BUSINESS LIVE: Shop price inflation flat; Aldi UK and Lidl GB festive sales soar

Investors face another turbulent year ahead.

Politics will dominate 2024 to a remarkable degree, especially while the tragic conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza remain unresolved.

The boss of Microsoft has performed a dramatic U-turn after previously claiming the UK was ‘bad for business’.

Brad Smith launched a scathing attack in April last year after the tech giant was blocked from buying Call of Duty maker Activision for £60billion by British regulators.

At the time, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) warned the deal would lead to Microsoft having a ‘stranglehold’ over the fast-growing cloud gaming industry.

The British arm of Aldi reported an 8 per cent rise in sales in the four weeks to 24 December to top £1.5billion of revenue for the period for the first time.

Meanwhile its smaller rival Lidl GB posted an even better 12 per cent increase in the same period.

Both chains said they recorded their busiest ever day of trading on Friday 22 December, with more than 2.5 million customers coming through the doors of Aldi on the day.

Annual UK shop price inflation was flat month-on-month at 4.3 per cent in December, but shoppers were able to cheer an easing of the rate of food price increases.

While non-food product inflation jumped from 2.5 to 3.1 per cent in December, marking the end of Black Friday discounts, food price inflation fell from 7.7 to 6.7 per cent for the month.

Chief Executive of the British Retail Consortium, which compiles the data, Helen Dickinson said:

‘Overall shop price inflation remained steady in December. Households did have reason to celebrate as food inflation fell for the eighth consecutive month thanks to retailers’ efforts to bring down prices in the run-up to Christmas.

‘There was cause for merriment as prices of wine, port and sherry fell on the month. Non-food products had a more challenging December, with price inflation rising again following retailers’ investment in November Black Friday discounting and ahead of the January sales.

‘Retailers will continue to do all they can to keep prices down in 2024, but there are obstacles on the road ahead. New border checks for EU imports, hundreds of millions more on business rates bills from April. Government should think twice before imposing new costs on retail businesses that would not only hold back vital investment in local communities, but also push up prices for struggling households.’

Interest rates look set to tumble this year in a boost for millions of borrowers worried about mortgage payments.

According to bets on financial markets, the Bank of England will cut rates six times in 2024, taking them from a 15-year high of 5.25 per cent today to 3.75 per cent by Christmas.

That would be a major boost for borrowers needing to remortgage and first-time buyers getting onto the housing ladder.