HOUSEHOLDS across the UK will get an extra hour in bed this weekend when the clocks change.

They will go back one hour at 2am on October 27, the last Sunday of the month, signalling the end of daylight saving time.

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The change means mornings will be brighter but sunset will come an hour earlier as darker nights draw in.

Most people own some kind of smart tech like a phone or laptop which should update automatically early on Sunday morning.

But there are some devices you may need to adjust manually like any analogue clocks or cookers.

To help you get ahead of the clocks changing, here are four things you should do now to ensure you’re not caught out.

Change your clocks

Any analogue clocks will need to be pushed forward an hour.

If you don’t, any alarms you’ve set will go off an hour later which could make you late for work or any social plans.

Some alarm clocks are radio-controlled and automatically adjust their time and date, so check whether yours is or not before Sunday.

James Longley, managing director at Utility Bidder, said: “There are some cases where you will need to change the clocks manually.

“In the kitchen, you’ll have to take a look at your microwave and oven to update the time.

“Each appliance is different, but ordinarily, if your microwave has a clock button you will need to press it down for a few seconds and set a new time once you hear a beep.

“Similarly with ovens, a clock feature with up and down buttons should be standard on newer versions.”

Central heating and hot water

With the nights getting colder, you’ll want to make sure all your central heating systems are operating on the right time.

Smart tech will update automatically, but make sure you adjust anything analogue.

Fail to do this, and any timings you have in place to turn your central heating on and off could be wrong meaning you use heating or hot water when you don’t need it.

James, from Utility Bidder, explained: “Smart meters and thermostats should automatically adjust from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time.

“But this may not be the case for older central heating systems, so be sure to check this so you aren’t wasting unnecessary energy from heating.”

When it comes to setting your heating at the right temperature, James said having it set at a minimum of 18 degrees Celsius should be enough to keep you warm.

“The World Health Organization recommends heating the home at around 18 degrees to maintain good health and a positive sleep routine.

“However, for the young, old or those who are unwell, 20 degrees Celsius is considered to be more appropriate.”

Getting the timing right for central heating systems means you’ll avoid paying to heat your home at the wrong time, which coudl add to bills.

Adjust smart lights and plugs

Anyone with automatic smart lights may need to manually adjust the time they’re set to come on.

If yours are connected to your phone then don’t worry as they should change automatically.

That said, you may still want to adjust the time they actually come on with the mornings turning lighter earlier.

The same rule applies to smart plugs that may be set up to turn lamps or other lights on at certain times of the day.

Having the lights come on when there’s still sunlight would be a waste of energy and money.

Review your finances

The clocks changing can be a great time to go over your finances ahead of the busy and expensive Christmas period.

Look over your bank statements or any credit card bills and work out where you could be saving money.

Use the time to make a budget for the festive period too, otherwise expenses can quickly grow out of control.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

This is an audio transcript of the Unhedged podcast episode: ‘What do bond markets know about the election?’

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Robert Armstrong
Ten-year bond yields are up and Wall Street thinks that’s because there’s a rising probability of a second Trump presidency. Today on the show, is the bond market telling us something about the election?

This is Unhedged, the markets and finance podcast from the Financial Times. I’m Rob Armstrong, coming to you from Unhedged world headquarters in downtown New York City. And today I’m joined by Derek Brower, who is the FT’s politics editor, US politics editor. (Inaudible) title correct?

Derek Brower
US political news editor. Get it right. Full title. (Laughter)

Robert Armstrong
(Laughter) So Derek knows more about American politics than almost anyone because he has to read and edit all of the FT’s coverage on the topic.

Derek Brower
I know everything, everything about US politics ever. (Laughter)

Robert Armstrong
OK, Derek, so here’s what they’re saying on Wall Street. The 10-year bond is selling off. As a reminder to listeners, when bonds sell off yields rise. We’re seeing the 10-year yield rise. That may be down to that strong jobs report and growth.

However, when I speak to bond managers on Wall Street, when I speak to bond analysts on Wall Street, the first thing they talk about is that this is a Trump trade. And they think this is a Trump trade because we might get a red sweep, which means crazy spending. It’s a Trump trade because Trump doesn’t care about deficits at all. He’s perfectly happy with deficits.

