Yahoo Finance Nvidia now worth more than entire FTSE 100
Nvidia is now worth more than the entire FTSE 100 as the US tech giant cashes in on the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
Shares in Nvidia have risen more than 13pc over the last five days after bosses this week revealed sales trebled over the last year amid bumper trading.
The jump has taken Nvidia’s market valuation to more than $2.8 trillion (£2.2 trillion). That’s more than the £2.15 trillion valuation placed on all FTSE 100 companies combined.
Nvidia has cashed in on huge demand for AI over the last year as its advanced computer chips have become the bedrock of systems such as ChatGPT.
The sharp increase in its valuation means it is now also closing in on Apple, which has a market capitalisation of $2.9 trillion, making it the world’s second most valuable company behind Microsoft.
Read the latest updates below.
06:17 PM BST
Signing off...
Thanks for joining us today. We’ll be back on the Markets blog in the morning, but I will leave you with Matt Oliver’s report that Rolls-Royce engines are to power Japan’s new fleet of naval destroyers:
Rolls-Royce has secured a multimillion-pound contract to supply engines for a new class of Japanese warship.
The British engineering giant confirmed on Thursday it will provide a propulsion machine for Tokyo’s planned Aegis system equipped vessels (ASEVs).
Each of the Japanese ships will have a propulsion system powered by two of Rolls’s MT30 engines.
The pair of destroyers will help to defend Japan from ballistic missiles carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads, amid concerns about China’s military buildup and rocket launches by North Korea.
Rolls makes cores for the MT30 engines in Derby and assembles the final products at its defence campus in Bristol.
06:16 PM BST
Amazon cuts Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service
Amazon is to axe its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service in five British cities after struggling to take on the major supermarkets, The Grocer reported.
The service in Glasgow, Leeds, Newcastle, Portsmouth and Sheffield will close in June. The American e-commerce giant will now concentrate on selling groceries delivered by established retailers, including Morrisons, the Co-op and Iceland.
An Amazon spokesman said:
Amazon Fresh online delivery and physical stores will continue to serve customers in many other parts of the country including London and parts of the South East, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester. We aim to provide a best-in-class grocery experience for our customers across the UK in store and online with wide selection, low prices and fast delivery.
Amazon launched the service in 2016, initially in London. At the time, it said that it would be “very methodical” in competing against British supermarkets which it acknowledged were “among the very best retailers in the world”.
Three years ago, it started a small chain of convenience stores, mostly in London, which allow shoppers to grab items and leave without paying at the checkout, but closed several last summer.
05:31 PM BST
Bonds suffer while FTSE 100 boosted by profit-beating Auto Trader
Britain’s stocks rose on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 snapping a six-day losing streak as Auto Trader hit a record high after a profit-beating update.
Most major sectors ended the day higher, led by the personal goods sector, which rose 3.0pc, followed by a 2.5pc rise in real estate investment trusts.
Energy shares dipped 0.3pc, however, tracking a fall oil prices.
Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG, said:
When you look at the last couple of days, [the indexes were] falling very sharply as yields rose. But this morning, the yield [on UK government bonds] started to come back off those highs, and we have a slight recovery in the FTSE 100.
The yield on the 2-year UK government bond pulled back from a three month high, and recorded its worst day since February 2023.
The benchmark FTSE 100 has retreated 2.8pc from a record high hit in mid-May as stronger than expected economic data prompted traders to pare back bets on U.S. and UK interest rate cuts this year.
05:26 PM BST
US central banker says current interest rate helping to ‘achieve our goals’
An American central banker said this afternoon that the current setting of monetary policy is in the right place to help inflation get back to 2pc, in remarks that gave no hints of when he thinks the Fed might be able to cut the cost of borrowing.
John Williams, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York president, said:
With the economy coming into better balance over time and the disinflation taking place in other economies reducing global inflationary pressures, I expect inflation to resume moderating in the second half of this year.
The behavior of the economy over the past year provides ample evidence that monetary policy is restrictive in a way that helps us achieve our goals.
05:11 PM BST
Tories revolt over ‘catastrophic’ cuts at Yorkshire mine owned by Anglo American
Anglo American is facing a backlash from local Tories over “catastrophic” cuts proposed at a Yorkshire fertiliser mine owned by the FTSE 100 company. Michael Bow reports:
Anglo is planning to scale back investment at the Woodsmith Mine in North Yorkshire after seeking to fend off a £39bn takeover bid from rival BHP.
