It doesn't matter if socialism is in action. What is the bottom line? Where / What are the trading opportunities?! which product, which exchange shall we trade? don't need to tell us when to enter the order as we will determine it on our own. 90% of the news out there is not meant for the traders.
U.K. has a free market in energy that is why the price rise is so high. In Europe where energy is nationalised, like Portugal, prices are going up 4%. U.K. has had cheaper energy than Europe for the last 25 years. The U.K. government will buck the free market and freeze prices if it wants to get re-elected. The alternative is a socialist Labour government who will probably nationalise the energy companies after the next election.
True, but other important factors are a) politicans dismantling nuclear power thinking that transient power (wind) can replace the steady power nuclear provides, the free market happily obliging given nuclear being more expensive, b) both politicians and the free market itself setting up reliance on Putin's fossil fuels because it was so attractively cheap... didn't work out very well. The power market is too important to be left entirely alone at its own short sightedness, yet competent long term steering is necessary or results as those now seen are an eventual certainty.
Nuclear is at 50% of capacity in France because there is not enough water to cool it and electricity prices are higher than Germany.
The reason is not "because there is not enough water to cool it". The actual reason is "half of EDF’s 56 nuclear reactors are offline due to planned maintenance and work to repair corrosion which was delayed by the pandemic". https://www.theguardian.com/busines...ower-output-as-french-river-temperatures-rise 2 out of 56 have closed due lack of cooling water IIRC.
This is not true. They don't have some magic source for energy. Making people pay for it in other ways so they only see a 4% increase on their power bill does not change that.
Another example of free market energy rates soaring is Texas. According to the Dallas Morning News, the average residential rate in Texas for June 2022 is 18.48 cents per kilowatt hour. Compared to June 2021, that's a 10.5-cent increase. That's a 76% increase, very close the UK's 80% increase.