Derek Brower
Nobody cares about deficits.

Robert Armstrong
Nobody cares about deficits.

Derek Brower
I mean, that’s (inaudible).

Robert Armstrong
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he’s one of the everybody who doesn’t care about deficits. He’s gonna limit supply of labour by stopping illegal immigration and throwing immigrants out of the country. And finally, he’s gonna put tariffs on which are gonna restrict the flow of goods. All of . . . Those last two are inflationary. And so rates have to be higher for this hotter and more inflationary economy everyone thinks Trump is gonna create.

So let me ask you. The first question is, has it actually become more likely, according to the polls or the betting markets or anything else, in the last couple of weeks that Trump is gonna win? Is that something that’s gonna happen?

Derek Brower
Well, the betting markets, those are two different things, the betting markets and the polls. Betting markets are pretty sure that Trump is going to win. And we can get into the reliability of them or…

Robert Armstrong
Yeah, let’s do. 

Derek Brower
Well, they weren’t super reliable in 2016, but neither was the Street.

Robert Armstrong
Anything else.

Derek Brower
Or anybody you asked among pollsters or anything. They may have been a bit more reliable in 2020, but that was an exceptional election because of the pandemic. So we don’t know. But they’re pretty convinced at the moment that Trump is going to win this. The polls have been drifting marginally in Trump’s favour in the past couple of weeks. And I would . . . If you looked at them all, you would see kind of a sea of red in the crucial seven swing states.

Robert Armstrong
Yes. Just remind us which ones those are. Michigan.

Derek Brower
So Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania. Those are the three blue wall states, so-called because the Democrats used to rely on them almost every election. Trump kind of pierced that blue wall in 2016. Then Georgia, North Carolina, those are two southern states and sunbelt states that are close. And then Arizona and Nevada.

Robert Armstrong
And Nevada. And you see a sea of red in those seven.

Derek Brower
The only one in our like, in the FT’s poll tracker today, the only one where Harris is up — and these are tiny, tiny margins. But the only one of those that Harris is leading in is Michigan. And it’s by like 0.5 a per cent or something.

Robert Armstrong
So why isn’t this sort of open and shut under those circumstances?

Derek Brower
Because the polls, I mean . . . 

Robert Armstrong
It’s so close.

Derek Brower
It’s so close. These are all within the margin of error, that’s the first thing to say. And we just don’t know. There are huge pockets of each of these states where we don’t know how they’re gonna vote. They could be decisive. And these margins are so tiny that whether it rains on election day or whether people get out of bed grumpy or not could affect them. And these are all swing. And also, by the way, as ever in a US election, the fate of America and possibly the world is gonna be decided by a bunch of people who haven’t been paying attention so far, these undecided voters. So it’s really, really hard to tell.

Robert Armstrong
Yes. I do wanna get back to the financial implications of all this. But I wanna dig in on the polls a little bit more. 2016, we all learned that there was something badly wrong with the polling. Is there good reason to believe that the polling techniques and methodologies have improved in the intervening years?

Derek Brower
The pollsters would say absolutely. They’re doing a bunch of things, are doing this thing now where they ask people who they voted for last time, which is a way that they think allows them to control for the shy Trump voter, which was a thing in the past. Whether the shy Trump voter still exists is another question. But remember, in 2022, in the midterm elections, this was after Roe versus Wade. There was a big vote that was unexpected for the Democrats.

Robert Armstrong
Yes. Trumpy candidates, Maga candidates underperformed.

Derek Brower
Underperformed. And the ones that Trump endorsed, in particular, seemed to underperform. So who . . . I mean, frankly, who knows?

What we can say is the electorate is really clear that the economy is the biggest issue for them that comes up in all of the polling, including ours. Our FT-Michigan Ross poll is clear about that. The economy is the biggest issue.

The next thing that they constantly complain about, the voters, is inflation, or not just inflation but the legacy of inflation, ie high prices — how expensive everything is in this country, which everybody knows.

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. We’ve talked about that a lot on this show. Drives people crazy.

Derek Brower
And as you wrote about in that excellent piece you did a couple of weeks ago from the shopping mall in Philadelphia, that is a big deal if you’re paying $10 for ice cream in a mall and, you know, it’s crazy. And everybody knows. And they constantly complain about that in polling.