Tory candidate Roberto Weeden-Sanz, who is campaigning for Scarborough and Whitby constituency where the mine is based, said the project should not become a “sacrificial lamb” for Anglo’s efforts to prevent a BHP takeover.
Mr Weeden-Sanz said he believed Anglo was planning to reduce the workforce by 1,500 and keep a skeleton staff of 100 at the site, which he warned would be “catastrophic”.
05:00 PM BST
Footsie closes up
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.6pc today. The top riser was Auto Trader, up 12.9pc, followed by Ocado, up 6.5pc. The biggest faller was accounting software business Sage, down 4.2pc, followed by Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company, down 4.33pc.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 rose 1.2pc. The biggest riser was Trainline, up 7.5pc, followed by Currys, down 7.2pc. The biggest faller wa Carex-maker PZ Cuzzons, down 4.7pc, followed by Bank of Georgia, down 4.17pc.
04:57 PM BST
Dr Martens shares stay flat despite cost cuts
Dr Martens rose just 0.1pc today after announcing a major cost-cutting drive this morning. Hannah Boland and Daniel Woolfson have more:
Dr Martens’ share price has fallen from as much as 500p per share in the wake of its initial public offering (IPO) to the current level of 85p. It has repeatedly disappointed investors since its £4bn stock market float in 2021.
Dr Martens said it expected weaker sales to continue for the near future, with revenues forecast to fall by a fifth in the first half of the year.
Kate Calvert, head of retail and consumer research at Investec, said: “The boot market collapsed last year - you’ve seen it from the results of other players like Timberland, they’re all down materially. It was a market-wide thing rather than Docs specific.”
The company was previously owned by the private equity firm Permira, which bought Dr Martens for £300m in 2013.
Speaking at the time of its stock market listing, Kenny Wilson, Dr Martens’ chief executive, said the float would help grow the company “further around the world”. He said: “We’ve got so much growth ahead of us. There is so much opportunity.”
However, expansion in the US proved to be problematic. A crucial Los Angeles warehouse ran into problems caused by an excess of stock in 2023, prompting a slump in the company’s share price.
Earlier this year, Dr Martens came under pressure to go private from a leading shareholder.
Marathon Partners Equity Management argued that remaining a publicly traded company was “likely no longer in the best interests of shareholders”.
04:48 PM BST
Revenue up by a fifth at Yorkshire Post owner National World
The publisher behind the Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman released an upbeat trading update today, revealing that its turnover had risen 18pc to £39.5m for the 21 weeks to May 25.
The rise came after the group bought the Midland News Association, publisher of a range of paid and free newspapers in the Midlands, Shropshire and Wales, along with farming and lifestyle magazines.
David Montgomery, chairman, said:
National World continues to make strong progress on three fronts - growing revenue in the face of a general sector decline, driving organic development with innovative product and platform launches and finally through a targeted acquisitions strategy.
Our transition towards full automation of content production processes has accelerated in the first half. There is greater focus on pivoting the workforce towards highly monetisable specialist content across all platforms, particularly higher yielding video, business information and events.
Consequently, we are differentiating the company as a leading innovator with a continually expanding reach.
The company was founded five years ago as a “consolidator” in the newspaper industry, growing through a series of takeovers.
04:12 PM BST
Klarna slashes costs ahead of float - using chatbots
Buy-now-pay-later business Klarna said its investments in artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots helped slash its costs ahead of a widely expected $20bn float. Matthew Field reports:
The Swedish company said revenues climbed 29pc to 6.4bn krona (£471m) while it cut its operating losses by 78pc.
Klarna said it made a profit of £17m on an adjusted basis. However, consumer credit losses climbed by 58pc.
The business said it had been able to save millions of dollars by using AI chatbots to do more marketing and customer service work, helping to cut its marketing spend by 11pc in the first three months of the year.
Klarna said it expected to save $10m on marketing costs annually and $40m in customer service costs thanks to a deal with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT.
The company has been gearing up for an initial public offering in the US, expected for early next year.
04:08 PM BST
US shares drop amid slow economic growth
US stock indexes have fallen this afternoon, with a plunge in cloud software company Salesforce dragging on the Dow Jones index of 30 top companies. Meanwhile, data showing the economy grew slower than previously expected in the first quarter supported bets of interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve this year.
The S&P 500 is down 0.5pc, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1pc. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite has fallen 0.8pc.
Salesforce was the biggest weight on the Dow, nosediving 20pc after it forecast second-quarter profit and revenue below Wall Street estimates due to weak client spending on its software.
US gross domestic product growth for the first quarter was lowered to 1.3pc, versus a previously estimated 1.6pc expansion, primarily due to downward revisions to consumer spending, the Commerce Department reported.
Ahead of Friday’s personal consumption expenditure report for April - the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge - first-quarter growth in the core Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index was revised down to 3.6pc from 3.7pc. Weekly jobless claims also rose more than expected.
US Treasury yields dipped following the report, while chances for a quarter percentage point interest rate reduction in September edged up to nearly 52pc, from 48.7pc before the data, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.
04:03 PM BST
Ferrari and luxury watches seized as alleged mastermind behind $100m cyber crime scheme arrested
A Chinese cyber criminal accused of orchestrating a hacking scheme that enabled child abuse, bomb hoaxes and billions of dollars in fraud has been arrested by the FBI. Matthew Field reports:
YunHe Wang, a Chinese national, was arrested on May 24 and charged with spreading computer viruses that infected millions of computers. He is accused of then selling access to the infected devices to other criminals.
The Department of Justice alleged that Mr Wang, 35, made nearly $100m (£78.6m) from the scheme, which is thought to be one of the biggest “botnet” frauds in history.
Mr Wang allegedly used the proceeds from this cyber crime campaign to buy luxury cars, watches, cryptocurrency and property around the world. If found guilty he faces 65 years in prison.
Almost a decade ago, the alleged cyber criminal launched a service called 911 S5. He is accused of using it to spread malware to 19 million computers through malicious software downloads and then selling access to infected computers - a so-called “botnet” - to other cyber criminals. They then used the machines to anonymously engage in online criminal activity and fraud.
US officials said criminals used the hacked computers to conduct cyber attacks, child exploitation, harassment, sanctions breaches and launch bomb threats. The infected PCs were also used to file 560,000 bogus unemployment insurance claims during the pandemic, costing $5.9bn.
Wang’s sprawling operation included 150 computer servers and touched more than 200 countries.
Matthew Axelrod, the US Commerce Department’s bureau of industry and security, said the charge sheet could have been “ripped from a screenplay”.
He said: “What they don’t show in the movies though is the painstaking work it takes by domestic and international law enforcement, working closely with industry partners, to take down such a brazen scheme.”
03:48 PM BST
Electric car prices to drop even further this year
Electric car prices will fall further this year as manufacturers resort to heavier discounting in an effort to boost sales, the boss of Auto Trader has predicted.
Matt Oliver reports:
Nathan Coe, Auto Trader’s chief executive, said discounts were increasing “month-to-month, and we do expect that to continue.”
He said: “Getting consumers to buy new cars from retailers [generally] is challenging and we’ve seen discounts go from effectively nothing up to around 10pc or so today on average.
“That’s true of [petrol] vehicles and EVs, but a bit more so for EVs because they are just not, in the minds of consumers, going to command such a big premium over their [petrol] counterparts.”
The level of price reductions has already reached record highs this year, with new EVs sold at an average discount of 10.6pc in April on the online dealer’s marketplace.
Petrol and diesel cars are also being discounted but not as heavily, data from the company shows.
03:06 PM BST
Chart: Nvidia worth more than entire FTSE 100
02:38 PM BST
Wall Street opens lower after economic data
US stocks are on the back foot this afternoon after GDP data showed economic growth was slower than previously thought in the first quarter.
The benchmark S&P 500 was down 0.1pc as markets opened, while the Dow Jones lost 0.2pc. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.3pc.
02:11 PM BST
Hunt puts pressure on Kretinsky to strengthen Royal Mail takeover guarantees
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has put pressure on Daniel Kretinsky to strengthen guarantees on his planned takeover of Royal Mail amid concerns the postal service could be broken up.
Mr Hunt said regulators should look at the deal’s undertakings “very carefully”, adding that the Government would also keep them under review.
Mr Kretinsky has made a series of legally binding undertakings as part of his £3.6bn bid for Royal Mail.
But some of the pledges will only be valid for three years, sparking fears about the billionaire’s future plans for the company.
In an interview with LBC, Mr Hunt said: “It’s entirely possible we will decide that we should extend it beyond that, but that’s for three years’ time.”
