Latest news with #consumer
Bloomberg
8 hours ago
- Automotive
- Bloomberg
Canada Retail Sales Fell 1.1% in May, Largest Drop in a Year
The strain on Canadian consumers became more evident last month after a rush to buy cars ahead of price increases from tariffs appeared to come to an end. An advance estimate suggests receipts for retailers plunged 1.1% in May, the biggest decline in a year, Statistics Canada said Friday. That more than reversed April's 0.3% gain, which was slightly lower the median projection in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
The Sun
a day ago
- Health
- The Sun
Morrisons own-brand sun cream FAILS safety test – while another supermarket version triumphs, and it's cheaper too
MORRISONS' own-brand sun cream has failed a safety test conducted by experts. Consumer site Which? carried out a series of tests on 15 popular sun creams to make sure they met minimum sun protection levels. While most passed with flying colours, the Morrisons Moisturising Sun Spray SPF30 failed to meet the minimum levels for SPF protection. Which? has labelled it as a "Don't Buy" and said it could be "putting families at risk". The sun cream costs £3.75 for 200ml. It was tested twice and failed to meet minimum protection levels on both occasions. The only other product to fail the test was the Ultrasun Family SPF30, which costs a whopping £28 for 150ml. The expensive sun cream failed to meet minimum UVA protection levels in two tests. It's recommended that you use a sun cream with a minimum SPF of 15, along with a UVA rating of 4 or 5 stars. SPF stands for 'sun protection factor' and it mostly measures how well a sun cream protects you against UVB rays, which cause sunburn and are linked to particular types of skin cancer. The higher the SPF, the greater protection it offers. Meanwhile a sun cream's UVA rating refers to how well it protects against UVA rays. Map reveals where temps will hit glorious 33C this weekend – as revellers soak up the sun in parks, beaches & festivals UVA rays are associated with skin ageing and pigmentation, as well as skin cancer. Which? said it used industry-recognised test methods at independent labs. If a product failed on the first test, Which? repeated the test. The sun creams needed a score of at least 10 to pass the UVA test. But Ultrasun's UVA score was 9.1 and 9.5 in a retest. The SPF test required a score of 30 or more for a pass. However the Morrisons sun cream only scored 25.7 and then 20.7 in a retest. The products that failed to protect properly from SPF or UVA were labelled "Don't Buys". What does the UVA star rating mean? THE star rating for sun cream bottles was developed to illustrate the balanced protection that a product offers against both UVA and UVB rays. The index ranges from 0 to 5 stars. These indicate the percentage of UVA radiation absorbed by the sunscreen in comparison to UVB. The higher number of stars means the more balanced that protection is. You may also see the letters 'UVA' in a circle, which means the product has been approved by the EU. It is another way of saying that the product provides good balanced protection against UVA and UVB. Why should people care about choosing a sunscreen with high SPF and high UV protection? Extended exposure to the sun can lead to skin damage, experts say. There are four types of skin damage: skin ageing, hyperpigmentation, sunburns, and skin cancer. "By protecting yourself from the sun, you reduce the likelihood of damaging your skin," the British Association of Dermatologists says. "Make use of the shade during the hours of high intensity (11am and 3pm in the UK typically), wear clothing that will shade your skin, and use sunscreen with at least SPF30 and either the UVA logo or 4 to 5 stars, making sure you're applying it well and re-applying it regularly." Source: British Association of Dermatologists Natalie Hitchins, Which? head of home products and services, said: "It's really concerning that widely available sunscreens could be putting families at risk by failing to offer the level of sun protection claimed on the packaging. "While shoppers should avoid buying our Don't Buys, our results prove that there's no need to splash out to keep you and your loved ones safe in the sun as we've found cheap reliable options at Aldi and Lidl." A spokesperson from Ultrasun told Which? it is fully confident in its testing protocols and that its detailed testing processes continue to not only meet, but surpass industry standards. It said its chosen testing protocol is one of the strictest available. Morrisons told Which? that it's looking closely at the data and working with its supplier to carry out additional independent testing. A spokesperson said: "We work closely with our supplier and conduct extensive efficacy and safety testing during product development. "As such, all our sun care products are tested to the relevant industry test standards and are not approved for launch until they meet these standards. During development and production all tested variants consistently achieved an SPF of 30. 'In direct response to this report from Which? we have retested the SPF against the British and International Standard BS EN ISO 24444:2020 and can confirm the product has achieved an SPF value of 34.5 and can therefore be labelled as SPF 30.' Which sun creams passed the testing? Most of the sun creams tested passed - including bargain buys from Lidl and Aldi. The cheapest was Aldi's Lacura Sensitive Sun Lotion SPF50+, which is only £2.99 for a 200ml bottle. It offers very high SPF protection and costs six times less than the Ultrasun version. The product earned a Which? Great Value badge as a result. Another bargain option was Lidl's Cien Sun Spray 30 SPF High, which costs £3.79 for a 200ml bottle. Which? testers found it was a solid option for affordable and reliable sun protection, and also gave it a Great Value endorsement. These are the other products that passed the testing: Boots Soltan Protect & Moisturise Suncare Lotion, £5.50/200ml Boots Soltan Protect & Moisturise Suncare Spray SPF30, £5.50/200ml Nivea Sun Protect & Moisture Lotion SPF30, £7.90/200ml Sainsbury's Sun Protect Moisturising Lotion SPF30, £5.50/200ml Superdrug Solait Sun Spray SPF30, £5.50/200ml Garnier Ambre Solaire Sensitive Advanced Sun Spray SPF 50+, £11/150ml Sainsbury's Sun ProtectMoisturising Spray Lotion SPF50+, £5.75/200ml Boots Soltan Protect & Moisturise Suncare Lotion SPF50+, £5.50/200ml Nivea Sun Protect & Moisture Spray SPF50+, £7.90/200ml And these are the ones specifically made for children that passed too: Childs Farm Sun Cream Fragrance-Free SPF50+, £12/200ml Soltan Kids Protect & Moisturise Lotion SPF50+, £5.50/200ml Which? ran a similar test last year with 26 sun creams. The vast majority passed but the failures were Asda's Protect Moisturising Sun Lotion SPF30 High, Calypso's Press & Protect Sun Lotion SPF30 and Bondi Sands' SPF 50+ Fragrance Free Face Sunscreen Lotion. Asda said it did not recognise the results, while Calypso said its product passed EU standards and regulations in independent testing. Bondi Sands insisted all of its products undergo "rigorous testing" to ensure they meet industry standards.
