Business news

• UK business groups urge government to open economy to trade partners

  10-06-2020 23:00 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The groups, including the British Chambers of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and London First, wrote a joint letter to interior minister Priti Patel, foreign minister Dominic Raab and transport minister Grant Shapps."As we look to recover from the economic shock that COVID-19 has delivered, it will be vital that we start to open the UK up to our trading partners", said the letter shared with Reuters on Wednesday by two of the groups.
  
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• CBI appoints business productivity chief as next director-general

  10-06-2020 23:00
  Tony Danker to take over as employers’ group faces challenges of Brexit and pandemic’s lasting scar
  
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• Be the Business boss Tony Danker named as next head of CBI

  10-06-2020 22:53 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The CBI has named Tony Danker, chief executive of the productivity-focused group Be the Business, as its new director-general. The former Treasury adviser will succeed Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, who is stepping down in November. She had expected to complete her five-year term in September but agreed with the board to extend her term in order to see through urgent work during the current health crisis. The CBI, which has about 190,000 members, is working closely with the Government to ensure success
  
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• Lufthansa says up to 26,000 employees at risk of losing jobs

  10-06-2020 22:40 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Lufthansaadmitted on Wednesday that the positions of up to 26,000 employees are surplus to requirements, suggesting many more jobs will be cut at the German carrier than a figure of more than 10,000 flagged a few weeks ago.Speaking after a meeting with trade unions, a Lufthansa spokeswoman said the airline estimates that it has a surplus of 22,000 full-time equivalent positions or 26,000 employees.Lufthansa last week pledged a wide-ranging restructuring, from thousands of job cuts to asset sales
  
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• Twitter will try to stop you tweeting articles before you read them

  10-06-2020 22:38 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Twitter has begun prodding its users to read news articles before retweeting them in an attempt to "promote informed discussion" and stop misinformation. The social network said it was testing a new feature on Android smartphones and tablets that will notice when a user is trying to retweet an article without having opened it and ask them if they would like to do so. It is the latest in a series of "nudge" tactics aimed at cooling Twitter's famously blistering debate culture, which have been wel
  
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• Twitter will try to stop you tweeting articles before reading them

  10-06-2020 22:38 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Twitter has begun prodding its users to read news articles before retweeting them in an attempt to "promote informed discussion" and stop misinformation. The social network said it was testing a new feature on Android smartphones and tablets that will notice when a user is trying to retweet an article without having opened it and ask them if they would like to do so. It is the latest in a series of "nudge" tactics aimed at cooling Twitter's famously blistering debate culture, which have been wel
  
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• Ford recalls 2.15 million U.S. vehicles for potentially faulty door latches

  10-06-2020 22:22 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ford Motor Cosaid on Wednesday it will recall 2.15 million U.S. vehicles with potentially faulty door latches.The second largest U.S. automaker said the recall covers many 2011 through 2015 model-year vehicles.The recalled vehicles may not have had all door latches replaced or correctly replaced when repaired by dealerships under recalls issued in 2015 and 2016.
  
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• Ocado plans to raise £1bn as online deliveries boom in the UK

  10-06-2020 21:54 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ocado plans to raise £1bn as online deliveries boom in the UKOnline shopping has almost doubled in recent months to 13% of the UK grocery market* Coronavirus – latest updates* See all our coronavirus coverage
  
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• Starbucks closing hundreds of stores, as they predict a revenue decline of $3bn due to coronavirus

  10-06-2020 21:11 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Starbucks has announced that it will be closing hundreds of stores in the US, after predicting their revenue decline attributable to Covid-19, could be up to $3.2bn (£2.5bn).The coffee chain said that the pandemic has sped up its plans to close 400 stores, so that they can introduce more pick up cafes in densely populated areas, according to CNBC.
  
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• Starbucks closing hundreds of stores after losing $3bn in latest quarter amid coronavirus lockdown

  10-06-2020 21:11 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Starbucks has announced that it will be closing hundreds of stores in the US, after predicting a $3.2bn (£2.5bn) loss, due to the coronavirus pandemic.The coffee chain said that the pandemic has sped up its plans to close 400 stores, so that they can introduce more pick up cafes in densely populated areas, according to CNBC.
  