01:40 PM BST
US economy slows as consumer spending falls
The US economy grew at a slower pace than previously thought in the first quarter as consumers cut back spending.
GDP rose 1.3pc in the first three months of the year, below an initial estimate of 1.6pc, according to official figures just published.
Personal spending, which is the economy’s main driver of growth, rose 2pc, compared to the previous estimate of 2.5pc.
Meanwhile, the Fed’s preferred metric of inflation showed a 3.3pc increase in prices in the first quarter, slightly down from previous projections.
01:25 PM BST
US futures dip ahead of GDP data
US futures have dipped amid continued uncertainty about interest rates and as investors turn their attention to looming GDP data.
Tech giants such as Alphabet, Microsoft and Nvidia slipped between 0.4pc and 0.8pc in pre-market trading, extending losses from yesterday.
Figures for first-quarter GDP, due this afternoon, will be closely watched for signs of how the US economy is faring.
12:39 PM BST
Red Bull strikes sponsorship deal with Leeds United
Red Bull has taken a minority stake in Leeds United and will become the club’s main shirt sponsor next season.
The energy drinks brand is best known for its world champion Formula One team, but also has deals with football clubs RB Leipzig, Red Bull Salzburg and New York Red Bulls.
Leeds will spend a second consecutive season in the Championship after losing to Southampton in last weekend’s play-off final at Wembley.
Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s head of corporate projects and investments, said the company hoped to help the club back into the top flight.
He said: “The ambition to bring Leeds United back to the Premier League and establish themselves in the best football league in the world fits very well with Red Bull.”
12:14 PM BST
Crispin Odey sues Financial Times for libel after sexual assault claims
Crispin Odey is suing the Financial Times for libel, almost a year after the newspaper published allegations of sexual harassment against the hedge fund tycoon.
Adam Mawardi has the story:
The millionaire financier filed a legal claim against the Financial Times for defamation, libel and slander on Wednesday, according to court filings.
Mr Odey, 65, has hired lawyers from Gardner Leader to bring the action in the High Court, as first reported by trade magazine The Lawyer.
It comes after the Financial Times last June published allegations about Mr Odey’s treatment of women over a 25-year period.
The allegations concern 13 women who claimed to have been abused or harassed by Mr Odey, eight of whom said they had been sexually assaulted.
The former Tory donor was accused of forcibly kissing women, inappropriately touching their breasts and making crude, sexist remarks to female employees.
Lawyers for Mr Odey have “strenuously” denied the allegations against him.
12:05 PM BST
Almost half of people dipping into savings as cost-of-living crisis bites
Almost half of people are dipping into their savings to cover everyday costs as the squeeze on household finances continues to take its toll.
People are having to dip into their savings around three times a month on average, according to a survey by Compare the Market.
27pc said they are unable to save anything at all, while a quarter can only save between £100 and £250 per month.
That’s despite 61pc of people feeling more optimistic about their finances compared to this time last year, with just one in three (39pc) feeling more pessimistic.
Three quarters feel confident about being able to manage and pay their household bills in the coming months.
Andy Hancock, chief growth officer at Compare the Market, said:
It is encouraging that people are seemingly confident about their ability to manage and pay their everyday bills in the summer months ahead, signalling a positive outlook on the consistency and reliability of their financial situations.
However, our research shows that many people are still struggling to save on a monthly basis, and a significant number are having to rely on those savings each month to pay for everyday bills or lean on credit cards for additional costs such as holidays.
11:18 AM BST
Germany to scrap gas storage tariff after backlash
Germany will abolish a tariff it charges neighbouring countries for buying gas from its reserves following a backlash.
Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia have all complained that the levy – which was introduced at the peak of the energy crisis in 2022 – hampers their ability to boycott Russian gas by making it more expensive to buy non-Russian fuel delivered via Germany.
Germany placed the tax on gas taken from its reserves in an effort to recoup the billions of euros it spent buying fuel from alternative sources at sky-high prices to avoid shortages.
Following the complaints to the European Commission, German energy state secretary Sven Giegold said his country had agreed to scrap the levy, but warned this won’t happen before next year.
11:00 AM BST
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic fights to stay on NYSE
Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism venture Virgin Galactic is scrambling to save its US listing after its share price fell below the minimum required under stock exchange rules.
