Business
Young people to be hit hardest by UK’s ageing society, report suggests
Young people will be hit hardest by successive governments’ failure to focus on financial and societal challenges caused by an ageing population, a House of Lords report has suggested.
They will need to plan and prepare to work longer and save more from a much earlier age, the economic affairs committee said.
The report also found that the crisis in adult social care “remains a scandal” which needs to be addressed urgently.
Committee chair Lord Wood of Anfield told the BBC it was a “struggle to find where in government” there was a focus on ageing and the “transformational effects” it was going to have on people.
“Ageing is something that we’re just watching happening”, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, adding: “We know that adaptation is the way forward”.
Policies governments have used to address the impact of declining fertility and rising life expectancy in the UK – raising the state pension age or increasing immigration for example – were not adequate solutions on their own, the report said.
Getting more people in their 50s and 60s to stay in or return to work “is key”, the committee said, and the government must prioritise incentives to do so.
It found that while age discrimination may reduce the number of over 50s working, it heard evidence that its most damaging form may be self-directed, with older workers mistaken about the extent they faced and then limiting their own decisions.
It also said an ageing population will need more care workers, leaving fewer workers for other parts of the economy.
There is “widespread ignorance” of how much it costs to retire, it said, and the government should consider an education campaign – as well as finding out if the UK’s financial services sector is equipped to provide for the population as it ages.
Lord Wood said that the government and financial services industry needs to devise “more innovative ways of getting younger people to think about lives frankly they can’t conceive of at the moment – when they’re in their eighties and early nineties.”
“There’s a long time for them to be financially planning for at a time when we know young people are doing less financial planning,” he added.
“Raising the state pension age, which saves the government money, but increases pensioner poverty as many people have already stopped working by their sixties, is a red herring.
“To successfully confront this challenge, the approach to financial management of today’s and tomorrow’s young people will need to change.”
Business
$2 trillion wiped off crypto markets! Bitcoin halves since October; investor company shares sink to multiyear lows – The Times of India
Cryptogiant Bitcoin has suffered sharp losses since the beginning of 2026, tumbling over 20%. The digital currency has given up almost half of its value since October’s record peak of over $124,000, sliding to $67,000, now worth less than it was at the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Bitcoin is often pitched as “digital gold” as its returns are just like gold, offering no dividends or profits and price driven by what investors are willing to pay. The world’s largest cryptocurrency was last trading 1.64% higher at $64,153.24 after a volatile session that saw prices swing between gains and losses, having earlier touched a low of $60,008.52. The global crypto market has lost $2 trillion in value since peaking at $4.379 trillion in early October, with $800 billion wiped out in the last month alone, Reuters reported. Bitcoin has declined 28% so far this year, while ether has lost nearly 38% over the same period.As the asset slid, shares of companies holding bitcoin and other digital assets also came under heavy pressure amid ongoing turbulence in the cryptocurrency market, fuelling concerns about stress across the sector. Publicly listed firms that piled into crypto last year, encouraged by US President Donald Trump’s supportive stance, are now grappling with intensifying market challenges.The decline comes as uncertainty over Federal Reserve rate cuts and concerns over AI company valuations weigh on risk assets, pushing bitcoin to its lowest level since November 2024.Strategy shares plunge to multi-year lowsMicroStrategy’s bitcoin-focused arm, Strategy, has seen shares tumble from $457 in July to $111.27 on Thursday, marking their lowest level since August 2024. The stock was last down more than 11%, according to Reuters.In December, Strategy cut its 2025 earnings forecast, citing weak bitcoin performance, and announced plans to create a reserve to support dividend payments. The company now expects full-year earnings between a $6.3 billion profit and a $5.5 billion loss, down from its earlier forecast of $24 billion.Other notable bitcoin buyers have also been hit. UK-based Smarter Web Company (SWC.L) fell nearly 18%, Nakamoto Inc (NAKA.O) lost almost 9%, and Japan’s Metaplanet (3350.T) dropped over 7%.Bitcoin wipes out gains since Trump’s electionBitcoin itself is down nearly 28% since the start of the year, with recent selling accelerating after Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair. Analysts cited by Reuters say that Warsh’s appointment could lead to a smaller Fed balance sheet, a negative for speculative assets like crypto.Bitcoin has erased all gains made since Trump’s election, when he pledged to overhaul policies toward digital assets. The cryptocurrency last traded at $67,651.