Shares are selling off across the globe, driven by fears in the US over interest rate hikes. a debt-fuelled spending splurge on AI infrastructure.
Brent crude has dropped just over 1% to $77.11 a barrel after the US waived sanctions on Iran for 60 days. as both sides try to hammer out a permanent peace deal.
Gold prices dropped 2% as the US dollar hit a one-year high. making gold more expensive for overseas buyers, on increased rate hike expectations. Traders now see an 86% chance of a rate hike by December, up from 61% before last week’s Fed meeting.
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Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. Stay cool! – JK
Back to Wall Street, where the Nasdaq. the S&P 500 have fallen to over one-week lows, dragged lower by losses in semiconductor stocks.
The Nasdaq is down just over 2% and would lose over $1 trillion in market value if losses hold. Nvidia fell 3%, Google owner Alphabet slid 1.2%. chipmakers Intel, Marvell Technology and Advanced Micro Devices have fallen between 6.2% and 8.7%.
Memory chipmakers Micron Technology. SanDisk, which had been among the best performers on the S&P 500 this year, slumed 12% and 13% respectiely.
Nigel Green, chief executive of investment adviser deVere Group, told Reuters:
double quotation mark The AI trade became one of the most crowded trades in global markets. When everybody owns the same stocks, the exit door becomes very small very quickly.
Shares in Elon Musk ’s SpaceX fell 4.8% after making its stock market debut earlier this month. wiping more than $600bn off the company’s market value over the past three trading sessions.
Markets are increasingly betting on a interest rate hike from the US Federal Reserve by December.
Over here. Bank of England rate-setter Alan Taylor said on Tuesday that an “extended hold” for interest rates was the right response to rising price pressures because of the conflict in the Middle East.
Taylor said in the text of a speech due to be delivered at an event hosted by Barclays and the Centre for Economic Policy Research. a think tank:
double quotation mark Until we have greater certainty. then, an extended hold at this level is, to me, very much the correct and appropriately measured policy response we need, given the balance of risks.
The opening bell has run on Wall Street,. US stocks have fallen again as investors worry about interest rate hikes and debt-funded spending on AI infrastructure.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq has fallen 624 points, or 2.4%, to 25,542, a 2.4% drop. The Dow Jones is down 358 points. or 0.7%, at 51,354, while the S&P 500 lost 120 points, or 1.6%, to 7,352.
Jonathan Haskel, the academic. former Bank of England interest rate setter, has been named as the Treasury’s preferred choice as the next chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Haskel. an economics professor at Imperial College London who served on the Bank’s monetary policy committee from 2018 to 2024 , is expected to take up his post “in good time” ahead of the next annual budget, the finance ministry said.
His appointment is subject to approval from parliament’s Treasury select committee. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, said:
double quotation mark Jonathan Haskel is an outstanding nominee for chair. His depth of expertise in economics. his track record of independent, rigorous analysis make him exactly the right person to lead the OBR.
The OBR, an independent body that publishes Britain’s economic. fiscal forecasts based on the government’s budget, has been without a chair since December following the resignation of Richard Hughes (who has since been co-opted by Andy Burnham ).
Hughes stepped down after the OBR mistakenly published its economic. fiscal outlook, which contained all of Reeves’ 2025 budget details, on its website early, which Reuters was first to report.
double quotation mark The OBR plays an indispensable role in maintaining the transparency. integrity of the UK’s public finances, and I am committed to upholding that.
Business activity in the eurozone shrank for a third month in June, though at a slower pace, as a modest recovery in tourism. leisure failed to fully offset a sustained fall in new business, according to a survey.
June’s flash reading of the S&P Global eurozone Composite PMI rose to 49.5 from 48.5 in May, a three-month high,. still in contraction territory (any reading below points to a decline).
Bert Colijn at ING said:
double quotation mark This still marks sluggish economic activity for the bloc. the easing of price pressures indicated by the survey is encouraging.
After already signalling contraction in business activity in April. May this surely rounds out a weak quarter for economic growth in the euro zone.
New orders fell for the fourth consecutive month in June but at a slower pace. A moderate recovery in factory new orders was not enough to offset a continued decline in services demand.
The services PMI for the eurozone edged up to 48.9 from 47.7 in May, also a three-month high,. remained negative.