James Titcomb has the story:
On Wednesday night it said it had received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that its shares had traded at an average price below $1 - the Wall Street minimum - for 30 days, putting it in potential breach of listing rules.
The breach puts Virgin Galactic at risk of being kicked off the New York Stock Exchange unless it can boost its share price.
The company last month asked shareholders to approve a “reverse stock split”, in which shares are merged to increase the value of each individual unit. Investors will decide whether to approve the measure at the company’s annual meeting in June.
Virgin Galactic’s shares have slumped in the last year amid a series of setbacks to its plans to take paying members of the public to space.
10:42 AM BST
How copying America’s money-printing scheme could save British taxpayers billions
With an election just weeks away, both Labour and the Tories are keen to convince voters they are the safest pair of hands to look after the economy.
But whoever walks into Number 10 Downing Street come 5 July will find themselves severely constrained by an unusual force: the Bank of England.
Jeremy Hunt had to send more than £44bn to the central bank last year.
That is bigger than the entire budgets for some government departments. Defence is getting just under £33bn for 2024 to 2025, for instance.
Hunt – or Rachel Reeves, should Labour win – can expect to sign another cheque to the Bank for £34.5bn this financial year.
Tim Wallace reports on the BoE’s money-printing spree. Read his full story here.
10:24 AM BST
Ryanair loses EU court ruling over rival bailout
Ryanair has lost a legal challenge in an EU court over a Covid bailout for a rival airline.
The EU’s top court upheld a previous ruling that the €600m package handed to Finnair didn’t break the bloc’s rules on state aid.
Ryanair, which is the biggest budget airline in Europe, has filed more than two dozen legal challenges over billions of euros in state aid doled out to rivals including Lufthansa.
It has had some success, and last year won an EU court challenge against the approval of a €3.4bn state aid package for Air France.
10:09 AM BST
Hunt: Government could extend Royal Mail break-up pledge
Jeremy Hunt has said the Government could extend undertakings made by a Czech tycoon ahead of his £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail amid concerns the postal service could be broken up in three years.
Daniel Kretinsky, known as the “Czech sphinx”, made a serious a legally binding undertakings alongside his bid, including a pledge not to break off the lucrative GLS parcels business from the group’s struggling letters business.
However, this undertaking is only valid for three years, raising concerns Royal Mail could soon by broken up.
Speaking on LBC, the Chancellor said regulators should look at the guarantees “very carefully”.
He said: “I can’t predict what’s going to happen in five years or 10 years’ time, but three years is a very long time. And I’m sure the government will keep it under review.
“And it’s entirely possible, we will decide that we should extend it beyond that. But that’s for three years’ time.”
Responding to concerns that the 500-year-old postal service will fall into foreign ownership for the first time in its history, Mr Hunt said: “I do think that for our economy to modernise, we need to attract investment from all over the world.”
10:01 AM BST
Queen poised for $1bn payday as band eyes back catalogue sale
ICYMI – Sony Music is in talks to buy Queen’s back catalogue of songs in a deal worth $1bn (£790m).
Adam Mawardi reports:
The US record company is reportedly working with another investor to acquire the rights to the British rock band’s best-selling hits, such as Bohemian Rhapsody, Don’t Stop Me Now and We Will Rock You.
Sony Music, which is managed by the entertainment division of Japan’s Sony Group, is also plotting to secure Queen’s merchandising rights.
The agreement is potentially worth up to $1bn and would be one of the biggest deals of its kind, Bloomberg reported.
The negotiations are ongoing and may not result in an agreement.
Queen band members Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and the estate of former frontman Freddie Mercury are equal shareholders in Queen Productions, which recorded £40.9m in revenue in 2022.
It follows previous reports last year that the rock band were in talks to sell its catalogue in a deal between Disney and Universal.
09:51 AM BST
Auto Trader boosted by ‘robust’ second-hand car demand
Auto Trader saw its profits rise by almost a fifth last year as it cashed in on “robust” demand for used cars.
The online car marketplace reported an 18pc increase in pre-tax profits to £345m for the year to the end of March as two-thirds of UK car buyers used its platform.
Auto Trader said it had benefitted from “continually strong levels of demand” for both new and used vehicles thanks to increased supply.
It also said losses of £8.8m from its car rental business Autorama are expected to reduce, despite the leasing market remaining tight.
Shares were up more than 12pc in morning trading.
