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Wheat futures in Chicago jump 7.7% to two-week high, as Russia’s move threatens to push global food prices even higherBritain’s energy price cap for consumers, and government-funded discounts to help small businesses pay their energy bills, will push inflation lower, the Office for National Statistics said today.The price cuts – introduced after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent energy costs spiralling – are expected to lower various measures of inflation, thereby reducing debt interest costs for the government from inflation-linked bonds.Under the EPG and the EBRS, the government specifies either a limit on the amount that consumers can be charged for a unit of gas or electricity, or a price reduction to be applied per unit of gas and electricity consumed. The government fully compensates energy suppliers for the savings delivered to domestic and non-domestic consumers. These payments will apply for six months beginning on 1 October 2022.The government last night quashed suggestions that it is considering a windfall tax on banks as one of the measures to plug a hole in its finances at next month’s budget.Two senior sources close to prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt played down the idea that they were looking at ways to impose additional taxes on banks. The news will come as a relief to the City, which had feared a raid on bumper profits derived from rises in interest rates. Continue reading...