The Sun
2 days ago
- The Sun
Popular beachfront theme park forced to close twice a week
A SEASIDE town theme park has revealed they are being forced to close twice a week. Fantasy Island first opened in Ingoldmells near Skegness in 1995. 2 While the theme park is open every day during the summer season, they have confirmed this won't be the case for the rest of the year. Outside of summer, the theme park is now going to close on Mondays and Tuesdays. A spokesperson for Fantasy Island told local media: "Whilst our rides remain open every day during the summer, we have made the decision to restrict our opening outside of this peak period." The theme park cited increased wage costs as well as an increase in electricy prices. They added: "This, coupled with growing caution in consumer spending, makes it increasingly difficult to operate sustainably outside peak periods." This means the theme park will only be open from Wednesday to Sunday instead. According to the website, the new changes will affect the months of April, May, June and September. The park is only open for limited days in October and March, with the park closed from December to February. Many seaside towns only open many of their attractions on reduced hours outside of the peak season. Until then, the theme park is open seven days a week, which also includes " Europe 's biggest seven-day market" with 320 stalls. Inside the UK theme park that is free to visit with terrifying rollercoasters and the largest seven-day market in Europe It has a number of rollercoasters include The Odyssey, The Millennium and the smaller Rhombus Rocket. To cool off, there are water rides including a log flume and river rapids. You can even spend the night, with the Fantasy Island Holiday Park included wristbands and discounts for the theme park. Despite opening 30 years ago, the theme park went into administration back in 2014. It then reopened in 2021 after being bought out, and has remained open since then. Here are five other coastal theme parks in the UK. And here is a seaside theme park that is opening a new log flume ride this year. 2
Bloomberg
2 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Fed's Powell Says Tariffs Likely to Lift Prices
00:00 We've had three months of of favorable inflation readings since the high readings of January, February. And that's, of course, highly welcome news. Part of that just is that services, core services, both housing services and non housing services have really been grinding down toward levels that are that are consistent with 2% inflation. So that's the good news. We've had goods inflation just moving up a bit. And of course, we expect, as you as you point out, we do expect to see more of that over the course of the summer. It takes some time for tariffs to work their way through the chain of distribution to the end consumer. A good example of that would be goods being sold at retailers today may have been imported several months ago before tariffs were imposed. So we're beginning to see some effects and we do expect to see more of them over coming months. We do we do also see price increases in some of the relevant categories, like personal computers and audio, visual equipment and things like that that are attributable to tariff increases. In addition, we look at surveys of businesses and there are many of those, and you do see a range of things, but many, many companies do expect to to put all or or some or all of the effect of tariffs through to the next person in the in the chain and ultimately to the consumer. Today, you know, the amount of these the amount of the tariff effects, the size of the tariff affects their duration and the time it will take are all highly uncertain. So that that is why we think the appropriate thing to do is to hold where we are as we learn more. And we think our policy stance is in a good place where we're well-positioned to react to incoming developments.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
French economy to grow 0.6% this year, INSEE says
PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - France's economy is on course for sluggish growth through the whole of 2025 as weak manufacturing activity and public sector belt-tightening weigh on output, national statistics agency INSEE forecast on Wednesday. The euro zone's second-biggest economy is expected to maintain a quarterly growth rate of 0.2% from the second quarter on through the rest of the year, INSEE said in its latest outlook. Manufacturing output will remain flat through year-end amid weak production prospects and poor order books. Consumer spending will provide only modest support, accelerating temporarily in the summer to 0.4% quarterly growth before slowing to 0.3% in the fourth quarter. For the full year, the economy would grow 0.6%, down from 1.1% last year as consumer spending and rebuilding of business inventories only partially offset weak foreign trade. That is marginally less than the 0.7% the government has forecast for the year, which could complicate its efforts to keep its budget deficit to its target of 5.4% of economic output. Inflation was seen averaging only 1% this year and even lower at 0.8% using an EU-harmonised method for calculation, due to lower power prices and a price war among telecoms operators. Household consumption, the traditional driver of French growth, was forecast to rise 0.7% this year, matching purchasing power gains, while the savings rate was seen stable at a high level of 18.2%. Overall, domestic demand's contribution to growth this year would ease to 0.5 percentage points from 0.6 points in 2024, while external trade would drag growth by 0.7 points after supporting it by 1.3 points last year.
