequences for usersDo you want an AI assistant that gushes about how it “loves humanity” or one that spews sarcasm? How about a political propagandist ready to lie? If so, ChatGPT, Grok and Qwen are at your disposal.Companies that create AI assistants, from the US to China, are increasingly wrestling with how to mould their characters, and it is no abstract debate. This month Elon Musk's “maximally truth-seeking” Grok AI caused international outrage when it pumped out millions of sexualised images. In October OpenAI retrained ChatGPT to de-escalate conversations with people in mental health distress after it appeared to encourage a 16-year-old to take his own life. Continue reading......

Apparent tip-off by Peter Mandelson gave advance notice of instability that would ripple through global marketsOn a brisk Monday evening in May 2010, Gordon Brown stood on the steps of Downing Street and delivered one of the most dramatic announcements of the New Labour era: his resignation as UK prime minister.The decision came days after a nail-biting general election that left no single party with a clear run at No 10. Brown kept his decision, which followed days of political wrangling, to a tight inner circle. Nick Clegg, who would go on to serve as deputy prime minister of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, was formally told of Brown's resignation only 10 minutes before the announcement. Continue reading......

High street bank breaks traditional 95% limit, but experts say take-up will be limited by exclusions on flats and new buildsOne of Britain's biggest banks has launched a mortgage that lets first-time buyers borrow up to 98% of the property's value – but experts said the “very strict” rules would exclude many people and property types.Santander said this was the first time for years that a major high street bank had gone beyond the traditional 95% borrowing limit, and some mortgage brokers called it a “bold and significant” move that would help more first-time buyers achieve their home ownership dreams. Continue reading......

New US-owned app struggled with a storm and was accused of blocking content critical of Trump – can it recover?Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I'm Blake Montgomery, writing to you from Doha, where I'm moderating panels about AI and investing as part of the Web Summit Qatar.I want to bring your attention to the impact of a Guardian story. In December, we published a story, “'A black hole': families and police say tech giants delay investigations in child abuse and drug cases”, about grieving families and law enforcement officers who say that Meta and Snapchat have slowed down criminal investigations. (The tech companies contend that they cooperate.) This month, Colorado lawmakers introduced a bill to compel social media platforms to respond to warrants in 72 hours.Elon Musk had more extensive ties to Epstein than previously known, emails showTesla discontinues Model X and S vehicles as Elon Musk pivots to roboticsWhat is Moltbook? The strange new social media site for AI botsThe slopaganda era: ...

Known as 'white gold', lithium is among the most important mined elements on the planet – ideal for the rechargeable batteries used in tech products. Can Europe's largest deposit bring prosperity to the local community?It looks more like the past than the future. A vast chasm scooped out of a scarred landscape, this is a Cornwall the summer holidaymakers don't see: a former china clay pit near St Austell called Trelavour. I'm standing at the edge of the pit looking down with the man who says his plans for it will help the UK's transition to renewable energy and bring back year-round jobs and prosperity to a part of the country that badly needs both. “And if I manage to make some money in the process, fantastic,” he says. “Though that is not what it's about.”We'll return to him shortly. But first to the past, when this story begins, about 275-280m years ago. “There was a continental collision at the time,” Frances Wall, professor of applied mineralogy at the Camborne School of Mines a...

D'Amaro will take over next month from Bob Iger, who returned to lead the media company after a bungled successionDisney has unveiled Josh D'Amaro as its next CEO, drawing a line under a bungled succession at the top of the global entertainment conglomerate.Bob Iger, who led the media giant for 15 years, stepped down in 2020 – only to abruptly return in 2022 when his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, was fired as the company came under pressure. Continue reading......

Stocks in Pearson, London Stock Exchange Group and Experian plunge amid fears over impact of AIEuropean publishing and legal software companies have suffered sharp declines in their share prices after the US artificial intelligence firm Anthropic announced a tool aimed at companies' in-house lawyers.The UK publishing group Pearson's shares fell by 4%, while the information and analytics firm Relx plunged nearly 11% on the London stock exchange, and the Dutch software company Wolters Kluwer dropped almost 9% in Amsterdam. Continue reading......