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• Fiat, PSA face EU antitrust probe over $50 billion merger - sources

  10-06-2020 21:10 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Fiat Chryslerand Peugeot maker PSAface a lengthy EU antitrust investigation after declining to offer concessions to allay EU antitrust concerns about their planned $50 billion (39.21 billion pounds) merger, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.The EU competition enforcer, Fiat Chrysler and PSA declined to comment.
  
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• Ontario Casinos Remain Closed, As Finnish Government Worries about Finns' Gambling Habits

  10-06-2020 20:57 via ibtimes.co.uk
  
  Northern Ontario casinos are not participating in a flurry of excitement occurring in American casinos.
  
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• News UK launches business review with substantial job cuts likely

  10-06-2020 20:57 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper business has begun a major review of costs that is expected to trigger significant job losses as the pandemic recession accelerates the decline of print advertising and sales. Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News UK, wrote to staff on the Sun and the Times titles on Wednesday to announce that “in the coming months, we will need to streamline the business and take some tough decisions, saying goodbye to some valued and talented colleagues”. She said
  
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• Thousands of Dutch Airbnb customers claim money back for 'double charging'

  10-06-2020 20:54 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  More than 30,000 Dutch consumers are claiming back ‘service’ fees paid to Airbnb of approximately €6 million (£5.4m) after a test case showed the rentals company was wrong to 'double charge'. Jacques Huppes was awarded a rebate of €470 in service charges for renting property through Airbnb - about 15% of costs, but only after Airbnb had already charged the apartment owners 3.6% of the booking. Now, three bodies are amassing claims on a no-win, no-fee basis, with Dutch
  
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• 'Corporate kowtow to China' lands HSBC in a deep political hole

  10-06-2020 20:54 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  'Corporate kowtow to China' lands HSBC in a deep political holeBank is firmly on geopolitical stage after supporting Hong Kong security crackdown law
  
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• US economy will shrink 6.5% this year, Fed forecasts

  10-06-2020 20:49 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  US economy will shrink 6.5% this year, Fed forecasts* Central bank paints bleak outlook for economy in 2020* Federal Reserve to keep interest rates close to zero into 2022
  
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• Johnson under fire over lockdown timing

  10-06-2020 20:34
  Ex-science adviser says coronavirus toll could have been halved, while PM also faces bad news on testing and economy
  
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• Ocado makes £1bn bet that online grocery shopping is here to stay

  10-06-2020 20:15 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ocado is gambling £1bn on a drastic change in shopping habits as online grocery sales take off in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The firm is launching a major fundraising bid to rapidly expand both its own internet sales operation and the production of robot factories for supermarkets worldwide to capitalise on surging demand for home deliveries. Chief executive Tim Steiner believes that many shoppers forced to buy food over the web during lockdown will now permanently stay away from
  
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• Tesla shares surpass $1,000, putting valuation at $188bn

  10-06-2020 20:04 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Tesla shares have surpassed $1,000, valuing the company at $188bn. The electric car company is the second-most valuable in the world, after Toyota, and is worth more than Ford, General Motors, Honda and Fiat Chrysler put together. Shares received a boost on Tuesday after the release of an email from chief executive Elon Musk to staff saying the company's new Semi truck was ready for "volume production". The company's share price climbed to its previous highs at the start of the year, before fall
  
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• Tesla becomes the most valuable car company in the world

  10-06-2020 20:04 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Tesla shares have surpassed $1,000, making it the most valuable car company in the world. The electric car company is worth $190bn, overtaking Toyota on Wednesday, and is worth more than Ford, General Motors, Honda and Fiat Chrysler put together. Shares received a boost on Tuesday after the release of an email from chief executive Elon Musk to staff saying the company's new Semi truck was ready for "volume production". The company's share price climbed to its previous highs at the start of the y
  
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• U.S. economy has hit turning point - White House's Kudlow

  10-06-2020 19:43 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  White House Economic Adviser Larry Kudlow said on Wednesday the U.S. economy appears to have hit a turning point after rapidly plunging into a recession due to the coronavirus pandemic about three months ago."The stock market is presaging an upturn in the economy," he said in an interview on CNBC, citing the recent market rally and a variety of indicators he said were green shoots of the economy.Kudlow told CNBC he expected upcoming reports for June and July to also be strong.
  
