VW ‘considers cutting 30,000 jobs’
European carmakers have called for “urgent action” from the EU to help them avoid “multi-billion-euro fines” as a slowdown in the electric vehicle market puts on them on course to miss emissions targets.
The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, known as ACEA, said fully electric vehicles made up 12.5pc of all new car registrations in the EU from January to July, well below the level needed to meet CO2 targets coming into force next year.
5 things to start your day
1) One in 10 on sickness benefits after surge in mental health claims | Britain on course to be among highest spenders on health-related claims, warns IFS
2) Hogwarts Express operator scrambles to survive crackdown on traditional carriages | Stringent new rules on door locks prompts merger between West Coast Railways and Riviera Trains
3) Rayner’s towns and villages building blitz branded ‘perverse’ | Housing Secretary’s plan will put homes in the wrong places, warns Resolution Foundation
4) Why the rapid death of North Sea risks leaving taxpayers on the hook for billions | Reeves’s looming tax raid on oil and gas threatens an eye-watering bill for British households
5) Matthew Lynn: There is an obvious culprit for our alarmingly sticky inflation | Labour has recklessly caved in to union demands, gone to war with landlords and pursued costly net zero targets
What happened overnight
Tokyo’s Nikkei led Asian markets higher after the US Federal Reserve announced an outsized half a percentage point cut to interest rates.
The yen hit a two-week high after the Federal Reserve announced a bumper interest rate cut and pledged a series of further reductions.
Asian markets mostly rose, with Tokyo adding more than 2pc as the yen hit almost 144 per dollar.
There were also gains in Hong Kong, where the central bank lowered its own rates owing to the city’s currency peg to the dollar, while Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Taipei, Manila and Jakarta also advanced.
New Zealand’s economy shrank in the second quarter, according to official data released on Thursday morning, pushing the country close to recession.
The 0.2pc on-quarter contraction in April-June followed weak growth of 0.1pc in the previous three months.
On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 rose as much as 1pc after the Fed’s interest rate cut. However, it then retreated to close down 0.3pc at 5,618.26.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.3pc, at 41,503.10, and the Nasdaq Composite shed a similar amount, to end at 17,573.30.
The yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes rose to 3.71pc, from 3.64pc late on Tuesday.
