Coronavirus contingency planning

Get straight to the good stuff every day with the Multiply Minute; a lightning-quick round-up of the money news and how it affects you.

Coronavirus curfew coming?

In case you hadn’t heard, coronavirus is now in Europe. If it starts to spread, the UK government has plans to slow it down by shutting schools and restricting travel. Families may also be asked to self-isolate if one member shows any symptoms. Don't start skipping work though - they're only contingency plans.

Markets feeling fluey

The FTSE 100 fell 2% yesterday amid the concern over a coronavirus pandemic, dipping below 7,100 points for the first time since October last year. Travel and engineering firms were among the biggest fallers, over concerns that the virus (and attempts to constrain it) will harm their profits

Tax temperature check

A leading think tank has warned chancellor Rishi Sunak that his spending plans won’t be possible without raising taxes. Ahead of next month’s budget, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the government risked breaking its anti-borrowing rules otherwise. It's a sticky situation though: in last year’s election manifesto, the Conservatives promised not to put up income tax, national insurance or VAT.

Even higher earners

The wealthiest people in the country are actually richer than we realised (paywall). The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has overhauled the way it looks at the data and is now reporting that the average wage of the top 10% of earners was £97,600 in 2017-18. That’s almost £10,000 more than previously thought.