Pound and UK bonds recovering after Starmer backs Reeves; US economy adds 147,000 jobs in June – business live
The bond market is looking calmer this morning, as traders welcome Keir Starmer’s endorsement of Rachel Reeves.The prices on UK government debt are rising in early trading, which pulls down the yield (or interest rate) on the bonds.The yield on UK 30-year bonds has dipped by 0.8% in early trading, to 5.361%
UK government bond markets rally after Starmer backs Reeves
UK government bonds have rallied after Keir Starmer backed Rachel Reeves to remain as chancellor for “a very long time” despite lingering investor concerns over a multibillion-pound hole in Britain’s public finances.The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 10-year British government bonds, also known as gilts, fell on Thursday morning to trade close to 4.5%, reversing much of the rise on Wednesday sparked by feverish speculation over Reeves’s future.The pound rose against other leading currencies, while a closely watched business survey showed that Britain’s dominant service sector recorded its fastest rate of growth in 10 months.Some of the gains were later pegged back after the release of stronger-than-anticipated US job market figures, which fuelled a rise in US government borrowing costs as investors bet the Federal Reserve may delay cutting interest rates
Smaller firms to escape ‘burdensome’ Companies House filing rules
Changes to Companies House rules that would have axed an exemption allowing smaller businesses to file abbreviated accounts have been delayed amid concerns they could burden them with more red tape.Legislation brought in by the previous Conservative administration is due to compel companies with a turnover under £10.2m, balance sheets under £5.1m and fewer than 50 employees to disclose more detail in their annual accounts from April 2027.However, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, is understood to have halted the move to reduce regulatory hurdles for small firms
P&O Ferries boss got pay rise of at least 55% after firing almost 800 workers
The boss of P&O Ferries was paid £683,000 in the financial year after the cross-Channel operator outraged the public and parliament by dismissing almost 800 mainly British workers.The windfall, revealed in much delayed 2023 accounts seen by the Guardian and ITV News that report more than £90m of annual losses, represents a pay rise of at least 55% for Peter Hebblethwaite, who was the company’s highest-paid director.The top pay package in 2022 of £440,000 was earned by a former P&O Ferries board member.Hebblethwaite told a parliamentary select committee last year that his salary was £325,000, and he had received a bonus in 2023 of £183,000. He was asked during the appearance if he was “a pirate” who appeared to be “robbing staff blind”
Australia’s privacy watchdog warns ‘vishing’ on the rise as Qantas strengthens security after cyber-attack
Qantas has said it will beef up its security and threat detection after a cyber-attack affecting up to 6 million customers, as Australia’s privacy watchdog has warned attacks using social engineering to gain access to data are on the rise.In an update to customers on Thursday, the airline said more security measures would be put in place after cybercriminals were able to gain access to a third-party system used by a Qantas airline contact centre to steal customers’ personal information.“We’re … putting additional security measures in place to further restrict access and strengthen system monitoring and detection,” the company said.Qantas began emailing affected customers on Wednesday evening but had not indicated as of Thursday afternoon whether any compensation would be provided to those who had their personal information compromised.Cybersecurity analysts indicated to Guardian Australia that, as of Thursday afternoon, the data had not yet been posted on forums or dark web locations that attackers commonly frequent
UK rail regulator rejects Virgin’s bid for west coast mainline route
Richard Branson’s hopes of returning Virgin trains to the west coast mainline have been dashed after the UK rail regulator rejected its application amid concerns over delays and cancelled journeys.The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has rebuffed three applications for new additional train services on Britain’s busiest line.Virgin, along with First Group’s East Coast Trains, known as Lumo, and Wrexham, Shropshire & Midlands Railway (WSMR) all lost their bids.The regulator said new services could not be introduced because of insufficient space on the west coast mainline (WCML), which would “likely detriment … train performance”.Most intercity services on the line are operated by Avanti West Coast, which already shares some paths with West Midlands Trains and Transport for Wales, and freight
‘A billion people backing you’: China transfixed as Musk turns against Trump
AI companies start winning the copyright fight
China hosts first fully autonomous AI robot football match
Whitehall’s ambition to cut costs using AI is fraught with risk
Musk vows to unseat lawmakers who support Trump’s sweeping spending bill