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• Business groups seek UK quarantine relaxation

  10-06-2020 19:43
  Joint letter says it will be ‘vital’ to open up further to trading partners overseas
  
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• Business groups seek quarantine relaxation

  10-06-2020 19:43
  Joint letter says it will be ‘vital’ to open up the UK further to trading partners overseas
  
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• British Airways to auction art collection to raise much-needed funds

  10-06-2020 19:37 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  British Airways to auction art collection to raise much-needed fundsAirline owns art by Tracey Emin, Anish Kapoor and Chris Ofili, with some works valued at more than £1m * Coronavirus – latest updates* See all our coronavirus coverage
  
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• The housing market is holding up, but falling car sales signal the economic downturn

  10-06-2020 19:30 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The housing market is holding up, but falling car sales signal the economic downturnIf we are looking for signs the economy is close to normal, we should look at how many of us are buying new vehicles
  
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• BHP to destroy at least 40 Aboriginal sites, up to 15,000 years old, to expand Pilbara mine

  10-06-2020 19:30 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  BHP to destroy at least 40 Aboriginal sites, up to 15,000 years old, to expand Pilbara mine. WA minister gave consent to BHP plan just three days after Juukan Gorge site was blown up by Rio Tinto in a move which has horrified the public
  
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• All new ventilator models abandoned by ministers

  10-06-2020 19:26 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ministers have cancelled all projects to develop a new type of ventilator for the fight against Covid-19 because the NHS has enough of the lifesaving machines. In a letter to manufacturers, the Cabinet Office said it will “no longer support or pursue the purchase” of new devices - effectively ending the race to produce them. Hundreds of initial designs were submitted to the Cabinet Office in the weeks after Health Secretary Matt Hancock appealed to for a crash effort to produce more
  
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• Inditex invests in technology to merge online with in-store shopping

  10-06-2020 19:21 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Zara owner Inditexunveiled a 2.7 billion euro (£2.4 billion) investment in technology on Wednesday to make it easier for customers to track the items they want, blurring the lines between online and in-store shopping.The technology will be rolled out across Inditex's stores over the next three years, a company spokesman told Reuters.One billion euros of the investment is earmarked for a proprietary technology platform, the company said.
  
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• Ocado to tap investors for over £1bn cash injection

  10-06-2020 19:07 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The online grocery business has seen demand surge as customers have been forced to stay at home in the face of the pandemic.
  
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• Matt Hancock downplays role of contact tracing app

  10-06-2020 19:03 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Matt Hancock refused to give a launch date for the much-vaunted NHS tracing app yesterday, in an interview with the Telegraph in which he also downplayed its significance. “I’m not going to put a date on it,” he said, despite having previously promised it would be available in mid-May. Minimising the significance of the app, once viewed as the centrepiece of the government track and trace strategy, Mr Hancock said that it was now viewed only as “the cherry on the cake&rdq
  
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• Employers raise alarm over school closures

  10-06-2020 18:55 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Business groups have sounded the alarm over the ongoing closure of schools, warning that the policy will prevent parents from getting back to work and slow down the economic recovery. The Government has come under fire from MPs, peers and educationalists after education secretary Gavin Williamson ditched a target to get primary schools back up and running before the summer holiday. Shops are due to reopen next week and the Government is desperate to kick-start the economy following the coronavir
  
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• Coronavirus: Ocado to raise £1bn to capitalise on rapid growth in grocery delivery

  10-06-2020 18:52 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The online supermarket said it needed 'financial flexibility' to capitalise on the rapid growth in the online grocery delivery market.
  
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• Coronavirus: Ocado raising £1bn to capitalise on growth in online grocery

  10-06-2020 18:52 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The online supermarket said it needed 'financial flexibility' to capitalise on the rapid growth in the online grocery delivery market.
  
