Welcome to the Money blog, Sky News' consumer and personal finance hub. Today: hopes of a breakthrough in US-China trade talks helped push the FTSE 100 up; M&S restarts online orders after a hack; and we help a reader stung by his pet insurer. Sign up for our new Money newsletter below.
Wednesday 11 June 2025 06:53, UK
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Online shopping and budget supermarkets mean traditional brands face more competition than ever for their products.
In theory, having so much choice is great news for the consumer - but it does make it tricky working out where the best quality and value lies.
In our new Our Verdict feature, Sky News' Money team will be blind-testing popular products to help you make informed decisions.
Our six-strong team of expert tasters start this week with a staple that many people feel strongly about: ketchup.
Children across the UK may refuse it unless it's their favourite brand - but when you peel off the label, which really comes out on top?
We sampled 14 different ketchups - from own brands to high-end makers - marking for taste, balance and texture.
With high scores across the board, M&S's own brand came out on top - and the good news is it costs just a fraction of the price of some traditional brands at 拢1.
Of the "posh" brands we sampled, Wilkin and Sons blew away the rest and came in third overall.
At the other end of our league table came Aldi, which is also the cheapest bottle at 89p - with Tesco's own and Daddies also judged poorly in the blind test.
How did your favourite perform? Here are the results...
First place: M&S
Price: 拢1
Average score: 7.6
A thick but still smooth sauce perfect for scooping with chips. It is rich in colour and has a natural taste of tomatoes. This sauce comes with a subtle kick but its overall balance makes it a strong choice for the entire family.
Second place: Heinz
Price: 拢2.33
Average score: 7.4
Rich, smooth and good body. This is an all-rounder: a balanced flavour and likely to please everyone.
Third place: Wilkin and Sons
Price: 拢3.14
Average score: 7.3
The highest scoring "disruptor". It has a deep colour, a discreet tang and thick, slightly bitty texture. The closest in our test to tasting homemade. A great choice if you're looking to impress with something different.
Fourth place: Morrisons
Price: 拢1.99
Average score: 6.5
Good balance, with vinegar and smokiness coming through. Our testers noted a strong sweetness, while its texture and colour fared well compared with other own-brand ketchups.
Fifth place: Asda
Price: 拢1
Average score: 6.4
A decent everyday ketchup that lost marks due to its pale colour and thin texture. Our testers noted that sweet and acidic flavours were dominant over the tomato taste.
Sixth place: Sainsbury's
Price: 90p
Average score: 6.4
This divided out testers, with scores ranging from 10 to three. Those who loved it praised its thick texture, balance and deep colour - but the tangy, smoky notes weren't for everyone.
Seventh place: Lidl
Price: 拢1.05
Average score: 6
An average scorer - but well ahead of its Aldi equivalent. Testers thought it lacked anything to make it stand out.
Eighth place: Stokes
Price: 拢2.45
Average score: 5.8
This middle-class favourite scored disappointingly with the majority of our testers, who felt it lacked the balance of the sauces above. Its thick texture appeals, but you might expect more tomato flavour.
Ninth place: Waitrose
Price: 95p
Average score: 5.8
This sauce was an all-rounder with a deep colour - but testers felt it was too sweet and sharp, evoking memories of takeaway ketchup eaten with chips in a park.
Tenth place: Hellmans
Price: 拢2
Average score: 5.7
A lighter sauce that lost marks for its runnier texture. Our testers felt it lacked flavour compared with many of the other sauces, but its balance of sweetness was a strong point.
Eleventh place: Dr Wills
Price: 拢3
Average score: 5.2
The least ketchup-like of the ketchups, this is a room splitter. The natural tomato flavours come through and it tastes homemade, but a notable fruitiness and zing might put off traditionalists.
Joint twelfth: Tesco
Price: 拢1
Average score: 4.3
Several testers commented that it tasted like "caf茅 ketchup", with a dominant vinegar profile and too much sweetness.
Joint twelfth: Daddies
Price: 拢1.50
Average score: 4.3
Across the board, our testers felt this was too sweet, with an artificial and unbalanced flavour.
Last place: Aldi
Price: 89p
Average score: 4.1
While not eliciting some of the very low marks of its rivals, this scored poorly across the board, with testers noting a lack of tomato flavour and an inescapable sweetness.
Here are the full results...
Subscribers to our new weekly Money newsletter got an exclusive first look at this feature in their inboxes last Friday. Join the Money community so you don't miss out - we just need your name and email address...
