Retail giants Tesco and Marks & Spencer both saw a bump in food sales over the vital Christmas period despite both mentioning a challenging economic backdrop.

Tesco said sales in the UK were up 3.2% from last year and it had now notched up its highest market share in more than a decade.

M&S said that it had seen a record number of customers over Christmas and its food sales were “strong”.

However, sales at its clothing, home and beauty business fell, with M&S blaming the decline on lower footfall on the High Street and lingering issues from last year’s cyber-attack.

M&S suffered a sales fall of almost 3% in its fashion, home and beauty products which it said was still suffering from stock and inventory issues following the cyber-attack.

Chief executive Stuart Machin said: “Food sales were strong and the business continues to outperform, hitting a new market share milestone in the period.

“Fashion, Home & Beauty is getting back on track as we work through the tail end of recovery,” he added.

Tesco boss Ken Murphy said he was “delighted” with the supermarket’s performance over Christmas amid “intense” competition.

He highlighted the performance of the Tesco Finest range, which saw sales growth of 13%.

The supermarket is now expecting to report annual operating profits at the upper end of the £2.9bn-£3.1bn range it predicted in October.

“Tesco has seen a consistently strong performance over the last couple of years really, where it’s really focused on price,” said Sofie Willmott, associate director at GlobalData Retail.

She said that by price-matching Aldi, and offering lower prices to its Clubcard holders, Tesco had “managed to retain its number one position at the top of the market”, despite heavy discounting on some of its products to compete with rivals.

“It also saw very good performance in its Finest range where shoppers are maybe not eating out as much or treating themselves,” she added.

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) on Wednesday proposed presenting the Union Budget for 2026–27 on February 1, even though the date falls on a Sunday. 

If approved, this would mark a rare instance in recent years of the Budget being tabled on a weekend, as the government sticks to its February 1 timeline to ensure timely implementation of budget proposals from the start of the financial year, as per media reports.

The Budget Session will begin on January 28 with the President’s address to a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. The Economic Survey, which reviews the state of the economy, will be tabled in Parliament on January 29, according to reports.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be presenting her ninth consecutive Union Budget, making it the 88th Budget since India’s Independence. Since 2017, the Union Budget has been presented at 11 am on February 1, after the government advanced the date from the earlier tradition of February 28.

This change was introduced during the tenure of former finance minister late Arun Jaitley to allow faster implementation of budget proposals from the start of the financial year.

Presenting the Budget on a weekend is not entirely new. Sitharaman had presented the Union Budget 2025 on a Saturday.

Before that, late Arun Jaitley presented the Union Budgets of 2015 and 2016 on February 28, which also fell on Saturdays.

With this Budget, Sitharaman will also make history by becoming the first finance minister to present nine consecutive Union Budgets. This achievement places her close to the record held by former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who presented a total of 10 Budgets across two separate tenures.

Among other recent finance ministers, P Chidambaram presented nine Budgets, while Pranab Mukherjee presented eight during their time in office.

FM Sitharaman was appointed India’s first full-time woman finance minister in 2019 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to power for a second term.

Finance Minister Sitharaman continued to hold the finance portfolio after the Modi-led government secured a third consecutive term in 2024.

President Donald Trump has called for US defence spending to be increased to $1.5tn (£1.1tn) in 2027 for what he called “these very troubled and dangerous times”.

That would be more than 50% higher than this year’s $901bn budget, which was approved by Congress in December.

“This will allow us to build the “Dream Military” that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump said on social media on Wednesday.

In separate posts, the president said he would crack down on payouts to bosses and shareholders of major US defence contractors unless the firms speed up deliveries of armaments and build new manufacturing plants.

Shares in major US defence equipment makers Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon rose by more than 5% in extended trading in New York trade after Trump made the announcements.

Economists have previously warned that the gap between US spending and its income has reached unsustainable levels.

But Trump said Washington can “easily hit” his proposed $1.5tn defence budget thanks to money being brought in by tariffs.

Trump has been pushing for higher defence spending by the US and its allies since his first term in the White House.

He said in another post on Wednesday that military equipment is not being made quickly enough and urged companies to build new and modern plants.

Defence companies are issuing “massive” payouts to shareholders and stock buybacks at the expense of investing into production, Trump said. He also criticised the “exorbitant” pay packages of executives at arms manufacturers.

“No Executive should be allowed to make in excess of $5 Million Dollars which, as high as it sounds, is a mere fraction of what they are making now.”

In a separate post, Trump singled out Raytheon, saying it was the “least responsive” to America’s defence needs and the slowest to increase production.

“Either Raytheon steps up and starts investing in more upfront Investment like Plants and Equipment, or they will no longer be doing business with the Department of War,” Trump wrote in a separate post.

The BBC has contacted Raytheon for comment.

Trump’s call for much higher defence spending comes as geo-political tensions have increased around the world.

On Wednesday, the US military captured a Russian-flagged oil tanker suspected to have violated US sanctions.

It came after US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro at the weekend and took him to America to face drug trafficking charges.

In December, China held military drills around Taiwan simulating the seizure and blockade of the island’s key areas, as a warning against “separatist forces”.

Taiwan’s push to ramp up its defence this year has also angered Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory.