Pinned Post
Ayla Jean Yackley in Istanbul
Turkey signals minimum wage could rise by forecast inflation rate of 44%
Turkey’s president has signalled that the minimum wage could rise next month in line with the country’s official year-end inflation forecast of 44 per cent, saying the government would not allow price rises to “crush” workers.
Investors see the decision as a test of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s pledge to slow inflation, which reached nearly 49 per cent in October.
A third of Turkey’s population of 85mn people earn the minimum wage of TL17,002 ($493) net each month. Labour unions say that leaves millions of people below the hunger threshold, estimated at $600 a month.
“We will treat our workers by protecting their purchasing power above
inflation. But what really matters is to reduce inflation permanently,” Erdoğan was quoted as saying, according to a statement from his office on Wednesday.
Kana Inagaki in London and Patricia Nilsson in Frankfurt
Ford to cut 4,000 European jobs
Ford plans to cut about 4,000 jobs in Europe, as the carmaker grapples with slowing demand for electric vehicles and fierce competition with Chinese rivals.
The US company said on Wednesday the cuts would be in place by the end of 2027 and would affect about 3,000 jobs in Germany and 800 in the UK, representing about 14 per cent of its 28,000 workforce in Europe.
The moves are pending discussions with unions. Ford’s two UK sites in Dagenham and Halewood would not be affected.
Read more here
Christopher Grimes in Los Angeles and James Fontanella-Khan, Anna Nicolaou and Maria Heeter in New York
Comcast set to spin off cable TV networks to drive streaming growth
Comcast is set to spin off its cable television networks, including news channels CNBC and MSNBC, in a move designed to unchain its faster-growing studio and theme parks from the accelerating decline of traditional TV.
Comcast’s cable TV networks, which also include E!, Syfy, Oxygen and USA Network, have suffered as “cord-cutting” consumers favour streaming services. These channels, as well as websites Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, will be spun into a new publicly traded company called “SpinCo” that makes about $7bn in annual revenue.
The company’s other entertainment businesses represent a portfolio that includes Universal Studios and theme parks, the NBC broadcast network and the Peacock streaming service.
“This transaction positions both SpinCo and NBCUniversal to play offence in a changing media landscape,” said Comcast president Mike Cavanagh on Wednesday.
Read more here
Alistair Gray and Madeleine Speed in London
Johnson & Johnson threatened with UK legal action over talcum powder
Johnson & Johnson has been threatened with legal action in the UK over claims that its talcum powder products caused cancer.
Law firm KP Law said on Wednesday that it had sent a pre-action letter to the US-based healthcare products company ahead of a potential group action lawsuit on behalf of cancer survivors, mainly women, as well as families of those who have died.
J&J has faced long-running litigation in the US over allegedly carcinogenic talcum powder. The law firm said the action it was preparing at the High Court in London would be the first such action against the company in the UK.
J&J has repeatedly denied that its talcum-based products contain asbestos or cause cancer.
Read more here.
Lucy Fisher in London
Rayner says UK government is ‘absolutely committed’ to farmers
The UK’s deputy prime minister Angela Rayner says Labour is “absolutely committed to British farmers”, following a major protest in Westminster against government changes to agricultural property relief.
Alex Burghart, Tory shadow Cabinet Office minister, said “thousands and thousands” of farms would become unviable when their owners die thanks to inheritance tax liabilities that will fall due under Labour’s policy shift.
He claimed the government “hasn’t got its facts right” when it states that only 28 per cent of farms will be affected by the changes, citing research by the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers and the National Farmers Union.
The NFU estimated that 75 per cent of commercial farms could be affected, Burghart said, while Rayner defended the government estimates.
Mari Novik in London
Markets update: US shares rise ahead of Nvidia earnings
US stocks rose slightly in pre-market trading on Wednesday as investors awaited Nvidia’s earnings after the market closes this afternoon.
Futures at both the broad-based S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq were up 0.2 per cent.
Retail shares fell after Target cut its forecasts for the holiday season. Target’s shares were down 17 per cent in pre-market trading while Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Kroger and Walmart also declined.
Lucy Fisher in London
Conservative MP accuses Labour of ‘stoking inflation’
The Labour government has been “stoking inflation” with above-inflation pay rises for public sector workers and measures in its Budget, the Tory shadow Cabinet Office minister has claimed.
Alex Burghart, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, attacked the government after inflation accelerated sharply to 2.3 per cent last month, according to figures on Wednesday.
Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at a parliamentary debate as he travels back from a G20 summit in Rio, hit back that inflation had risen to 11.1 per cent under the Tories thanks to former prime minister Liz Truss’s 2022 mini-Budget.
