Money, in brief

Kemi Badenoch, leader of Britain's Conservative party, said a Conservative government would pass a law so that nobody pays inheritance tax on their family home. [1]

Couples would also be able to leave another 1m pounds of other money and property tax-free, she told her party's conference in Birmingham on Wednesday. [1][5]

Inheritance tax takes 40% of what a person leaves above 325,000 pounds, or above 500,000 pounds when a home goes to children or grandchildren. [1]

Married couples can pass their allowance to each other, so most couples can already leave about 1m pounds without paying the tax. [2]

About 30,400 estates paid it in 2024-25, around 5% of UK deaths. [2] The Institute for Fiscal Studies, a research group, expects that to reach about 12% of people by 2032-33, because the starting point is frozen. [2]

An estate with a 2m-pound house could owe 400,000 pounds today and would owe nothing under the plan. [2]

The party puts the cost at 6bn pounds a year. [2] It says 71bn pounds of cuts it has found, 36bn of them from welfare, would pay for it and its other plans. [2]

The IFS said the biggest winners would be people with the most valuable homes, mostly in London and the south-east of England. [3]

Andy Summers, who runs the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation, said it would push older people to keep their savings in their home and not move somewhere smaller. [2] Paul Johnson, the IFS's former head, gave the same warning. [5]

Robert Jenrick, Reform UK's spokesman on the economy, called it handouts to multi-millionaires. [1] His party has promised to raise the income people earn before paying income tax to 15,000 pounds, worth about 500 pounds a year to most taxpayers. [7] In September he said a chancellor should not favour 36,000 families who pay inheritance tax over 40 million income taxpayers. [9]

Badenoch said her aim is to abolish inheritance tax completely once Britain can afford it. [1] Her party trails Labour and Reform UK in the polls. [1] Most UK newspapers led on the speech, and the Guardian said it put the wealthiest first. [8]

The tax is paid on fewer than 1 in 20 estates, yet it has been called Britain's most unpopular tax. [6] A year ago Badenoch promised to scrap stamp duty, the tax paid when buying a home, a plan costed at 9bn pounds. [6][5] In 2007 George Osborne, a Conservative, promised a 1m-pound threshold, and it never became law. [4]

Why it matters. The plan changes nobody's tax unless the Conservatives win the next election [1]; the nearer test is whether they say which welfare cuts make up the 36bn pounds [2].

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a UK charity that studies poverty, expects household incomes to fall over this parliament. [10][11] After paying for housing and allowing for rising prices, incomes in 2029-30 would be 440 to 770 pounds a year lower than in 2024-25. [11] Either figure would make it the worst parliament since records began in 1961. [11] The range depends on energy prices, which have tracked the Bank of England's worse case since oil went back above 100 dollars a barrel. [10][11]

Why it matters. John Healey, the UK's chancellor, gives his Budget on 28 October and is expected to offer about 1bn pounds of help with energy bills. [10] The charity wants a fixed block of cheaper energy for every home, with more for those in need, while the UK Treasury points to taking VAT, a sales tax, off electricity bills. [10]

The average 30-year fixed US mortgage rate rose to 7.49% in the week to 2 October, the Mortgage Bankers Association, a lenders' group, said. [12] It was last higher in November 2023. [12] US mortgage rates follow the 10-year US government borrowing rate and have climbed about 1.4 percentage points since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began in late February. [12] Freddie Mac, a US home-loan agency, put its average at 7.28%, and mortgage applications fell 6% in a week. [14]

Why it matters. At 7.28%, a median-priced US home costs about 900 dollars a month more than at the 3% rates of the pandemic years, NPR calculated. [13] A four-year used-car loan costs about three percentage points more than at the start of 2022. [13]

UK house prices did not move in September, according to Lloyds, a big UK bank whose index used to be called the Halifax index. [15] The average home cost 298,441 pounds, about the same as a month and a year earlier. [15] Prices had fallen 0.3% in August, the first fall in three years. [15] On Monday the average five-year fixed mortgage reached 6% for the first time in three years. [15]

Why it matters. Applications for mortgages to buy a home were 18.2% lower in the third quarter than a year before, and first-time buyers' fell 18.6%, Stonebridge, a mortgage network, found. [15] Owners whose fixed deals end now renew at the higher rates. [15]

The US Energy Information Administration, the US government's energy statistics office, expects homes heated with oil to spend 2,115 dollars this winter, 21% more than last winter. [16][17] The fuel is forecast to cost 34% more, at 5.26 dollars a gallon, but a warmer Northeast should mean less of it is burned. [17] Heating oil is almost the same product as diesel, which is scarce after refinery disruptions in Russia and the Middle East. [17] About 4.1 million US homes use it, 82% of them in the Northeast. [17]

Why it matters. Homes heated with natural gas should spend 9% less, about 640 dollars, and propane homes 3% less. [16] NEADA, a group of state officials who run energy help for poorer homes, expects oil heating to cost about 50% more, with prices near 6 dollars a gallon across much of the Northeast. [17][18]

The Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, raised its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 5.5% on Wednesday. [19][20] It was its first rise since February 2023. [20] Prices in India rose 4.8% in the year to August, above the bank's 4% target, after ten months of rising inflation. [19] India buys about 90% of its crude oil abroad, and oil costs more than 100 dollars a barrel. [20]

Why it matters. Banks pass the higher rate on, so Indians may pay more for car, home and personal loans, the BBC reports. [20] Governor Sanjay Malhotra said rate cuts were off the table for now. [20]

US households now expect prices to rise 3.9% over the next year, up from 3.6% in August, the New York Federal Reserve's monthly survey found. [22] That is its highest reading since May 2023. [22] More households said they were worse off than a year ago, and more expected to be worse off next year. [21] The survey asks a rotating panel of about 1,300 heads of household. [21]

Why it matters. Petrol cost a US average of 4.37 dollars a gallon on Wednesday, against about 3.12 dollars a year ago, according to AAA, a motoring group. [21] The US central bank treats these expectations as one of the things that drive real price rises. [22]

The Trump administration is sending 2.35bn dollars in direct payments to millions of Americans in the weeks before the 3 November elections for the US Congress, Reuters counted. [23] They include 90 dollars each to 20.8 million people in Medicare Part B, part of the US health scheme for over-65s, and 500 dollars each to 950,000 people who buy cover on HealthCare.gov. [23] Reuters found that 71% of those getting 500 dollars live in states with close Senate or governor races. [23]

Why it matters. Most of the 70.6 million people in Medicare, and buyers in the 20 states that run their own health marketplaces, get nothing. [23] A separate promise of 5,000 dollars for every adult would cost 1.2 trillion dollars and needs the US Congress, where it has won little support. [23]

The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has told Wells Fargo, one of the country's biggest mortgage lenders, that it is investigating the bank for discrimination. [24] Its letter says programmes for Black home buyers, including cheaper refinancing and a 150m-dollar credit programme, broke the Fair Housing Act. [24] That civil-rights-era law bars lenders from weighing race when they decide on loans. [24] The agency raised the prospect of bringing in the Justice Department. [24]

Why it matters. Black and Hispanic families are far less likely to own homes than white and Asian families, according to the Pew Research Center. [24] Wells Fargo has deleted many references to the programme from its website, and its shares fell 1.5%. [24]

Medicare, the US health scheme for over-65s, expects the average monthly premium for stand-alone drug plans to rise by less than a dollar, from 35.09 to 36.00 dollars, in 2027. [25] Many had expected sharp rises after the US government ended a subsidy to drug-plan insurers in August. [25] That subsidy had paid insurers more than 3bn dollars this year. [26] Private insurers still set each plan's price, so premiums vary from plan to plan. [25]

Why it matters. Other costs do rise: the most anyone pays from their own pocket in a year goes to 2,400 dollars from 2,100, and the highest deductible, what a person pays before cover starts, to 700 dollars. [25] About 56.1 million people have a Medicare drug plan. [25]

UK residents worth a combined 121bn pounds have left Britain or loosened their ties since Labour took power in 2024, an analysis of Bloomberg's billionaires list found. [27] Many blame the end of the non-dom rules, which let some residents pay UK tax only on money made in the UK. [27] The best-known recent case had not just left. [28] David Reuben, a property billionaire reported to have moved to Monaco, has been a tax resident there since at least 2014, TaxWatch, a research group, found. [28]

Why it matters. Monaco charges no income tax, capital gains tax or inheritance tax. [28] Arun Advani, a tax economist, said rich people move every year and a few loud cases do not show that anything has changed. [27]

Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old Madrid tenant, has died, the Madrid Tenants' Union said. [29] She was carried from her flat of more than 70 years on a stretcher on 23 September, after she could not pay a rent rise. [29] Her eviction set off protests across Spain and a political row that led to an early election. [29] The firm that owns the flat had offered her a lower rent, but she was in hospital before she could sign. [29]

Why it matters. A few hundred people marched from Madrid's Puerta del Sol to Spain's parliament after the news. [29] In the Madrid region, renting an 80-square-metre flat would take 71% of the average advertised salary, a study by the property site Fotocasa and the jobs site InfoJobs found. [30]

Japan's competition regulator, the Japan Fair Trade Commission, searched Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory on suspicion that they fixed beer prices together. [31] The four firms dominate Japan's beer market. [31] The inquiry is reported to centre on price rises they made in October 2022 and in April last year. [31] All four had blamed higher costs for raw materials, energy and transport. [31]

Why it matters. Kirin said the search was on suspicion of breaking Japan's Antimonopoly Act, its law against firms rigging a market. [31] Shares in Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo fell after the news. [31]