The strong trading for Auto Trader comes even as other car sellers struggle. Cazoo collapsed into administration earlier this month after slashing hundreds of jobs as part of a restructuring.
Nathan Coe, chief executive of Auto Trader, said:
This has been another year of strong financial, operational and strategic progress for Auto Trader.
We are confident in our prospects for the year ahead and, in the longer term, we see significant opportunities to continue growing our marketplace and to move more of the car buying process online, on Auto Trader.
09:33 AM BST
Nightcap walks away from Revolution Bars takeover
Bar owner Nightcap has walked away from a potential rescue deal for struggling rival Revolution
Nightcap, which runs 46 UK bars including the Cocktail Club and Dirty Martini chains, said it was “disappointed” its merger proposal had been rejected by its larger rival earlier this week.
Revolution last month launched a sale process and major restructuring plans in a bid to stay afloat. The plans include a £12.5m fundraising and the closure of 18 venues.
But on Tuesday it rebuffed the proposed offer from Nightcap, warning it was “incapable of being delivered”.
09:24 AM BST
Jaguar Land Rover trains thousands of electric car mechanics amid high repair costs
Thousands of electric car mechanics are being trained by Jaguar Land Rover amid concerns that a skills shortage is forcing drivers to pay more for repair costs, writes Matt Oliver.
The company on Thursday announced it had now trained 95pc of the mechanics at its affiliated garages to handle electric vehicles (EVs), equivalent to more than 10,000 people globally.
They include 1,651 mechanics across 136 JLR workshops in the UK.
At the same time, the car maker is training some 2,400 factory workers in Britain in EV production methods.
The training effort comes as the car maker prepares to launch the first all-electric Range Rover later this year.
Only one in five car mechanics are currently trained to service EVs, according to the Institute of the Motor Industry, allowing garages who do have the expertise to charge higher fees.
That has contributed to higher insurance premiums for EV drivers as well, according to providers.
09:13 AM BST
OpenAI strikes licensing deal with The Atlantic and Vox Media
ChatGPT maker OpenAI has struck licensing deals with The Atlantic and Vox Media as publishers increasingly sell access to their content to help train AI.
The deal will allow OpenAI to display news from The Atlantic and Vox – which owns titles including New York Magazine and The Verge – in ChatGPT.
The startup will also be able to use articles from the publishers to help train its technology.
It follows similar deals with organisations including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and the Financial Times and comes amid concerns about wholesale copyright breaches by AI firms.
08:50 AM BST
Saudi Arabia to launch $10bn Aramco share offer
Saudi Arabia is preparing to formally launch a secondary offering of shares in oil giant Aramco in a deal that could raise more than $10bn.
The government plans to run a book-building process to take orders until next Thursday, Bloomberg reported.
The deal is said to have attracted informal interest from investors across the Middle East and Europe and could be among the largest of its kind in recent years.
The offering will likely be priced at a further discount of as much as 10pc to the trading price, though that level could change based on investor demand.
08:41 AM BST
Millennial homeownership hits 12-year high as young get richer
Homeownership among millennials is at its highest level in more than a decade after earnings among young people rose three times faster than the general population.
Alex Singleton has more:
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published research on Wednesday showing there had been a rebound in property ownership among 25 to 34-year-olds, recovering from a low in 2015.
Since that year, the number of homeowners across that age bracket rose from 33pc to 39pc, according to the latest data for 2022. This is the highest percentage since 2010.
The IFS said the reasons for the recovery were “not immediately clear, though it is noticeable that disposable incomes of young adults have grown markedly faster since 2015 than those of the population as a whole”.
08:35 AM BST
FTSE risers and fallers
The FTSE 100 is languishing close to a one-month low as investors look ahead to key US inflation data tomorrow.
The blue-chip index was down as much as 0.2pc in early trading, extending its losing streak to the seventh straight session. The domestically-focused FTSE 250 ticked marginally higher.
Investors are showing caution ahead of tomorrow’s US inflation data, while a speech by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey will also be closely watched for hints about the next interest rate decision.
Anglo American was among the biggest fallers this morning, down as much as 2.3pc after BHP walked away from its £39bn takeover pursuit. BHP was down 1.4pc.
Auto Trader soared 8.5pc and was the top gainer on the FTSE 100 as the online car marketplace beat full-year profit estimates.
Bootmaker Dr Martens led gains on the mid-cap index with a 5pc jump after laying out cost-saving plans.