“As Bitcoin continues its slide below the psychological barrier of $70,000, it’s clear the crypto market is now in full capitulation mode,” said Nic Puckrin, investment analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau. “If previous cycles are anything to go by, this is no longer a short-term correction, but rather a transition… and these typically take months, not weeks,” Reuters cited the expert.Broader digital asset holdings also hitCompanies holding other tokens have been affected as well. Alt5 Sigma, which stocks the Trump family’s WLFI token, fell 8.4%. SharpLink Gaming, holding ether, dropped 8%, while Forward Industries, which holds solana, fell nearly 6%.Bitcoin fell to a low of $63,295.74 on Thursday, its weakest since October 2024, before rebounding slightly to $63,525, marking its largest one-day drop since November 2022. Approximately $1 billion in bitcoin positions were liquidated over 24 hours, according to CoinGlass data.Fed concerns and investor outflowsTrump’s Fed pick, Kevin Warsh, has added to market fears. Analysts say investors worry that a smaller balance sheet will remove liquidity support for speculative assets.“The market fears a hawk with him,” Manuel Villegas Franceschi from Julius Baer told Reuters. “A smaller balance sheet is not going to provide any tailwinds for crypto.”Deutsche Bank analysts highlighted massive outflows from institutional ETFs as a key driver of the decline. US spot bitcoin ETFs saw over $3 billion withdrawn in January, following $2 billion and $7 billion outflows in December and November, respectively. “This steady selling in our view signals that traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing,” they said.Tech sector weakness piles pressure on crypto segmentThe slide in cryptocurrencies has been compounded by a broader downturn in tech stocks, particularly software companies linked to AI. Bitcoin and other tokens have historically tracked risk appetite in technology markets, and the current weakness has intensified losses.“Concerns are being raised around the crypto miners and whether we could be looking at forced liquidations if prices continue to fall, which could lead to a vicious cycle,” said Jefferies strategist Mohit Kumar, as cited by Reuters. The analyst further added that crypto “should never be more than a very small portion of a portfolio, but its heavy retail ownership adds to overall market risk.”
Business
RBI MPC Meeting 2026 Live Updates: Gov Sanjay Malhotra To Announce Decision On Repo Rate Today
RBI MPC Meeting February 2026 Live Updates: All eyes are on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Sanjay Malhotra, today as he is going to announce the decision of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) February policy meeting, which started on February 04. The outcome, due shortly, will set the tone for interest rates, liquidity conditions, and market sentiment at a time when growth is steady but inflation risks haven’t fully disappeared.
The six-member MPC, headed by RBI Governor, has deliberated on domestic inflation trends, global uncertainty, crude oil prices, and the evolving growth outlook.
The decision will be announced by RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra amid a supportive domestic backdrop of a growth-oriented Union Budget, easing inflation pressures and a major easing of external uncertainty following the long-awaited India-US trade deal.
RBI Governor will begin his speech at 10:00 AM. The Central bank had cut the repo rate by 25 bps to 5.25 per cent from 5.50 per cent with a ‘neutral stance’ in its December monetary policy.
This time, expectations are mixed. While retail inflation has shown signs of cooling, it remains close to the RBI’s comfort zone. At the same time, global central banks are turning more cautious on rate cuts, which could influence RBI’s tone and forward guidance.
Markets will closely track not just the rate decision but also the RBI’s commentary on inflation risks, growth projections, liquidity management, and its stance going forward.
Stay tuned with us to watch the live coverage of RBI MPC February Meeting 2026
President Donald Trump makes an announcement from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, Nov. 6, 2025.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Thursday is slated to announce the launch of TrumpRx — a direct-to-consumer website that is key to his administration’s efforts to lower prescription drug costs in the U.S.
In a post on X, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and other administration officials will debut the website at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.
She said millions of Americans would save money through TrumpRx, but it’s still unclear if all patients — particularly those with insurance coverage — will see more cost savings from using that site to buy their medicines. TrumpRx targets people who are willing to pay with cash and forgo insurance, which suggests that people without or with limited coverage may benefit the most.
The site is not expected to sell drugs directly to American patients, but will act as a central hub that points them to drugmakers that are offering discounts on certain products on their own direct-to-consumer sites. For example, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have offered their blockbuster obesity drugs at hefty discounts to cash-paying patients.
In recent months, both companies and at least 14 other drugmakers have negotiated agreements with the Trump administration to participate on the platform and voluntarily sell certain medicines at a discount to Medicaid patients. Those landmark deals are part of Trump’s broader “most favored nation” policy, which pushes to link U.S. drug prices to the lowest ones abroad.
It is the government’s latest effort to try to rein in U.S. prescription drug prices, which are two to three times higher on average than those in other developed nations — and up to 10 times more than in certain countries, according to the Rand Corp., a public policy think tank.
