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Thanks for joining me. There are concerns that thousands of job losses are set to be announced at Britain’s biggest steelworks under plans to produce “greener” steel.
The Government is poised to announced it will invest £500m in Port Talbot to secure the factory’s future but there are fears it could lead to 3,000 job losses.
Tata, the Indian conglomerate that owns the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales, has been in talks with the Government for months over state aid worth hundreds of millions of pounds to help switch the plant’s two coal-fired blast furnaces to electric arc versions that can run on zero-carbon electricity.
5 things to start your day
1) Why the end of BP’s Looney era has left a takeover target on its back | Chief executive’s abrupt exit has thrown the oil giant’s performance into the spotlight
2) BP braced for legal battle over Bernard Looney’s pay | Oil giant exploring whether former chief executive’s bonuses are subject to ‘clawback’
3) John Lewis staff bonus at risk after Dame Sharon White delays turnaround | Retailer blames inflation and shoplifting as it admits it will miss 2026 profit target
4) British judge uses ‘jolly useful’ ChatGPT to write ruling | Court of Appeal judge says AI-powered chatbots have ‘great potential’
5) Self-driving cars are another Silicon Valley fantasy that will never work | Investors’ and politicians’ time would be better spent solving motorists’ real problems
What happened overnight
Asian shares advanced with solid gains for Chinese markets after the central bank eased the reserve requirements for lenders to encourage more lending and prop up the slowing economy.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 1.3pc to 18,280.11 and the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.4pc, at 3,138.94.
Late on Thursday, the People’s Bank of China said it would cut the reserve requirement for banks by 0.25 percentage points as of Friday, “In order to consolidate the foundation for economic recovery and maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity.”
Further boosting sentiment, the government reported today that China’s industrial output rose 4.5pc in August from a year earlier, up from 3.7pc in July. That is seen as a sign the economy may be breaking out of its post-pandemic malaise.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 1pc to 33,511.91. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.7pc to 7,311.30. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6pc to 2,588.38.
SoftBank Group Corp., which fully owned chip designer Arm Holdings before it debuted on Nasdaq on Thursday, rose 2.9pc in Tokyo.
Wall Street stocks closed higher Thursday as traders digested strong retail sales figures ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision next week.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.8pc to 4,505.10.for its best day in two weeks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1pc to 34,907.11.
The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8pc 13,926.05, capping a positive day that saw the successful initial public offering (IPO) of the British chip designer Arm.
After a few swings up and down through the day, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.29pc, up from 4.25% late Wednesday.
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