Oliver Barnes in New York
Pfizer promotes Chris Boshoff to head of R&D
Pfizer has promoted its oncology chief — who was instrumental in Pfizer’s controversial $43bn acquisition of biotech Seagen — to lead its research and development operations in a move that will be closely watched by the activist investor piling pressure on the drugmaker.
The New York-based company said on Wednesday it had appointed Chris Boshoff as its new chief scientific officer and R&D head. From early next year he will replace Mikael Dolsten, a close ally of chief executive Albert Bourla.
Activist hedge fund Starboard Value owns a $1bn stake and how the job move is received by investors will be a crucial test for Bourla, who has faced criticism for misspending Pfizer’s Covid-19 windfall on costly mergers and acquisitions and delivering poor shareholder returns.
Gregory Meyer in New York
Target profits hit by US dockworkers’ strike
A rush to import goods before a shortlived dockworker strike this autumn contributed to a sharp decline in profits at Target, in results that underscore how the labour stand-off affected the US economy.
The US retail chain on Wednesday reported a 12.1 per cent year-on-year drop in third-quarter net profit to $854mn. Analysts surveyed by Visible Alpha had been expecting a rise in earnings to more than $1bn.
Executives pointed to weakness in sales of discretionary products and cost pressures during the period as the company lowered profit guidance for the current fiscal year, reversing a rise to the outlook made in August.
Target shares dropped 18 per cent in pre-market trading.
Read more here
Zehra Munir in New York
What to watch in North America
Nvidia: The US semiconductor group, whose products have become crucial to the artificial intelligence boom, is expected to report an 83 per cent year-on-year jump in third-quarter revenues to $33.2bn when it posts results after Wall Street’s closing bell.
Target: Investors will be watching the retailer’s third-quarter results for signals on US consumer sentiment in the build-up to the presidential election. Target reports earnings before the market’s opening bell.
Fedspeak: Federal Reserve vice-chair for supervision Michael Barr will testify before the House financial services sommittee, on the oversight of prudential regulators. Federal board governors Lisa Cook and Michelle Bowman will speak at separate events in Virginia and Florida respectively.
Valentina Romei in London
Eurozone wages jump 5.4% in third quarter of 2024
Wages in the Eurozone jumped 5.4 per cent in the three months to September, up from 3.5 per cent growth in the previous quarter, the European Central Bank said on Wednesday.
The ECB had expected a material pick-up in the second half of 2024, due to big pay rises in Germany. But it forecasts a sharp decline in negotiated wage growth (excluding bonuses, overtime and other individual compensation) in the second half of 2025, to a rate consistent with its 2 per cent inflation target.
As a result, “ECB [policymakers] will look through a strong wage print”, said Andrzej Szczepaniak, economist at Nomura.
He pointed to survey data showing a weakening of companies’ pricing power in the fourth quarter, “which will result in consumer inflationary pressures abating further over the coming months”.
Patricia Nilsson in Frankfurt
VW workers to propose forfeiting €1.5bn in pay rises to halt German factory closures
Volkswagen’s workers are prepared to forfeit €1.5bn in future pay rises if executives at Europe’s largest carmaker agree to rein in bonuses, curtail dividends and cancel plans to close factories.
Union IG Metall’s chief negotiator Thorsten Gröger on Wednesday said he would formally make the offer to VW management tomorrow during tense wage negotiations between VW and worker representatives, and stressed that potential strikes at the carmaker’s German sites would be possible from December 1.
VW’s announcement in September that sharply falling sales meant the company would have to close at least three sites in Germany have been met by fierce resistance from the company’s powerful works council and union, which have continued to demand a 7 per cent pay rise in ongoing wage negotiations.
Gabriel Whitwam in London
UK house prices rise but London bucks trend
House prices rose across the UK in September but fell in London, according to official data released on Wednesday.
The average house price rose 2.9 per cent to £292,000 in the 12 months to September, Office for National Statistics data showed, up from the 2.7 per cent annual growth rate in August.
Across England, prices rose 2.5 per cent, with London the only region to register a fall — prices in the capital fell 0.5 per cent down from an increase of 1.2 per cent in August.
Rent inflation in the capital outperformed the rest of the UK, with private rents rising 10.4 per cent in the 12 months to October, compared with the UK average of 8.7 per cent, and up from 9.8 per cent in September, the ONS said.
Olaf Storbeck in Frankfurt
Low growth and high debt threaten Eurozone debt crisis, ECB warns
The Eurozone risks another debt crisis if the bloc cannot boost growth, lower public debt and fix “policy uncertainty”, the European Central Bank has warned.
