Tech shares slide after SoftBank sells Nvidia stake; UK interest rate cut expected in December – as it happened

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

SoftBank sells stake in Nvidia for $5.8bn as it doubles down on OpenAI bets

The Japanese technology investor SoftBank intensified the debate about valuations in the artificial intelligence world on Tuesday by revealing it had sold its stake in the chipmaker Nvidia.In its latest quarterly results, SoftBank showed it had sold its shares in Nvidia for $5.8bn (£4.4bn) in October, as it doubles down on its bets on OpenAI, the group behind the ChatGPT chatbot. It also reported that second-quarter net profit more than doubled to 2

Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine sign voice deal with AI company

Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a “key ethical challenge” in the artificial intelligence industry’s alliance with Hollywood.McConaughey, who has also invested in the company and collaborated with it since 2022, will now allow ElevenLabs to translate his newsletter, Lyrics of Livin’, into a Spanish-language audio version using his voice.In a statement, the Dallas Buyers Club actor said he was “impressed” by ElevenLabs and wanted the partnership to help him “reach and connect with even more people”.His voice had already been on the company’s ElevenReader app, which allows users to have celebrity voices read emails or books to them

John Tymukas obituary

My brother-in-law John Tymukas, who has died aged 73, was a structural engineer on many of London’s infrastructure projects from the 1990s onwards, including Canning Town station, Heathrow Terminal 5, Glaxo Smithkline HQ and Crossrail Bond Street.Born in Adelaide, South Australia, John was the son of Kostas, a Lithuanian refugee and engineer, and Kathleen (nee Donohoe), the daughter of Irish emigrants and a former clerk. He was the eldest of six siblings. John completed his education in Brisbane at Downlands school and the Queensland Institute of Technology, where he took a four-year engineering degree course and worked in Australia before heading in 1990 to London to work on contracts with engineering companies such as SKB and WSP.An avid traveller, he covered Europe extensively, making contact with Lithuanian and Irish family members and discovering family history unknown in Australia until he made the links

Ollie Pope poised to stay at No 3 as England focus on continuity for Ashes

England may stand accused of not taking their Ashes preparations seriously but with only three days against the Lions to hone their players’ cutting edge they have promised to approach the solitary game of their pared‑down warm-up with as much intensity as they can muster.The assistant coach Marcus Trescothick said the focus would be on making the game “as competitive as we can”, as they prepare to effectively unveil their first-choice Ashes XI.While every member of the Ashes squad will be involved in the match, with some turning out for the Lions against their own teammates, the England side is expected to be at full strength. Every player trained in an intensive session on Tuesday – Ben Stokes doing one session in the nets against spin, one against seam, and another bowling – with no fitness issues reported.This means that while the debate about England’s preparation will rumble on, the one over the identity of their first-choice No 3 may soon be settled, with Trescothick strongly hinting that Ollie Pope has seen off the challenge of Jacob Bethell to keep his place, where he has batted in 32 of England’s 35 innings since the start of 2024

Advantage England? Emma Raducanu gives tips to squad for All Blacks clash

England’s preparations for their crunch clash with the All Blacks on Saturday have been boosted by some words of wisdom from the former US Open tennis champion Emma Raducanu, who visited their Bagshot training base on Tuesday.Raducanu took to the training field with Steve Borthwick’s squad, taking part in lineout practice and kicking drills with Marcus Smith before sharing insights with the captain, Maro Itoje. Borthwick also invited the Brighton manager, Fabian Hürzeler, to address the squad this week.Eddie Jones was vilified in 2021 when he appeared to criticise the British No 1 women’s tennis player, using the 22-year-old to illustrate the pitfalls of off-field distractions when saying: “There’s a reason why the young girl who won the US Open hasn’t done so well afterwards.” As revealed by the Guardian, Raducanu then skipped an invitation from the Rugby Football Union to attend a match at Twickenham later that autumn