Royal Mail, Britain's main postal service, plans to cut 2,500 head office and support jobs by the end of 2027. [32] That is about 2% of its 131,000 staff. [32] Postal workers and drivers are not included, and the company says the cuts will come from voluntary redundancy and people leaving. [32] It blames competition and falling demand for letters. [32]

Why it matters. The Communication Workers Union, which represents postal staff, said the plan showed a company demoralising its staff, and asked the UK government to step in. [32]

HSBC, a big UK bank, refused to refund Sahil Gandhi after 4,000 pounds was taken in chip-and-PIN payments in Dubai while his card sat in his gym locker in the UK. [33] The bank said its genuine card and PIN had been used, and accused him of writing the PIN down. [33] A security professor told Which?, the UK consumer group, that it sounded like a relay attack. [33] In that kind of attack, criminals catch a card's short-range radio signal and pass it to a machine far away. [33]

Why it matters. After Which? took up the case, HSBC reversed its decision, citing the claim's unusual nature, and apologised. [33] UK customers whose bank rejects a complaint can take it to the Financial Ombudsman, which settles disputes with banks. [33]

Chase, a digital bank in the UK, launched its first regular savings account at 6.5% interest. [34] Savers can put in at most 300 pounds a month, and only Chase current account holders can open one. [34] Which? worked out that paying in the full 300 pounds every month for a year earns 125.53 pounds of interest on 3,600 pounds. [34] The same 3,600 pounds paid in on day one at 5% would earn 180 pounds. [34]

Why it matters. The rate is paid only on what is in the pot, and the pot starts empty and fills over the year. [34] Santander, another bank, pays 8% on its regular saver for the first year. [34]

Passengers who paid thousands of pounds for Tui river cruises on the Danube say they spent much of the trip on coaches. [35] Low water after a hot summer stopped the ship, Isla, from sailing parts of the river on the 14 and 21 September departures. [35] Richard Pearson says he spent 14 to 15 hours on coaches and wants back part of the 3,300 pounds he paid. [35] Tui offered no refund, saying the trips ran under its standard booking conditions. [35]

Why it matters. One group that chose not to travel on the changed plan has complained and says it will go to the small claims court, a court for small sums, if it must. [35]

The Bank of England chose a puffin, a barn owl, a buff-tailed bumblebee and a hedgehog for its next series of banknotes. [36][37] Wildlife replaces the figures from history, such as Winston Churchill, who appear on the notes now. [36] More than 2.5 million votes came from 478,531 people, and the bumblebee won with 360,399. [36] The monarch's portrait stays, and which animal goes on which note will be decided later. [37]

Why it matters. The Bank says the animals were also chosen because distinctive images make notes harder to forge. [36][37] Designing, testing and printing a new series takes several years. [37]

The Prudential Regulation Authority, the part of the Bank of England that supervises banks, insurers and credit unions, wants 128 of its money limits to rise automatically. [38] They would grow every five years in line with the UK economy's total output in pounds, which rises with both prices and real growth, from 1 July 2031. [38] Today the limits change only when the PRA updates them by hand. [38] The smallest is a 7,500-pound limit on what one person can owe a credit union. [38]

Why it matters. The regulator says limits left unchanged become barriers for small and medium firms that sit just under them. [38] The consultation is open until 7 February 2027. [38]

Unions and business groups are pressing South Africa's government for about 600m dollars of help with fuel costs. [39] The Iran war pushed a litre of fuel above 30 rand, almost 2 dollars, for the first time. [39] Cosatu, the country's biggest union federation, says workers spend nearly a third of their wages on transport. [39] South Africa's central bank has raised its main interest rate twice this year. [39]

Why it matters. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana presents his three-year spending plan later this month, and relief would test the coalition government's name for careful budgets. [39]

New York City's public schools have about 885,000 pupils this year, against more than a million a decade ago, said Mark Levine, the city's comptroller, its chief financial officer. [40] He expects 150,000 fewer over the next decade. [40] Families with young children leave the city at more than twice the rate of other households. [40] There are now 219 schools with fewer than 200 pupils each. [40]

Why it matters. Care for a baby and a four-year-old averages 28,190 dollars a year across the US, according to LendingTree, a loans website. [40] A household needs at least 211,970 dollars a year to afford a median-priced home in the city, StreetEasy, a property site, says. [40]

The Court of Appeal in London quashed the convictions of five former Barclays traders jailed for rigging Libor and Euribor. [41][42] Those were benchmark interest rates that once set the cost of loans such as mortgages and car finance. [41] The ruling follows the UK Supreme Court's 2025 decision clearing Tom Hayes, which found the juries had been given unfair instructions. [42] The Serious Fraud Office, which brought the cases, did not fight the appeals. [42]

Why it matters. Two traders still hold convictions over rate rigging, and one of them, Christian Bittar, challenges his on 9 October. [41] Hayes and Carlo Palombo, cleared in 2025, argued they had been prosecuted for normal business practice to satisfy public anger after the 2008 crisis. [41]