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The Canary Wharf business district is seen in the distance behind autumnal leaves on October 09, 2024 in London, United Kingdom.Dan Kitwood | Getty Images News | Getty ImagesLONDON — Inflation in the U.K. dropped sharply to 1.7% in September, the Office for National Statistics said Wednesday.Economists polled by Reuters had expected the headline rate to come in at a higher 1.9% for the month, in the first dip of the print below the Bank of England's 2% target since April 2021.Inflation has been hovering around that level for the last four months, and came in at 2.2% in August.Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, came in at 3.2% for the month, down from 3.6% in August and below the 3.4% forecast of a Reuters poll.Price rises in the services sector, the dominant ...

Car batteries at a factory in Nanjing in China's eastern Jiangsu province.Str | Afp | Getty ImagesPARIS, France — The push to commercialize solid-state batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) is well underway, but analysts say auto giants could be on the cusp of turning to a different kind of transformative science.Solid-state batteries have long been billed as the "holy grail" of sustainable driving. As the name suggests, solid-state batteries contain a solid electrolyte, made from materials such as ceramics. That makes them different from conventional lithium-ion batteries, which contain liquid electrolyte.This next-generation technology theoretically packs more energy into each unit of volume than lithium-ion batteries. Proponents say it offers safer, cheaper and more powerful batteries f...

Omar Marques | Lightrocket | Getty ImagesUnitedHealth Group provided a 2025 profit forecast below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, saying it expects pressure across its government-supported health insurance businesses, and its shares fell 9%.The largest U.S. health insurer forecast a profit of as much as $30 per share. That upper end was below analysts' estimates of $31.18 per share, according to LSEG data.CEO Andrew Witty said the company was setting next year's forecast "more conservatively than is typical" due in part to cuts in payments from the government for Medicare plans and low state payment rates for Medicaid plans for low-income people.The insurance bellwether's comments also dragged shares of rivals CVS Health, Elevance and Humana down 3% to 5%.UnitedHealth's third-quarter med...

Traders, gamblers and politicos now have new tools to express their views this election cycle in the form of event contracts, but the new markets still need to win over Wall Street power players and the legal system to become investment stars. Kalshi and Interactive Brokers launched presidential election contracts this month on their nascent platforms after Kalshi won a key round in its legal fight with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC is seeking to shut down the markets on appeal, but the presidential election promises to be a big opportunity for the platforms to prove themselves to investors while the process works its way through the courts. The platforms previously consisted mainly of lightly traded contracts around other events, like economic data releases. Those ser...