But TrumpRx “doesn’t seem like it is the only solution” to that issue for most Americans, said Juliette Cubanski, deputy director of the program on Medicare Policy at KFF, a health policy research organization. The cash-pay offerings could be better deals for patients without insurance, but it’s difficult to assess exactly how many people stand to benefit from TrumpRx, she added.
“If they’re able to get a drug covered by their insurance at a relatively affordable copay, then there’s not a great upside to using the TrumpRx website,” Cubanski said.
She said people with insurance coverage who buy through direct-to-consumer platforms may also not have their purchases count toward their benefits, which means it doesn’t help them meet their deductible or out-of-pocket maximum.
But Cubanski said there’s potential for TrumpRx to be helpful in expanding access to certain drugs at more affordable prices, particularly medicines not covered widely by insurance in the U.S., such as obesity drugs. Medicare will start covering weight loss treatments for the first time later this year as part of the deals Lilly and Novo struck with Trump, but many employers are still hesitant to cover those drugs.
Still, many of the other products expected to be listed on TrumpRx are already widely covered through insurance, and some are available as cheaper generics from competing drugmakers.
Questions about savings
Questions remain about how much savings people can expect if they buy their medicines at direct-to-consumer prices.
The announced price reductions for certain drugs are framed as steep cuts from their so-called retail list prices. For example, under Novo Nordisk’s agreement with the administration, its diabetes drug Ozempic will be priced at $350 per month on TrumpRx, which is less than half of its roughly $1,000 monthly list price.
But those list prices are often far higher than what private insurers and government programs ultimately pay for medicines after rebates, discounts and other concessions, according to researchers at Georgetown’s Medicare Policy Initiative. That suggests some payers may already be securing prices comparable to — or lower than — the newly announced discounts on medications under the Trump deals.
The Georgetown researchers cited one study that found that average discounts on brand-name drugs in Medicare Part D run around 40% of list prices. Meanwhile, discounts in Medicaid exceed 75%, according to a Congressional Budget Office study.
In the private sector, “we’ve got insurers and pharmacy benefit managers negotiating lower prices and designing an insurance benefit that enables people to benefit from those price negotiations,” said KFF’s Cubanski.
“My guess is that for most drugs, at least most brand-name medications, people are likely to get a better deal using their insurance rather than purchasing a drug through a direct-to-consumer website,” she said.
Drugs on TrumpRx
The administration has not provided a full list of drugs that will be listed on TrumpRx.
But available information from recent drug pricing deals indicates many widely used drugs will have discounted prices listed on the site:
- Ozempic injection for diabetes, made by Novo Nordisk: $350 per month, down from around $1,000
- Wegovy injection for obesity, made by Novo Nordisk: $350 per month, down from around $1,350
- Wegovy pill for obesity, made by Novo Nordisk: $150 per month for the starting doses
- Zepbound injection for obesity, made by Eli Lilly: $350 per month, down from $1,086
- Trulicity for diabetes, made by Eli Lilly: $389 per month, down from about $1,000
- Emgality for migraines, made by Eli Lilly: $299, down from around $764
- Repatha for lowering cholesterol, made by Amgen: $239, down from $573
- Reyataz for HIV, made by Bristol Myers Squibb: $217, down from $1,449
- Januvia for diabetes, made by Merck: $100, down from $330
- Epclusa for hepatitis C, made by Gilead: $2,425, down from $24,920
- Jentadueto for diabetes, made by Boehringer Ingelheim: $55, down from $525
- Xofluza for flu, made by Genentech: $50, down from $168
- Advair Diskus inhaler 500/50, made by GSK: $89, down from $265
- Mayzent for multiple sclerosis, made by Novartis: $1,137, down from $9,987
- Plavix, made by Sanofi: $16, down from $756
In an interview with CNBC at a conference in January, Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Chris Boerner said the company has multiple products on its existing direct-to-consumer platform, which first offered a cash-pay discount on its blood thinner Eliquis. That platform will link to TrumpRx, he said.
The company is going to examine ways to put additional products in its portfolio on its own platform, “where it makes sense,” Boerner added. He said Bristol Myers is “aligned with the administration” on the issue of the U.S. health care system being too complex, and said several middlemen can increase costs.
“What we like about these [direct-to-consumer models], where they make sense from a business standpoint, is you’re able to circumvent some of that,” Boerner said.
Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with CNBC last week, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said the company was the first drugmaker to sell obesity treatments directly to patients, and that TrumpRx is “taking that and expanding it across the industry” to other medicines.
“We’re all for that,” Ricks said.
2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame: Meet the new members
$2 trillion wiped off crypto markets! Bitcoin halves since October; investor company shares sink to multiyear lows – The Times of India
Global GDP growth to be resilient at 3.3% in 2026; India above US: IMF
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