Germany’s private sector activity contracted at its fastest pace in 18 months in June as the services downturn deepened, but in France the contraction eased as declines in manufacturing. services output both slowed. The rest of the eurozone as a whole recorded modest output growth.
In Britain, outside the European Union, the services sector contracted this month at the fastest rate in nearly three-and-a-half years.
Employment fell slightly in the euro zone this month. Services staffing nudged slightly higher but manufacturing payrolls continued to shrink.
Input costs rose at their slowest pace since just before the outbreak of the Iran war in February, easing across both manufacturing. services. Factory gate inflation also slowed but by less than input costs. Pierre Roke at Validus Risk Management said:
double quotation mark With inflationary pressures showing signs of easing. the ECB may now have more room to refocus on the weakening domestic growth picture.
The European Central Bank hiked interest rates on 11 June as a war-related surge in energy costs pushed overall inflation over 3%. well above the ECB’s 2% target.
The Flash Eurozone Manufacturing PMI dipped to 51.3 in June from 51.6, a four-month low. Factory output continued to expand, boosted by stockpiing as clients sought to get ahead of potential future price rises. supply disruptions.
Business confidence improved for a second consecutive month after hitting a 31-month low in April, but sentiment remained relatively subdued.
Campaigners have lost their high court challenges over the expansion of Gatwick Airport, but have said they will appeal.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander approved the £2.2bn scheme in September. under which the West Sussex airport would move its emergency runway 12 metres north to accommodate about 100,000 more flights a year.
Campaigner Peter Barclay. campaign group Communities Against Gatwick Noise Emissions ( Cagne ) took legal action against the Department for Transport (DfT) over the decision, telling a January hearing that it was unlawful as the government had not properly assessed the climate impacts of the expansion.
The DfT. the airport’s owner, Gatwick Airport Limited, defended the challenge, with lawyers for the site claiming it was “unarguable”.
In a ruling on Tuesday, Mr Justice Mould dismissed Barclay and Cagne’s appeals. He said in a 100-page judgment that Alexander concluded that while the proposed development will have moderately adverse. significant effects, it will not “materially impact” the government’s ability to meet net zero targets.
The judge continued:
double quotation mark The secretary of state for transport does not resile from her finding. the proposed development will not fully contribute to the UK’s trajectory towards net zero.
On the contrary. that significant effect leads her to place moderate adverse weight against the making of the development consent order.
She does not, however, treat that finding as determinative of her judgment.
He concluded. it was “neither illogical nor contradictory” for the transport secretary to not refuse the proposed development “on the basis that it would have a material impact on the ability of government to meet its carbon reduction targets”.
The judge also rejected an argument about the need for the expansion at Gatwick, given the proximity to Heathrow.
He said the department for transport had considered that Gatwick is primarily a leisure airport. largely served by low-cost carrier flights, with passenger numbers expected to grow.
He said Alexander “considered both the need for. the socio-economic effects of the proposed development to be important and relevant considerations” in making her decision, adding: “Her conclusions are rational and supported by proper, adequate and intelligible reasons.”
In a statement after the ruling, Cagne said it would not accept the judgment “as the final word”.
double quotation mark Our legal team will now consider an appeal,. we will continue to stand up for the communities who will be forced to live with the consequences of this expansion.
Cagne are obviously disappointed by today’s ruling. Communities across Sussex, Surrey. Kent helped fund this legal action because they have grave and legitimate concerns about the proposed expansion: the lack of airport funding for essential infrastructure, the absence of proper investment in sewerage treatment, the increased noise burden on local residents, worsening air quality, and the significant rise in CO2 and other harmful emissions.
Today’s ruling provides no reassurance for those concerns. It does not change the fact that local communities are being asked to carry the consequences while the airport fails to provide the funding needed to protect the people. places affected.
It is fundamentally wrong that taxpayers should be expected to meet the costs of new runway operations while shareholders stand to profit from an additional 101,000 flights a year. 80 million passengers. The public should not be left to pay for the infrastructure, environmental damage and disruption created by private gain.
This Government must stop viewing aviation expansion through rose-tinted glasses. relying on unsubstantiated claims of economic benefit while ignoring the vast local and global environmental costs.
Communities deserve honesty, accountability and protection — not another decision that sidelines their health, homes and environment.
Barclay said after the decision:
double quotation mark Both before. since the development consent order was approved by the secretary of state, the climate change committee, and now the parliamentary environmental audit committee also, have strongly recommended there should be no airport expansion.