Robert Armstrong
Yes. And this reminds me, I mean, it has an echo of the 1980 election when it was Carter versus Reagan, and it was very similar in that inflation was coming down but the shadow . . . 

Derek Brower
You were what, in your early twenties then?

Robert Armstrong
Yeah, I was 35 years old then. (Laughter) And the election was held. Inflation had fallen, but we were still operating in the shadow of inflation.

Derek Brower
Right. That’s the thing. And if the economy is the decisive issue, the polling on the economy is really bad. It was terrible for Joe Biden before he dropped out. It improved a bit for Harris. And funnily enough, the more people learned about her plans, it seems the less favourable they are to them. And now our own poll this week showed that Trump had retaken the lead on who Americans trust most on the economy.

Robert Armstrong
Yes, that’s our splash in the paper today, I guess.

Derek Brower
Yeah, that’s right. And then the Journal also, the Wall Street Journal has more polling which shows that on the economy, again, the most important issue, it’s the economy, stupid, once again. On that issue, the polling is terrible for Harris, frankly.

The reason that we can’t be certain, even with those economy things, is that the Democrats hope and believe there is a huge swell of women who are going to decide this election and it’s going to be the same thing that gave them a good showing in 2022 in the midterms, and that is concerns about Republican or Donald Trump’s restrictions on abortion rights. And they think that that will overwhelm the economy side of things.

And the economy is improving, etc, etc. So they think that they can neutralise or they’re hoping that that vote from women neutralises the polling about the economy that would suggest that she’s gonna lose.

Robert Armstrong
So that’s what we’re kind of watching for when the results roll out. Let’s turn to the policy stuff. The consensus on Wall Street, as I said, is remarkably strong that Trump will be inflationary in these various ways.

From your point of view, from the point of view of the FT coverage, is that right? So again, it’s we’ll get a red sweep. Anytime you have a sweep, red or blue, that leads to higher spending and higher deficits. And then on top of that, you have immigration and tariffs about which Trump is enthusiastic and are, in theory, inflationary. What’s our coverage on that been saying? What’s your feeling about those issues?

Derek Brower
Well, we have been covering the tariff thing because our readers care about that a lot. He wants to impose tariffs and what, 10-20 per cent, somewhere in that range across the board than 60 per cent, 100 per cent, whatever. He says different things, different times on China, particularly.

Robert Armstrong
And can he do that by himself?

Derek Brower
Well, that’s a debate. Probably not. Some people think he can.

Robert Armstrong
So it’s a legal debate about whether he needs to pass a law or can do it by . . . 

Derek Brower
Yeah, by executive action.

Robert Armstrong
Right. So which leads us back to the red sweep. We’ve talked about the odds of Harris versus Trump. What does our polling say about the odds of a sweep, which would, of course, make it easier for Trump to get his tariff and immigration actions through?

Derek Brower
Well, I think the safest prediction is none of these are safe, but the safest is probably that the Senate goes Republican, because it may come down to this race in Montana where the Republican is ahead. This is a race that I think is probably the most expensive per vote in the history of elections.

Robert Armstrong
Yes, ’cause there’s four people in Montana, as it turns out.

Derek Brower
Yeah, about four. Isn’t it three now, or four?

Robert Armstrong
Yeah, there’s three or four people and six cows. (Laughter)

Derek Brower
Six cows and a zillion dollars being spent on their votes per person. Yeah. No, I mean . . . 

Robert Armstrong
It is extremely hard to get a cow to vote Democratic, in my experience.

Derek Brower
Which is why they are bombarding them with TV ads. (Robert laughs) It is an incredible story, actually. We wrote about it. It’s this Senate race between Tim Sheehy and Jon Tester, the Democrat. And there’s a lot of money being spent on that one because it might decide the future of the Senate and the future of American democracy, etc, etc. So there’s a lot being spent. Anyway.

Robert Armstrong
So the Senate will go Democratic by a small margin.

Derek Brower
The Senate seems likely to go . . . No. The Senate will go Republican, seems likely to go Republican. It seems likely. There are a bunch of other races that, you know, they could . . . depends on the size of what they get majority and so on. Or maybe they don’t. Who knows? But that’s the . . . That’s kinda the least controversial claim.