For this week's guide, Anna Bowes, personal finance expert from , looks at premium bonds and if you should be putting your money elsewhere...
Premium bonds stir up a lot of debate because there is no guarantee you'll earn anything on your savings.
Unlike traditional savings accounts, they don't pay interest but they do enter savers into a monthly draw for tax-free cash prizes, ranging from 拢25 to 拢1m.
"Each 拢1 deposited purchases one bond and each bond currently has a 22,000-to-1 chance of winning a prize. It's essentially a savings product with a lottery element - you'll never lose your stake, but there's no guaranteed return," Bowes said.
This makes them a popular choice when interest rates are very low.
At the moment, rates on regular savings accounts are high by historical standards - so should you still bother with premium bonds?
The current prize fund interest rate is 3.8%. This rate is not the expected return for premium bondholders, but it is the rate used to produce the pool of prize money that is handed out.
In the latest draw, there were nearly six million prizes paid out, valued at more than 拢416m.
Over the past year, of the 24 拢1m winners, 10 of them had a holding of 拢50,000.
But in March, one very lucky person won the jackpot with a holding of just 拢100.
"That's probably why many with smaller deposits will hang on to their bonds regardless, just in case. It's simply the 'what if' factor. There is that frisson of excitement each month: 'What if I were to win one of the big prizes?'," Bowes said.
Of course, the more bonds you hold, the more likely you are to win, and the fact that the prizes are tax-free makes them all the more valuable.
"As an example, if a higher-rate taxpayer were to win prizes over the course of the year equivalent to the current prize draw fund of 3.8%, if that cash were in a taxable savings account, they would need to earn 6.33% gross - a cash savings rate that is simply not available elsewhere," Bowes explained.
"For additional rate taxpayers, premium bonds can be even more important as they have no personal savings allowance and they'd need to earn 6.91% gross."
But while two lucky bondholders will win 拢1m each month, some will win nothing, and that's the dilemma.
"If you were to put your money into a savings account instead you would be certain of earning at least something," Bowes added.
"Smaller holders may do far better if they save elsewhere, especially if they are non or basic rate taxpayers."
The table below shows how much you could be missing out on in cash savings interest, if you win nothing on your premium bonds over the course of a year...
The UK has one of the "worst statutory leave offers for fathers and other parents in the developed world", the chairwoman of the Women and Equalities Committee has warned.
Sarah Owen said the UK's parental leave system was in "urgent need of an overhaul to fit with the reality of working parents' lives".
"The UK's parental leave system has fallen far behind most comparable countries," she added.
Her comments come as a new report by her House of Commons committee found that a maximum of two weeks' paternity leave is "completely out of step with how most couples want to share their parenting responsibilities" and "entrenches outdated gender stereotypes about caring".
The UK's rate of parental pay is "completely out of kilter with the cost of living, has not kept pace with inflation and is far below rates in most comparable countries", the report says.
The Women and Equalities Committee has urged the government to consider raising paternity pay to the level of maternity pay during the first six weeks, which equals 90% of someone's average earnings.
It also called on the government to either amend the Employment Rights Bill to legislate for a day one right to paid leave or commit to "considering this vital change within its review" in consultation with employers.
The global is heading for its weakest decade sine the 1960s, the World Bank has said.
Blaming Donald Trump's trade war, without naming the US president, the 189-country lender cut its forecast for global GDP growth this year to 2.3%, down from 2.7% in January.
That would mark the slowest growth rate outside recessions since 2008, with the bank downgrading its growth forecasts for almost all major economies.
Citing "a substantial rise in trade barriers", it predicted that the US economy - the world's largest - would grow half as fast (1.4%) this year as it did in 2024 (2.8%).
The eurozone is now expected to see 0.7% growth this year, down from the 1% expected in January.
In a foreward to the latest version of Global Economic Prospects report, World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill wrote that the global economy has missed its chance for the "soft landing".
"The world economy today is once more running into turbulence," Gill wrote.
"Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep."
Watch: Ed Conway on UK's big problem as trade deal deadline looms
The FTSE 100 has fallen short of its record high, closing at 8,853 points.
Investors had hoped it would beat its 8,871 high set in March after trade talks between American and Chinese officials continued in London.
The index has suffered due to Donald Trump's trade war, but it has made a strong recovery in the past two months after the US president rowed back on some of his tariff policies.
Winners and losers today
AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson said: "The potential of a US-China trade agreement helped nudge up the oil price, which hit a six-week high today and pushed up London-listed oil giants Shell and BP.