The expansion decision ignores that advice. the judgment today provides no answer on how outdated National Policy Statements should be addressed.
Thus we must continue to challenge the Secretary of State’s decision to allow Gatwick to proceed with this highly damaging project.
A London Gatwick spokesperson said the airport was pleased with the ruling.
double quotation mark Our exciting plans will deliver significant business, tourism. trade benefits for the UK, including 14,000 new jobs and a £1bn boost to the economy every year.
This is a victory for common sense. We now look forward to turning our plans into reality and will announce further details in due course.
The boss of Royal Mail ’s parent company received almost £7m in pay. bonuses – more than triple last year’s figure – despite group profits slumping by a fifth.
Martin Seidenberg, group chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), took home £6.9m in pay, bonus. long-term incentive scheme awards in the year to 31 March, compared with £2.1m the previous year.
The company said the bumper pay package was due to the £3.6bn takeover by the Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský, which resulted in IDS being de-listed last June. triggered the vesting of incentive awards and share-based bonuses to Seidenberg. In addition, no award plans vested the previous year.
IDS said in its annual report, published on Tuesday:
double quotation mark The vesting of awards was accelerated at the point of takeover. This explains the increase in emoluments of the highest-paid director.
In total the company’s executive directors took home £9.8m last year, more than double the £4.2m the previous year.
IDS, which owns Royal Mail. the parcel delivery service GLS, reported that adjusted operating profits fell by 20% to £222m in the year to 31 March.
While profits at Royal Mail grew to £5m from £2m a year earlier, GLS reported a 17% decline to £237m owing to factors including regulatory changes in Italy affecting the delivery sector. the impact of US tariffs on businesses in Canada.
The pawnbroker Ramsdens has agreed to be bought by its US rival FirstCash for £206m. the latest company to exit the London stock exchange.
The deal means that the firm will be taken off the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). nearly a decade since it floated on the London junior market.
The Ramsdens share price jumped nearly 31% on the news.
The British firm’s pawnbroking business allows people to take out a loan against the value of a piece of jewellery, watch or other valuable item; it also has a precious metals buying service, jewellery shop,. foreign exchange unit.
Ramsdens shareholders will receive up to 609p a share under the offer. which represents a 35% premium to its latest closing price. It values the business’s share capital at £206m, including dividend payments.
FirstCash is an international pawnbroking business with 3,300 sites across the US, South America. the UK, and is listed on the US’s Nasdaq index.
It said buying Ramsdens’ 174 stores will help it grow in the UK market, particularly into areas across the north of England. Scotland.
Ramsdens, which is based in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, has benefited from the rising price of gold this year. The most recent spike occurred at the beginning of March following US-Israeli missile attacks on Iran. when spot gold hit $5,400 an ounce.
Ramsdens said this encourages more people to come into shops to sell unwanted jewellery. which it can then sell on for a profit.
FirstCash said cost savings could be made by combining some head office and administrative functions.
Peter Kenyon, the Ramsdens chief executive, said:
double quotation mark I am exceptionally proud of the group’s transformational growth since our Initial Public Offering (IPO) on AIM in February 2017.
Less than a decade on, we have added 50 Ramsdens stores to the UK high street, created over 300 jobs. significantly grown our profit-before-tax.
I remain highly confident that there are significant opportunities for further growth over the coming years.
Yorkshire Water has flagged a water outage, affecting customers in Easingwold, Tollerton and some surrounding areas.
The water company said:
double quotation mark Some customers in Easingwold, Tollerton. surrounding areas may still be experiencing low water pressure or no water while we continue to respond to the impact of a third-party pollution incident on the river Ouse.
Thank you for your patience while we get everything back to normal.
Yorkshire Water had to turn off its water treatment works on Monday due to the impact of a third-party pollution incident on the river Ouse.
Its water treatment works is now back up. running, but while the company fills the system back up some customers might have lower water pressure or no water in some places.
double quotation mark We’re hopeful this will not be prolonged,. given the warm weather, we have taken the decision to set up bottled water stations. We have delivered bottled water to customers on our Priority Services Register. We’re sorry for the disruption this will cause.
Customers can continue to collect bottled water from the following sites:
Galtres Centre car park YO61 3BU
Easingwold Football Club YO61 3RN
Rawcliffe Bar Park and Ride YO30 5XZ
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