The House is different. The House, I think the Democrats are hopeful in the House, partly because they happen to be running against a bunch of swivel-eyed lunatics and some really, really weird candidates who I think by and large have disgraced the Republican caucus. Some of them are running again. You know, George Santos, this absolute kind of…

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. Unbelievable story.

Derek Brower
Unbelievable story, yeah.

Robert Armstrong
So he’s gone.

Derek Brower
He’s gone. There are others who are, you know, there are a lot of moderate Republican so-called moderate Republicans in New York State, for example, who won seats in kind of marginal Democratic areas who are in a bit of trouble this time, I would say. So the Democrats are more hopeful there. So it’s very possible that you get a split in Congress, which makes it difficult for Trump.

Robert Armstrong
OK. So that’s the most likely outcome, which makes it more difficult for Trump to achieve . . . But there is a chance.

Derek Brower
If he’s gonna legislate for stuff.

Robert Armstrong
There is a chance that he could, by executive fiat or whatever they call it, he could impose quite stringent tariffs.

Derek Brower
Yes. Well, I think it’ll . . . There’ll be lawsuits and there’ll be challenges. But there is . . . It is . . . That is disputed. But yes, I think that’s what he thinks he can do and he will definitely try it that way.

Robert Armstrong
The reason I press you on this is because the Wall Street consensus that Trump is the inflation candidate strikes me as a little too pat and possibly biased. I don’t know if people outside of the Wall Street world know this, but Wall Street is relatively Democratic. It’s a New York institution. It’s quite blue. And also New Yorkers, who a lot of Wall Street people are, find Trump vulgar and unattractive and they don’t invite him to their dinner parties. Right? So there’s a certain amount of New York snobbery involved too, which would naturally incline people who work on Wall Street to like a story in which Trump screws things up and generates inflation.

So I wonder if they are exaggerating the risks of a Trump presidency: of very high deficits, of stringent tariffs and of big crackdowns on immigration.

Derek Brower
I don’t have a dog in this fight, as you can tell from my accent. But what I would say is there are a bunch of surrogates out there: you know, Howard Lutnick, Cantor Fitzgerald guy; Scott Bessent, ex-Soros guy; John Paulson, hedge fund guy. You know these donors, big donors, more powerful . . . 

Robert Armstrong
So these are big money Wall Street people.

Derek Brower
Right, of Trump and they are . . . I think their message to the Street is a bit more plain vanilla: that he’s not gonna be . . . his bark is gonna be worse than his bite on tariffs.

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. Bessent, we had a piece on him in the FT and as far as I could tell, his claim was that Donald Trump is secretly Ronald Reagan.

Derek Brower
Right. Exactly. (Robert laughs) I mean, everybody, this is the thing with Trump, by the way. Everybody everybody kind of projects their wishes on to this . . . 

Robert Armstrong
Sees the Trump they want to see.

Derek Brower
 . . . because he doesn’t really believe in anything or he doesn’t . . . I don’t think . . . I think it’s pretty safe to say he doesn’t think deeply about these things. He just thinks instinctively and so people project onto them what they think he’s kind of like.

But then on the other hand, you have JD Vance, who is pro-Lina Khan. He is a protectionist. So there is an argument that he will have a lot of influence in the administration and he is a true believer, so they say, in this kind of protectionist stuff. But that’s the tariffs thing. And then…

And by the way, on the inflation side and on the supply side and whether he’s inflationary, let’s not forget that what nobody’s talking about is pumping like trillions of dollars into the economy like has just happened, which was the kind of source of the inflation, one could argue.

So Trump could be held back a bit by Congress. He could be less severe. I’m just kind of making building the case here, not necessarily agreeing with it. He could be less severe than the language suggests.

And then he also is really, really, really focused on trying to bring down energy costs, which are an expensive input and have been super expensive for a period of time. I think like gasoline prices are 40 per cent higher, have been 40 per cent higher under Joe Biden or they are now than when he took office, and they’ve been going up and down.

Robert Armstrong
Yes. They’ve been coming down now. They’re under $4, which is kind of the magic level now.

Derek Brower
Yeah. $3 about in New Jersey, right?

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. So that’s a bit better. But they had been high.

