UK interest rate cut expected in December after UK unemployment rises to 5%; FTSE 100 hits record high – business live

Several economists are predicting the Bank of England could cut interest rates as soon as December, following this morning’s weak jobs report.And looking further ahead, the money markets are now indicating they expect 65 basis points of BoE rate cuts by the end of next year, up from 55 bps on Monday. That means two quarter-point cuts by December 2026 are fully priced in, with a third now more likely.Suren Thiru, economics director at ICAEW (the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales), reckons the odds of a rate cut next month have risen, now that unemployment has jumped to 5% and wage growth has slowed.“These figures suggest that the UK’s labour market is suffering from pre-Budget jitters, as businesses already weakened by April’s rise in national insurance look to cut recruitment further in anticipation of another difficult Budget

UK unemployment rises to 5%, the highest level in four years

Unemployment in the UK has risen by more than expected to the highest level in four years, official figures show, amid a worsening slowdown in the jobs market before Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget.With under three weeks to go before the chancellor’s tax and spending statement, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the headline unemployment rate rose to 5.0% in the three months to the end of September, up from 4.8% in the previous quarter.City economists had forecast an increase to 4

Data centers meet resistance over environmental concerns as AI boom spreads in Latin America

This Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian’s TechScape newsletter. Sign up for this weekly newsletter here.The data centers that power the artificial intelligence boom are beyond enormous. Their financials, their physical scale, and the amount of information contained within are so massive that the idea of stopping their construction can seem like opposing an avalanche in progress.Despite the scale and momentum of the explosion of data centers, resistance is mounting in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and in Latin America, where data centers have been built in some of the world’s driest areas

Can OpenAI keep pace with industry’s soaring costs?

It is the $1.4tn (£1.1tn) question. How can a loss-making startup such as OpenAI afford such a staggering spending commitment?Answer that positively and it will go a long way to easing investor concerns over bubble warnings in the artificial intelligence boom, from lofty tech company valuations to a mooted $3tn global spend on datacentres.The company behind ChatGPT needs a vast amount of computing power – or compute, in tech jargon – to train its models, produce their responses and build even more powerful systems in the future

Trescothick defends England’s Ashes buildup and shrugs off hypocrisy jibes

Marcus Trescothick has defended England’s Ashes preparations after Ian Botham joined a chorus of criticism from former players over the decision to schedule just a single warm-up game, saying ex-professionals need to bear in mind that “times have dramatically changed in the way that cricket is done”.England’s assistant coach also laughed off attempts from the Australian media to compare his use of mints to help the ball swing in the 2005 Ashes with their own players’ notorious Sandpapergate controversy.England play the Lions on Thursday, their only game before the first Ashes Test starts next Friday. On Tuesday Botham, who has previously said that England’s schedule “borders on arrogance”, returned to the subject. “It’s not the way I would prepare

The Breakdown | New Zealand stars Barrett and McKenzie show how skill and vision can flourish

This week’s column is being compiled slightly differently. It’s not easy to type while looking upwards and smiling warmly at the bookshelf but, hey, that’s the price to be paid for method sportswriting. When you’re putting together a piece on Damian McKenzie, the All Blacks’ so-called “smiling assassin”, it’s important to try to get into character.The head bandage took time to apply as well, as did the fake-blood drizzle of ketchup down the cheek. Anyone who watched the later stages of New Zealand’s win against Scotland on television on Saturday, however, will appreciate why the extra touches felt appropriate