In its annual Financial Stability Review, published on Wednesday, the ECB sounded the alarm over a potential return of “market concerns over sovereign debt sustainability”. It pointed to “elevated debt levels and high budget deficits” as well as election outcomes in Europe.
More than a decade ago, Greece narrowly avoided a default and then-ECB president Mario Draghi pledged to do “whatever it takes” to prevent a collapse of the currency area.
Spreads between French and German 10-year government bonds — a key gauge of investors’ concerns — this month rose to 0.77 percentage points, close to the 12-year high reached in the run-up to this summer’s parliamentary election.
Read more here
Maxine Kelly in London
Risers and fallers in Europe
Big share price moves in Europe today include UK accounting software group Sage, French lottery operator La Française des Jeux and Finnish telecoms network provider Nokia:
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Sage: shares in the UK-based accounting software group soared 16 per cent, leading gains on the region-wide Stoxx 600 index, after it reported a 20 per cent rise in annual profits and launched a £400mn share buyback.
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La Française des Jeux: shares in the lottery operator shed 5.6 per cent, leading losses on the Stoxx, after lender Crédit Agricole said it was selling 4.07mn of the group’s shares.
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Nokia: shares in the Finnish network provider rose 3.6 per cent after it secured a 5G extension deal from India’s Bharti Airtel as part of a contract to deploy 4G and 5G equipment across major Indian cities.
Mari Novik in London
Markets update: European stocks rise at the open
European stocks opened higher on Wednesday as investors continued to monitor developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine after Kyiv used US-made Atacms missiles deep in Russia for the first time on Tuesday.
The broad-based Stoxx 600, Paris’s Cac 40 and Frankfurt’s Dax all opened up 0.6 per cent after closing lower on Tuesday.
London’s FTSE 100 traded up 0.3 per cent at the open, after UK inflation jumped more than expected.
Rachel Millard in London
Eon Next pays £14.5mn redress for failing to refund customers
Eon Next, one of Britain’s largest household energy suppliers, has paid £14.5mn in compensation and refunds over its treatment of customers using pre-payment meters.
The company, which has about 5.6mn UK customers, failed to provide final bills within six weeks to pre-pay meter customers who had left Eon Next, energy regulator Ofgem said on Wednesday.
It meant customers whose account was in credit did not get an automatic refund as they should have done, Ofgem said, adding the problem was caused by a billing system error.
Ofgem said about 250,000 pre-payment meter customer accounts were affected between February 2021 and September 2023.
Beth Martin, director for consumer protection and competition at Ofgem, said it was “unacceptable” that consumers did not receive the credit owed to them.
Harry Dempsey in Tokyo
Tokyo Metro brought in to run London’s Elizabeth Line
Tokyo Metro is promising to bring Japanese reliability and punctuality to London, after securing a landmark contract to operate the Elizabeth Line.
The subway operator has promised to boost the frequency of services on London’s newest train line as part of a consortium that also includes UK transport group Go Ahead and Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corporation.
Tokyo Metro said that it would leverage its “expertise in realising high-quality railway services with outstanding safety and punctuality” and will “work to improve operations and increase the number of services”.
Ian Smith in London
Investors trim bets on UK interest rate cut
The latest UK inflation reading has prompted traders to trim bets on a Bank of England cut to interest rates at next month’s meeting.
UK inflation data published on Wednesday — which showed inflation rose to a higher than expected 2.3 per cent in October — supported the view of most investors that the bank would leave its benchmark rate unchanged when it meets in December.
Before the reading, investors had put a roughly 20 per cent chance of a quarter-point rate cut at next month’s meeting, according to levels implied in swaps markets. That fell to about 15 per cent in early trading.
Gabriel Whitwam in London
Crest Nicholson profits to be at the lower end of expectations
UK housebuilder Crest Nicholson has said that profits this year will be at the lower end of expectations.
The company said on Wednesday that it was selling a larger number of cheaper homes and was selling from lower-margin sites, so adjusted pre-tax profits will be at the lower end of the £22mn to £29mn range it had signalled to investors.
Chief executive Martyn Clark, who joined the company in June, pointed to affordability concerns in the market this year and said that next year would be “a year of transition” for the company.
Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
Iran condemns call for IAEA probe as ‘unjustifiable and provocative’
Iran’s foreign minister has called on the UK, France and Germany to withdraw what he called an “unjustifiable and provocative” resolution at an upcoming meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The resolution would mandate the IAEA to probe Iran’s alleged failure to account for uranium traces found at undeclared sites.