Derek Brower
It’s better, but they’re higher. I mean they were much lower under Trump. Energy costs were lower. He went through . . . I mean, he oversaw or he was president while there was a historic oil price crash. So that kind of helped. (Robert laughs) Thanks. Oil prices literally cost like was negative for a while, the oil price, so that helped bring down the energy costs in the economy. And there was a pandemic, etc, etc. So it’s not kind of a fair comparison. But he does focus on bringing down energy costs, which he thinks have been inflationary.

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. So he probably right.

Derek Brower
He’s probably right. So . . . 

Robert Armstrong
Puts and takes.

Derek Brower
Is he gonna be as inflationary or not? I mean, it’s debatable.

Robert Armstrong
So let’s try to wrap up this discussion. I think we’re talking about a lot of things that are kind of on a knife edge or a margin. But let’s kind of go through and sum up. One, the polls have gotten a little stronger for the Republicans.

Derek Brower
A little bit.

Robert Armstrong
A little bit.

Derek Brower
All within the margin of error. With huge uncertainty. Anybody calls it right now is an idiot.

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. OK. (Laughter) That’s very clear.

Derek Brower
Seriously.

Robert Armstrong
The betting markets are strongly Trump, but we’re sceptical, OK? That’s number two. And the Wall Street consensus that Trump is the inflation candidate might be a little too simplistic. Let’s go through just summarising the reasons for that.

Derek Brower
Yeah. So on the first one, you want me to go through all three of them?

Robert Armstrong
Yeah. You were just saying.

Derek Brower
On the first one — look, on the polling, I would say I’m so uncertain about it that you could see a blue sweep, ie, Harris could sweep all of the swing states or you could see Trump do it. But the only thing that I trust as a journalist, as an editor who’s been sending people out across the country for months, is our reporting. And our reporting has felt a bit more Trumpy than Democratic. That’s what I would say. I’ve been sending reporters into areas and they come back and say, ooh, it’s Trumpy.

Robert Armstrong
But we still might get divided government. The chance of divided government are high. That’s kind of the central hypothesis which softens Trump’s ability to do the kind of supply-restricting things he’s trying to do, right?

Derek Brower
Yeah. And he’s an extremist in his language constantly. Whether he lives up to that — and we’re not talking about the democracy stuff, we’re just talking about the financial side — whether he lives up to that is yet to be seen. Like he’s . . . I think we need to be very cautious about believing that America is going to impose a zillion tariffs on everybody.

Robert Armstrong
And throw out 20mn.

Derek Brower
And throwing out 20mn immigrants or illegal immigrants. Logistically, this is gonna be super, super hard. And that’s not even contending with all the Wall Street and corporations up in arms and bending his ear to stop him doing this. It’d be really, really hard. Again, not going into the morality or the ideology of this; just logistically moving that many people will be something that has never really been undertaken by a normal democracy before and will be hugely controversial, not to say awful for a lot of communities and so on, but logistically very, very difficult.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Robert Armstrong
All right. On that note, we will be right back with Long and Short.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

This is Long and Short, that portion of the show where we go long things we like and short things we don’t like. I’m long something today, Derek.

Derek Brower
What?

Robert Armstrong
I’m long Coca-Cola. So Coca-Cola is . . . 

Derek Brower
Not McDonald’s?

Robert Armstrong
I’m also long McDonald’s, but I’m long Coca-Cola because their results, their quarterly results came out yesterday or the day before. And once again, they got 10 per cent revenue bump in the United States from price. People will just pay whatever Coca-Cola asks them to pay for this bubbly, sweet liquid. It is unbelievable. Inflation may be dead in America, but it’s not dead on Coca-Cola. And I just think that this is an incredible brand.

Derek Brower
Can I be like a classic long/short hedge fund and go both? I’m gonna be long John King on CNN, who’s their guy who does the maps and says, now Miami-Dade’s vote count is coming in. Because he’s gonna be around for a long time, over many days from November 5th. And that’s the reason, that’s my other short, which is that I’m short that the election is gonna be over on November 5th because there’s . . . I mean, even in Pennsylvania, which is the key swing state, it’s gonna take a while.

Robert Armstrong
It’s gonna go on forever. And what’s interesting . . . 

Derek Brower
We may never know who the next president is.