Gov.uk smartphone app to launch with limited functionality
US adds 147,000 jobs in June, surpassing expectations amid Trump trade war
The US economy added 147,000 jobs in June, a sign of continuing strength in the labor market amid Donald Trump’s trade war.The number of jobs added surpassed expectations, as economists largely anticipated a drop in openings. Instead, 3,000 more jobs were added in June compared with May, according to new job figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The unemployment rate actually decreased to 4.1%, down from 4
Reeves’s fearsome challenge: to balance backbenchers and bond markets
It was Bill Clinton’s political adviser James Carville, way back in the 1990s, who said that in another life he would like to “come back as the bond market” – in preference to a president or a pope – because “you can intimidate everybody”.Even Donald Trump, that most wilful of politicians, has been forced to retreat in the face of bond market moves in recent months, ditching the most extreme of his “reciprocal” tariffs after US Treasury yields jumped.And despite the traditional status of US Treasuries (government bonds) as a safe haven for global investors, it is still not clear how well financial markets will be able to swallow the $3.3tn increase in debt coming down the tracks if Trump’s “big beautiful bill” is passed.So when investors dumped gilts (UK government bonds) on Wednesday, as Rachel Reeves wept in the Commons, it was an abrupt reminder that Labour backbenchers were not the only audience the government must placate
AI helps find formula for paint to keep buildings cooler
AI-engineered paint could reduce the sweltering urban heat island effect in cities and cut air-conditioning bills, scientists have claimed, as machine learning accelerates the creation of new materials for everything from electric motors to carbon capture.Materials experts have used artificial intelligence to formulate new coatings that can keep buildings between 5C and 20C cooler than normal paint after exposure to midday sun. They could also be applied to cars, trains, electrical equipment and other objects that will require more cooling in a world that is heating up.Using machine learning, researchers at universities in the US, China, Singapore and Sweden designed new paint formulas tuned to best reflect the sun’s rays and emit heat, according to a peer-reviewed study published in the science journal Nature.It is the latest example of AI being used to leapfrog traditional trial-and-error approaches to scientific advances
Google undercounts its carbon emissions, report finds
In 2021, Google set a lofty goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Yet in the years since then, the company has moved in the opposite direction as it invests in energy-intensive artificial intelligence. In its latest sustainability report, Google said its carbon emissions had increased 51% between 2019 and 2024.New research aims to debunk even that enormous figure and provide context to Google’s sustainability reports, painting a bleaker picture. A report authored by non-profit advocacy group Kairos Fellowship found that, between 2019 and 2024, Google’s carbon emissions actually went up by 65%
India bat England into submission as Stokes’ threadbare attack drags its feet | Andy Bull
The sun shone, the wind blew, the grass grew, and India batted. And batted. And batted. They batted on so long that summer’s roses had budded, bloomed and withered again before they were finished. Excited little kids who had taken seats in the family stand first thing in the morning left it as jaded pensioners in the evening
Jack Draper knocked out of Wimbledon by inspired comeback kid Marin Cilic
The question that sprang into Jack Draper’s mind after this chastening defeat was simple: how did Andy Murray do it? Draper, the new hope of British men’s tennis, had come into these championships with expectations that he would leave his mark. Instead he was taught a grand slam lesson by the veteran Marin Cilic and leaves Wimbledon with fresh lessons to take on board in his burgeoning career.There has been distinct excitement at Draper’s prospects in SW19 this summer after his heady ascent up the rankings and victory at Indian Wells in the spring. That this was only his fourth Wimbledon appearance and that none of his previous outings had gone beyond the second round was not given much weight. But perhaps a lack of experience told here, at least in how Draper managed the match, while the 36-year-old Cilic, a Wimbledon finalist in 2017, revelled in his own on-court Indian summer
Anti-apartheid activists would have been called terrorists under logic banning Palestine Action, Peter Hain says – as it happened
Welfare reform bill fiasco re-empowers parliament | Letters
SMILE, it’s just a normal day for Labour’s happy family of Keir, Rachel and Wes | John Crace
Rachel Reeves says she is ‘cracking on with the job’ after Commons tears
PM shoulders blame for welfare fiasco and says No 10 ‘didn’t get process right’
Survival-mode Starmer throws tearful chancellor to wolves at PMQs