Abbas Araghchi said on a call with France’s foreign affairs minister Jean-Noël Barrot that the move was “a blatant confrontation at a time when a positive atmosphere is emerging between Iran and the IAEA” that would “only serve to further complicate the situation”.
His remarks follow the publication of an IAEA report that revealed discussions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog about limiting the country’s stockpile of weapons-grade uranium.
Barney Jopson and Simon Foy
Santander sets aside £295mn for possible costs from car finance ruling
Santander UK has set aside £295mn to cover the potential costs of a British court ruling on unlawful commissions that banks paid to car dealerships.
The lender on Wednesday became the largest institution to announce such a provision since the Court of Appeal ruled last month on the mis-selling of car loans.
The figure was published with Santander UK’s full third-quarter results, which the bank delayed last month in order to calculate the potential cost of the ruling.
The court said it was illegal for banks to pay a commission to a car dealer without getting the customer’s informed consent, a decision that increases the likelihood that the Financial Conduct Authority will establish a costly redress scheme for lenders.
William Sandlund in Hong Kong
Markets update: Yen weakens against dollar while Asian equities mixed
The yen resumed its slide against the US dollar, leading losses among Asian currencies, while the region’s equity markets were mixed.
Japan’s October trade data showed stronger than expected exports but a trade deficit for a fourth consecutive month of ¥461.2bn ($3bn). The yen weakened 0.5 per cent on Wednesday to ¥155.4 per dollar.
In equity markets, India and South Korea edged up while Vietnam’s benchmark index outperformed the region with a 1.3 per cent gain. Japan’s Topix shed 0.4 per cent.
The US dollar edged up against a basket of currencies after falling earlier in the week.
Ian Smith in London
Sterling strengthens on higher than expected UK inflation figure
The pound immediately strengthened on the UK’s higher than expected inflation reading on Wednesday, as investors bet the rise would lead the Bank of England to slow the pace of cuts to interest rates.
Sterling was up 0.2 per cent to $1.271 shortly after the Office for National Statistics released the data, which showed inflation rose to 2.3 per cent in October, above economists’ expectations of 2.2 per cent, and up on September’s 1.7 per cent.
Sam Fleming in London
UK inflation accelerates sharply to 2.3% in October
UK inflation accelerated sharply to 2.3 per cent in October, as higher energy costs pushed price growth above the Bank of England’s target.
The annual consumer price index figure from the Office for National Statistics was up from 1.7 per cent in September and above the expectations of analysts surveyed by Reuters of 2.2 per cent.
Price pressures have been expected to rise after a 10 per cent increase last month in Britain’s energy price cap, which governs millions of households’ gas and electricity bills.
October’s inflation figure complicates the BoE’s deliberations over when to cut rates. The bank has repeatedly signalled it will pursue a “gradual” approach as it seeks to meet its 2 per cent target.
Read more here
Christopher Miller in Kyiv
US embassy in Kyiv warns of ‘potential significant air attack’
The US embassy in Kyiv said on Wednesday morning that it had temporarily closed its doors after receiving credible reports of “a potential significant air attack in the region.”
It said in a statement that it had issued the rare warning “out of an abundance of caution” as Ukraine’s capital fell under an alert that Russian attack drones were en route to Kyiv, with sirens wailing across the city.
The embassy instructed all personnel to shelter in place and urged US citizens in Ukraine to seek shelter, monitor local media and follow the guidance of Ukrainian authorities.
The announcement came after Ukraine’s military launched its first attack with US-supplied Atacms missiles on Tuesday and reflected growing concerns over Russia’s escalating wave of deadly drone and missile strikes.
Jonathan Wheatley in London
What to watch in Europe today
Events to watch today include shareholders voting on takeovers, UK inflation data and a smattering of company results.
Shareholder decisions: general meetings will be held by musicMagpie shareholders to vote on the proposed acquisition of the company by AO World, and by Tritax EuroBox shareholders to vote on a proposed acquisition by Brookfield.
UK inflation data: a batch of data releases are due, including October CPI, retail price index and producer price index, and delayed publication of the UK House Price index.
Company results: British Land and Severn Trent half year, Britvic full year, Crest Nicholson trading update.
UK Equal Pay day: according to the Fawcett Society, this is the day on which British women stop getting paid this year, while men carry on until December 31.
William Sandlund in Hong Kong
Markets update: 7-Eleven owner and Tokyo Gas shares jump on deal reports
Shares of Seven & i Holdings and Tokyo Gas rose sharply on Wednesday following reports of a deal to take the owner of 7-Eleven private and news that activist fund Elliott Management had built a large stake in the Japanese natural gas group.