Robert Armstrong
I was talking to a markets person the other day, you know, off the record and he said generally, after an election is resolved, stocks just go up. It doesn’t matter who wins. It’s like the uncertainty is taken out of the market. So it’s good after an election is decided. It’s good to be long the market for a month or so.

But he was like, that’s not gonna happen this time because we’re not gonna get a resolution. And that’s gonna be rough for markets. He said the only thing that will make markets go up is a Kamala concession. Not because Kamala losing . . . 

Derek Brower
Right. It would just be certainty.

Robert Armstrong
It would just be certainty. And that’s the only scenario in which we get certainty anytime soon.

Derek Brower
What if Trump comes out and says, oh, fair and square. You guys did it to me again. Way to go, guys, you know.

Robert Armstrong
(Laughter) every vote is (inaudible).

Derek Brower
Go, America. I’ve never seen a fairer election.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Robert Armstrong
On that completely fantastical idea, listeners, we will be back in your feed next week.

Unhedged is produced by Jake Harper and edited by Bryant Urstadt. Our executive producer is Jacob Goldstein. We had additional help from Topher Forhecz. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio. Special thanks to Laura Clarke, Alastair Mackie, Gretta Cohn and Natalie Sadler.

FT premium subscribers can get the Unhedged newsletter for free. A 30-day free trial is available to everyone else. Just go to ft.com/unhedgedoffer.

I’m Rob Armstrong. Thanks for listening.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

MIKE Ashley is threatening a WWE-style smackdown at Boohoo by demanding the retailer makes him chief executive.

Just one day after dropping a separate £111million bid for Mulberry, the sportswear tycoon has deployed his favoured tactic of a public “poison pen” letter to attack the online fast-fashion giant’s management team.

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The missive, wired to the City yesterday morning, accused Boohoo of “abysmal” performance and “value destruction”.

Mr Ashley’s Frasers Group has steadily built up a 27 per cent stake in Boohoo — and now owns more than the founder and executive chairman Mahmud Kamani.

The letter from the former Newcastle FC owner claims the board had “lost its ability to manage Boohoo’s business and investments”.

Clive Black, analyst at Shore Capital, likened the explosive development of “the Ashley- Kamani bout” to “retail WWE”.

“Get out the popcorn,” he added.

Just last week Boohoo said it would address the 90 per cent collapse in its share price with a strategic review.

That could spell the break-up of its Pretty Little Thing, Karen Millen and Debenhams brands.

Meanwhile, chief executive John Lyttle said he would be stepping down after five years.

Mr Ashley said there was now a “leadership crisis” at Boohoo, which would only worsen its ongoing problems and delay a return to growth.

His letter stated that appointing Mr Ashley as a director and CEO was “the best solution” and it called for Mike Lennon, a partner at restructuring firm Kroll, to be installed on the board.

Mr Ashley’s public intervention comes after months of jostling behind the scenes.

The tycoon is thought to be particularly keen to gain control of Debenhams, which he tried to buy out of bankruptcy in 2020 — before Boohoo beat him to it.

Boohoo is likely to resist Mr Ashley’s demands and raise conflict of interest concerns, due to Frasers’ ownership of House Of Frasers.

In a terse statement, the retailer said yesterday: “The board is reviewing the content and validity of the requisitions with its advisers. A further announcement will be made in due course.”

Odey rejoins firm

HEDGE fund manager Crispin Odey has rejoined the eponymous firm he founded after leaving last year in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.

The tycoon made millions betting against the UK economy during Brexit — but his empire unravelled when the Financial Times reported complaints from several women of sexual harassment and assault.

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Mr Odey was reappointed as a director of Odey Asset Management in late September, according to Companies House filings.

On the same day, nine partners resigned.

Barclays boosted

PROFITS at Barclays have risen by nearly a fifth as fewer people fall behind on debts.

Barclays is putting £82million aside for bad loans, a big drop from £267million last year.

The bank said that was due to “low delinquencies in UK cards, high-quality mortgage lending and the improved macroeconomic portfolio”.

Pre-tax profit was £2.2billion between July and September, up from £1.9billion last year.

Net interest income, the gap between borrower and saver charges, was £1.7billion.

Cost cutting and deals also helped.