"It was no shock to see UK housebuilders storming away as expectation that mortgage rates could become more affordable fuelled investor appetites.
"There was also a vote of confidence for retail stalwart Marks & Spencer, which has a real soft spot in investor minds after its stonking turnaround despite being tested by the recent cyber attack. News that shoppers can once again brandish their online baskets saw shares in the retailer edge higher, making up much of the recent losses. Notably, M&S shares ended the day just a touch down on where they were at the start of the year.
"Of course, where there are winners there are also losers, and a host of lenders including Barclays and Lloyds found themselves sliding down the FTSE snake."
American and Chinese negotiators remained locked in talks over a prospective trade deal that could bring down tariffs between the world's largest economies and pave the way for greater market access.
The discussions began at Lancaster House in central London yesterday and are likely to continue all day today too.
Donald Trump said last night that he was "only getting good reports" about the talks. "We are doing well with China," he told reporters at the White House.
Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, echoed the president, telling the media that the talks were "going well".
Lutnick, who was not at the previous talks in Geneva last month, is joined by the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, as well as the trade representative, Jamieson Greer.
His presence at the latest talks in London could be a sign that the Americans are prepared to negotiate export controls on semiconductor technology, which fall under his remit and represents a major prize for Beijing as it seeks to develop its own chip industry.
The Americans are pushing the Chinese to ease export controls on rare earth minerals and have accused the country of reneging on its promise, back in May, to ease access.
Both sides have considerable leverage in the battle but also plenty of impetus to deescalate, with critical industries and major companies getting caught in the crossfire.
Investors are hopeful that a breakthrough might be reached, with the FTSE 100 trading close to its record high this afternoon - see more in our previous post.
All eyes are on the FTSE 100 today as it approaches a new record high.
The closing high is 8,871 points - recorded on 3 March.
At the time of writing this, the FTSE 100 was at 8,869.
That's a slight fall from where it was at midday when it rose to 8,871.53 on the back of positive comments on the US-China trade talks.
The government is set to announce 拢14.2bn towards building a nuclear power station in Suffolk that will create 10,000 jobs.
Fifteen years after the Sizewell C nuclear power station was proposed, chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to confirm the funding at the GMB union conference tomorrow.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband will call it a "golden age" of nuclear to boost the UK's energy security.
Among the jobs will be 1,500 apprenticeships, the government will say.
On Monday, it was revealed Britain's nuclear power sector grew by a quarter in 2024 to 拢20bn compared with three years ago, underpinned by a record workforce which has increased by a third, according to research by the Nuclear Power Association.
About 87,000 people now work in the industry, with the rise largely driven by new nuclear power projects at Sizewell C and Hinkley Point C in Somerset.
Sizewell C was initially proposed by French energy company EDF and China General Nuclear Power Group, but in 2022 the Conservative government bought the Chinese company out and the state now owns 83.5% of the project with EDF.
Eurostar has unveiled plans to launch direct services connecting the UK with Germany and Switzerland.
The trains would run from London St Pancras to Frankfurt and Geneva, taking five hours and five hours and 20 minutes respectively.
These routes would be served by a fleet of up to 50 new trains costing approximately 拢1.7bn, running from the "early 2030s".
Whether the services would make stops along the way has not been decided.
A number of hurdles must be overcome before services could launch, such as creating sufficient passenger space at those stations, installing new border checkpoints, and securing access to tracks.
Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave acknowledged that opening new international train routes required "time, investments, expertise, a huge amount of energy, and partnerships".
But she said she had "no doubt" the new direct services will happen because of the "willingness" of Eurostar, passengers and governments.
The UK and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding last month aimed at establishing direct train services between the countries.
Decathlon has pledged to offer a full gift card refund for the return of every tent it sells this summer - regardless of how much you have used it.
The sports retailer wants to encourage campers and festival-goers not to abandon tents, which contain as much plastic as 9,000 straws or 200 bottles.
Customers who buy any of its tents online or in store between 9 June and 14 September and return them with proof of purchase before 14 September will receive the full purchase value back.
It's important to note you need to be a Decathlon member at the time of returning the tent.
"Whether you're dancing at Glasto, on a hilltop, or roasting marshmallows with family, your tent deserves more than one weekend of glory," said broadcaster Vick Hope, who is supporting this year's campaign.
The company has expanded the No Tent Left Behind scheme from previous years to include every Decathlon brand tent across both its Quechua and Simond ranges.