08:22 AM BST
Jeremy Hunt: Labour can’t make up their mind
Jeremy Hunt has taken aim at Labour after accusing the party of planning a raid on VAT.
The Chancellor insisted the Conservative Party would not increase national insurance, income tax or VAT while accusing Labour of planning to hike taxes.
He told the Today programme: “When you have an economy that since 2010 has created more jobs, attracted more investment and grown faster than nearly any other European economy, it is a big risk to hand that to a party that can’t make up its mind on basic issues.
“Because when Labour can’t make up their mind taxes go up, as sure as night follows day.”
Read more: Jeremy Hunt accuses Labour of plotting VAT raid
08:02 AM BST
FTSE 100 starts in the red
The FTSE 100 has started the day on the back foot as the index looks set to continue its losing streak.
The blue-chip index slipped 0.2pc at the open to 8,165 points.
07:49 AM BST
De La Rue in talks over takeover deal
Banknote printer De La Rue has revealed it’s in talks with potential suitors interested in buying each of its core divisions.
The company, which prints notes for the Bank of England and other central banks around the globe, said it had spoken to a “number of parties who have made proposals” related to either its currency or authentication operations.
It follows a strategic review - though De La Rue warned there was no certainty a deal would take place.
Clive Whiley, chairman of De La Rue, said:
Since my appointment a year ago, the board has considered a broad range of possible strategic alternatives including transactions with multiple parties which may involve a combination with, or the sale of, the group’s divisions.
The board confirms that the discussions with the relevant parties are advancing, and we expect to update further at the time of the full year results in July.
07:35 AM BST
Dr Martens puts the boot in on costs
Dr Martens is embarking on a major cost-cutting plan after the bootmaker was hit by plummeting demand in the US.
The London-listed company said it wants to save up to £25m in the coming financial year after profits fell 43pc to £97m due to a slump in its US wholesale business.
Bosses said the cuts would come from “organisational efficiency and design, better procurement and operational streamlining”.
Kenny Wilson, chief executive of Dr Martens, said:
We are clear that we need to drive demand in the USA to return to growth in (financial year 2026) onwards and are executing a detailed plan to achieve this, with refocused and increased USA marketing investment in the year ahead.
We are also announcing a cost action plan across the group, targeting savings of £20m to £25m. I am confident that the actions we are taking as we enter this year of transition will put us in good shape for the years ahead.
07:27 AM BST
Homebuyers still cautious amid high mortgage costs
While the jump in housing supply will undoubtedly help to keep a lid on soaring house price inflation, buyers are still showing caution as mortgage costs remain near their highest in four decades.
The number of sales agreed in May rose 13pc year on year, but buyer confidence is lagging behind those with a property to sell in most regions.
Almost a third of homes currently available for sale were also listed for sale in 2023 but failed to find a buyer, according to Zoopla.
Affordability is the biggest obstacle to buyer demand. The average UK house cost around nine times earnings in late 2022, the highest since 1876.
07:20 AM BST
5 things to start your day
Good morning
1) Royal Mail at risk of being broken up after £3.6bn foreign takeover | Fears postal service will be carved up as Czech billionaire nears full ownership
2) Shell and Exxon to sell £390m gas fields in North Sea exit | Oil giants end 60-year long venture in British oil basin
3) Millennial homeownership hits 12-year high as young get richer | Wages among young people have risen faster than the general population since 2015
4) How copying America’s money-printing scheme could save British taxpayers billions | Without change, the Bank of England will be a strain on the Treasury for decades to come
5) BBC cyber attack exposes details of 25,000 current and former staff | Employees told to stay ‘vigilant’ after raid on pension scheme data
What happened overnight
In America, the S&P 500 closed down 0.7pc, at 5,266.95, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading US companies closed down 1.1pc, at 38,441.54, while the Nasdaq Composite index fell 0.6pc, to close at 16,920.58.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds hit a four-week high at 4.61pc, up from 4.54pc late on Tuesday.
Hong Kong stocks opened with another loss on Thursday morning following a retreat on Wall Street.
The Hang Seng Index edged down 0.29pc to 18,423.78, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.23pc to 3,103.71, while the Shenzhen Composite Index on China’s second exchange dipped 0.23pc to 1,730.14.
In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.15pc to 38,115.19 in early trade, while the broader Topix index lost 1.55pc to 2,699.09.