Magnum force at Unilever

UNILEVER has toasted its best growth in three and a half years as the Marmite to Magnum manufacturer’s turnaround takes shape.

Boss Hein Schumacher said his plan, which cuts 7,500 jobs, focuses on “doing fewer things, better”.

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Underlying sales grew 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Investors were cheered by the fact the consumer goods giant is finally selling more goods, rather than just relying on endless price hikes.

Mr Schumacher said plans were on track to next year spin-off the £15billion ice cream wing, which includes Magnums — as promoted by Iggy Pop — Cornettos and Ben & Jerry’s.

A stock market listing is the preferred option, and there will be a tussle between London and Amsterdam to be the venue for the float.

The ice cream unit grew sales 9.8 per cent in the last quarter, faster than any other division.

Stocks shake-up

A PROTEIN shake business that counts Coleen Rooney as an investor went public yesterday in a rare London stock market listing.

Applied Nutrition was valued at £350million after listing its shares at 140p, nearer the bottom of its price range.

It is one of the biggest stock listings of 2024 as the number of firms floating has fallen by 85 per cent to just nine this year, said Dealogic data.

The supplements firm’s founder Thomas Ryder said: “This positions us ideally for our next step of development.”

The budget blues

CONSUMER and business confidence is falling ahead of the Budget, according to a trio of closely followed studies.

The GFK consumer index has fallen to its lowest level since March, dragged down by worries about the wider economic situation.

GfK’s Neil Bellamy said: “Consumers are in a despondent mood.”

Meanwhile, a consumer sentiment survey by PWC recorded the biggest quarterly drop since Spring 2022.

And the CBI said manufacturers’ confidence had dropped due to a slowdown in new orders.

THE SUN’S top team of experts are still ­helping people with their Winter Fuel ­questions – but here we’ve put together a rundown of readers’ most frequent queries.

Q: IF I already receive Pension Credit, will I get the Winter Fuel Payment this year?

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A: Yes – if you are in receipt of Pension Credit, the Winter Fuel Payment is made automatically.

Most payments arrive in November or December.

You should receive a letter telling you how much you’ll get and which bank account it is being paid into.

If you don’t get a letter, or the money has not been paid in by January 29, contact the Winter Fuel Payment helpline on 0800 731 0160.

Q: I AM receiving Pension Credit. How do I get cheaper water?

A: If you have a water meter and claim certain benefits, including Pension Credit, you may be eligible for the WaterSure scheme.

It would mean your water bills are capped at a lower rate.

Speak to your water company to ask for help.

Q: HOW do I get a cheaper council tax rate? I am on Pension Credit.

A: You may be able to get a discount depending on what version of Pension Credit you receive.

If you get the guaranteed element, then you will be entitled to the maximum discount.

If you get the savings element, then the discount will be lower.

You need to speak to your council directly.

Q: I ALREADY receive Pension Credit. How do I get a free TV licence?

A: You can apply for a free TV licence if you are over 75 and receive Pension Credit.

See www.tvlicensing.co.uk.

Q: WHAT energy bill help does Pension Credit entitle me to?

A: You may be eligible for the £150 Warm Home Discount if you get the guaranteed element of Pension Credit.

Your energy firm may also be able to offer you a grant to help pay for energy.

You should call them and ask for help.

Q: IF my income is over the Pension Credit threshold, could I still get the benefit?

A: Potentially, yes. You may still be able to get Pension Credit if you receive other benefits, such as Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance or PIP.

You may also be eligible if you have high housing costs, such as service fees.

But the rules are very complex.

You should do a comprehensive benefits check through Age UK.

Q: DO other benefits count as income when it comes to qualifying for Pension Credit?

A: Some do. State ­Pension and Industrial Injuries benefit are taken into account (i.e. they reduce entitlement to Pension Credit).

Other benefits – disability benefits such as Attendance Allowance – are ­disregarded, but can mean in some cases that you can get more Pension Credit.

Q: I’M struggling with my energy bill but not eligible for Pension Credit. Can I get help?

A: Speak to your supplier as many have funds for customers who are struggling or on low incomes.

If you are not on a fixed tariff, it may be worth considering one.

Compare tariffs using uswitch.com or moneysavingexpert.com.