On Tuesday morning Japanese broadcaster NHK reported the Ito family, who founded Seven & i, was looking to complete a deal to take the company private before the end of February.
Seven & i shares rose 8 per cent and Tokyo Gas jumped 12.4 per cent in the morning session even as Japan’s benchmark Topix shed 0.4 per cent.
Elsewhere in Asia, equity markets were muted with China and Hong Kong flat in early trading.
Alex Rogers in Palm Beach, Florida
Trump chooses Linda McMahon to lead education department
Donald Trump has chosen former World Wrestling Entertainment chief executive Linda McMahon to lead the US Department of Education, which he pledged in his campaign platform to shut down and give its power to the states.
McMahon ran the Small Business Administration in Trump’s first term and then led a pro-Trump think-tank known as the America First Policy Institute.
“Linda will use her decades of Leadership experience, and deep understanding of both Education and Business, to empower the next Generation of American Students and Workers,” Trump wrote.
McMahon earlier served on the Connecticut Board of Education and as a member of the board of trustees at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Nic Fildes in Sydney and Leslie Hook in London
Rio Tinto report shows increase in sexual assault
The number of Rio Tinto employees who said they had experienced actual or attempted sexual assault or rape across its operations has risen in the past two years despite the company’s efforts to improve its workplace culture and stamp out such behaviour.
The Anglo-Australian miner published a report on Wednesday that found “mixed results” in progress on combating sexual assault, bullying and racism since a previous report in 2022.
The new report showed eight employees said they had experienced actual or attempted sexual assault or rape in the previous 12 months, up from five in the 2022 report, while 32 said they had experienced pressure or requests for “sex or sexual acts”, down from 37 two years earlier.
Read more here.
William Sandlund in Hong Kong
What to watch in Asia today
China’s central bank announces the loan prime rate, Asean defence ministers meet in Laos and Japan publishes its latest trade figures.
Events: Defence ministers from Asean meet in Laos for talks. Singapore hosts the World Chess Championship between China’s Ding Liren, the defending champion, and Indian grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju.
Central banks: China and Indonesia announce decisions on lending rates.
Economic data: Japan publishes its October trade balance.
Corporate updates: Chinese social media company Kuaishou releases earnings.
Lauren Fedor in Washington
Hakeem Jeffries re-elected Democratic leader in US House
Hakeem Jeffries has been re-elected as the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, two weeks after his party suffered disappointing losses at the ballot box.
The Republican party will retain control of the House and take back the reins of the US Senate and the White House in the new year, under a “unified government” that will give Donald Trump wide latitude to push through his sweeping legislative plans.
Jeffries faced no serious challenge to his leadership in a closed-door election on Tuesday, and will now be seen as one of the key figures as the Democratic party seeks to plot a path forward heading into the 2026 midterm elections and beyond.
Joe Miller in New York
Musk’s SpaceX launches megarocket as Trump watches
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched a megarocket on Tuesday with Donald Trump in attendance but called off a plan for it to be caught by “chopstick arms”.
The president-elect had travelled to Brownsville, Texas, to witness the sixth test of Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, that will be crucial to Musk and the US government’s plan to put humans back on the Moon.
While the rocket took flight and entered orbit, the return and catch of Starship’s Super Heavy booster by so-called chopstick arms — which was completed successfully last month — was called off.
The reason for the catch being called off was not immediately clear but the booster landed in the ocean.
Zehra Munir in New York
Markets update: US stocks close higher as Nvidia jumps ahead of earnings
Gains for chipmaker Nvidia helped US stocks close higher, as investors prepared for the release of the chipmaker’s quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 closed 0.4 per cent higher on Tuesday, while the technology-dominated Nasdaq Composite gained 1 per cent.
Nvidia climbed 4.9 per cent for its biggest one-day jump in two months and also finished as one of the top-performing stocks in the S&P 500.
The industry leader, whose products have become crucial to the artificial intelligence boom, is expected to post an 83 per cent increase in third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, to $33.2bn.
Joe Daniels in Bogotá
US recognises Venezuelan opposition leader González as president-elect
The US has recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González as president-elect, months after an election in which authoritarian president Nicolás Maduro claimed victory despite widespread accusations of fraud.
“The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made [González] the president-elect,” US secretary of state Antony Blinken wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. The US said in August that González had won the most votes but stopped short of recognising him as president-elect.
Maduro was declared the winner of the election by the government-controlled National Electoral Council, though the opposition released polling station tally sheets verified by independent observers showing that González was the true victor by a two-to-one margin.