Pound ‘to hit highest level since Brexit vote’ – newest updates
Thanks for joining me. We begin the day with a look at confidence levels among business leaders, which has fallen to its lowest level in two years ahead of the Budget.
The last time the IoD Directors’ Economic Confidence Index gave a reading this low, the economy was reeling from the bond market turmoil during Liz Truss’s brief tenure as prime minister.
5 things to start your day
1) Miliband’s net zero sprint risks destabilising the grid, warns EDF | Rapid shift away from fossil fuels threatens to leave energy system at risk of shortfalls
2) Families with children ‘worse off than pensioners’ despite Reeves’s winter fuel raid | Working-age households more than twice as likely to suffer from ‘fuel stress’, says think tank
3) BT rival plunges to £140m loss as debt costs soar | Hyperoptic’s interest payments on £1bn borrowings double to £67m
4) How Jim Ratcliffe’s plan to conquer the car industry drove into trouble | Supply issues and tepid demand are disrupting the billionaire’s foray into carmaking
5) Ben Marlow: Murdoch’s defeat is a victory for British business sovereignty | Let Rightmove’s resistance to foreign takeover attempts serve as a lesson to UK plc
What happened overnight
Dockworkers at US ports from Maine to Texas began walking picket lines early today in a strike over wages and automation that could reignite inflation and cause shortages of goods if it goes on more than a few weeks.
The US Maritime Alliance has offered to increase wages for dockworkers by nearly 50pc in an effort to resume negotiations with the International Longshoremen’s Union and avoid a potentially crippling strike at East Coast and Gulf ports, according to a memo from USMX to its member companies.
Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed overnight, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 index regaining some of its sharp losses from a day earlier.
A quarterly “tankan” survey by the Bank of Japan showed business confidence among large manufacturers remained steady at 13, indicating an improved outlook for business conditions. A positive number indicates that more companies maintain an optimistic outlook on business conditions than those who feel pessimistic.
The survey is closely monitored for clues about the impact of the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decisions, especially after the central bank ended negative rates in March and raised its short-term rate to 0.25pc in July.
Japan also reported that its unemployment rate for August fell to 2.5pc from 2.7pc in July, in line with market expectations.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rallied 1.5pc to 38,476.33, as the yen weakened. The dollar is trading at 144.00 yen, up from 143.62 yen.
On Monday, the Nikkei tumbled nearly 5pc as markets reacted to the selection of Shigeru Ishiba to be Japan’s next prime minister. Mr Ishiba was due to take office later following the resignation of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped nearly 0.7pc to 8,214.80 after the data showed that retail sales in August rose 3.1pc from the same period last year, which is above expectation.
Markets in China and South Korea were shut for holidays. Mainland Chinese markets, which had their best day since 2008 on Monday, will remain closed until October 7 for the National Day break.
On Monday, the broad-based S&P 500 finished at 5,762.45, up 0.4pc for the day and up about 5.5pc for the quarter, which ended yesterday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4pc at 42,330.15, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4pc to 18,189.17.
In the bond market, the yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes rose to 3.79pc last night from 3.76pc late on Friday.