Q: CAN I claim Pension Credit individually if I live with a partner, when I’m eligible based on my own sole income?

A: For Pension Credit claims, if you are single then you claim as a single person.

If you have a partner with whom you share a home then one of you must claim and provide details of your partner.

The combined household income is then assessed.

Both of you need to be over State Pension age.

However, you may be eligible to claim Universal Credit instead.

Q: IF I apply for Pension Credit now, will I get the Winter Fuel Payment?

A: Pension Credit claims can be backdated, if you request it, by up to three months – so you have until ­December 21 to apply.

This is because you need to be claiming the benefit in the ­qualifying week of September 16-22, 2024.

Q: HOW can you check if you are ­eligible for Pension Credit?

A: To apply, phone the DWP on 0800 99 1234 or visit www.gov.uk/pensioncredit/how-to-claim.

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The US has approved construction of a massive new lithium mine in Nevada and extended tax breaks to some miners as part of its strategy to break Chinese dominance over the supply chains of critical minerals.

Australian producer Ioneer on Thursday said it had received a federal permit for its Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine, a project that could produce enough lithium to power about 370,000 electric vehicles a year. The silvery-white metal is an essential ingredient in the production of rechargeable batteries and critical to the future of the EV industry.

Rhyolite Ridge is the first approval of a lithium mine by the Joe Biden administration, which has offered Ioneer a $700mn loan to help build a project that would quadruple US lithium production when completed in 2028. Since 2002, only three US mines have come online for critical minerals, none of which are located on public land.

Ioneer shares surged 15 per cent in New York trading after the approval was reported to close at $7.92.

Western producers have struggled to compete with Chinese rivals in the production and refining of critical minerals because of higher costs, tougher regulatory standards and delays caused by legal challenges. Extracting and processing of lithium has a significant environmental impact as it uses large amounts of water and energy, as well as toxic chemicals such as sulphuric acid.

Ioneer’s project has faced opposition from conservation groups, which warned it could push an endangered species of flower to extinction. US regulators said they had worked with the company to modify its project and develop a protection plan for the Thiem’s buckwheat flower, enabling the mine approval to proceed after a six-year review.

Bernard Rowe, Ioneer’s managing director, said its Nevada mine would help to break US customers’ reliance on Chinese companies, which account for more than two-thirds of global lithium refining capacity.

“We’ve got one of the largest lithium and boron deposits in the world . . . Its basically ready to build,” he said.

In an attempt to kick-start mine and processing construction, Washington published new guidance on Thursday enabling producers to claim tax credits on mining and extraction costs of critical minerals, as long as they process some of the material.

There is no shortage of lithium in the US. This week the US Geological Survey said it found between 5mn and 19mn tonnes of lithium reserves located beneath southwestern Arkansas, potentially enough to meet projected 2030 world demand car battery lithium nine times over.

Yet most of the world’s lithium is mined in Australia or extracted from large salt water lakes in South America and then processed in China.

Analysts said the mine approval and tax breaks were important steps in Washington’s efforts to incentivise the creation of a domestic lithium mining and refining industry to supply the EV sector.

James West, analyst at Evercore ISI, an investment bank said: “Extracting lithium from US-based mines or salt-rich brines is important to boost American supply chain security and ensure that a domestic EV industry is not reliant on China.”

Only one lithium mine is operating in the US, Albemarle’s Silver Peak mine in Nevada, which produces about 5,000 tonnes of lithium a year. Site preparation is under way for another mine and processing plant — Nevada’s Thacker Pass, which is led by Vancouver, Canada-based Lithium Americas and backed by General Motors. It was approved by the Donald Trump administration in January 2021, and the Biden administration has announced a $2.3bn federal loan to help develop the mine.

But Ioneer will face competition from several lithium producers, which have announced plans to open new US mines and processing plants amid an attempt to tap incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act. Oil producers ExxonMobil and Occidental are among several companies pursuing pilot lithium projects in Arkansas and California, respectively.

Ioneer estimates its Nevada project will cost more than $1.2bn to complete. In 2021 it signed a funding deal with South Africa’s Sibanye-Stillwater to sell it half the Nevada project for $490mn, on condition of winning approval. It also has deals to supply lithium to carmakers Ford and a joint venture between Toyota and Panasonic.