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• A casino or stock market? Retail buying frenzy goes wild

  10-06-2020 18:50 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  A raft of small cap stocks has soared by hundreds of millions of dollars in value in recent weeks as frenzied retail traders piled in to a blistering stocks rally."In my 20 years of experience I've never seen retail traders push stocks around like they're doing right now," said Dennis Dick, a trader with Bright Trading LLC. "When the retail rush comes into something, it can really move."Chasing the so-called FANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google-owner Alphabet), which powered the Nas
  
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• Ocado to raise £1 billion in equity and bond issue

  10-06-2020 18:37 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, plans to raise just over £1 billion through an equity raise and bond issue to give it the firepower to take advantage of future opportunities.The group said on Wednesday it would raise about £657 million through an equity placing and retail offer and about £350 million through the issue of guaranteed senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2027.Ocado said the funds will provide it with the "financial flexibility to capi
  
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• Ocado boosts firepower with 1 billion pounds capital raise

  10-06-2020 18:37 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, plans to raise 1 billion pounds, giving it more firepower to capitalise on the rapid growth of the online grocery market triggered by the coronavirus crisis."This capital raise gives Ocado Group the opportunity to accelerate our role in creating sustainable change in the industry, allowing us the flexibility to move at increased pace and capitalise on the full opportunity set over the medium term," CEO and founder Tim Steiner said.Ocado
  
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• Britain's Ocado to raise £1 billion in equity and bond issue

  10-06-2020 18:37 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Ocado, the British online supermarket and technology group, plans to raise just over £1 billion through an equity raise and bond issue to give it the firepower to take advantage of future opportunities.The group said on Wednesday it would raise about £657 million through an equity placing and retail offer and about £350 million through the issue of guaranteed senior unsecured convertible bonds due 2027.Ocado said the funds will provide it with the "financial flexibility to capi
  
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• Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port plant to remain shut until September

  10-06-2020 18:34 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant will not reopen until at least September, raising fresh questions about the future of the factory which builds the Astra - but production at the firm's Luton van factory is being ramped up. The Atra site in Cheshire will stay shut following a slump in demand for cars which has allowed backlogs to build up. Staff were sent home from the factory in late March as the lockdown was imposed, meaning it will have been mothballed for nearly six months under current
  
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• Global risk rally has a powerful ally: the weaker dollar

  10-06-2020 18:34 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Investors are betting a weaker U.S. dollar will further boost a rally that has seen stocks, emerging market currencies and other risky assets soar in recent weeks.The dollar is down 6.6% against a basket of currencies from a more than three-year high in late March, the sharpest 21-day drop in about 2 years.Several factors are driving the dollar lower.
  
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• Thousands of pubs cannot reopen next month without government help to pay rent, ministers warned

  10-06-2020 18:29 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Thousands of pubs may not be able to re-open when the government allows them to next month because they are unable to pay their rent.Trade body UK Hospitality has written to ministers urging the government to step in to offer direct financial support to save the nation’s pubs, which have not been open since mid-March but have been racking up rent bills in the meantime.
  
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• Zara owner to close up to 1,200 fashion stores around the world

  10-06-2020 18:28 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Zara owner to close up to 1,200 fashion stores around the world. Inditex seeks to boost online retailing as coronavirus causes 44% sales slump
  
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• Macquarie, F2i jostling over Benetton-backed Autostrade - sources

  10-06-2020 18:27 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Infrastructure funds F2i and Macquarie are jostling for position over an investment in Italy's Autostrade as pressure mounts on Benetton-backed Atlantia to loosen its grip on the motorway group to end a standoff over its concession, two sources said.Any investment will only go ahead if the political row over Autostrade's toll licence is resolved, making it possible to give a fair valuation of the company, several sources said.F2i, Italy's biggest infrastructure fund, has lined up a series of Ita
  
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• Big banks say pandemic will not be stay of execution for Libor, study says

  10-06-2020 18:27 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Big banks are on track to ditch the Libor interest rate by the end of 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic, though their European and U.S. clients are dragging their feet, a study showed on Wednesday.Regulators want the London Interbank Offered Rate or Libor scrapped after banks were fined billions of dollars for trying to manipulate a rate still used to price contracts worth about $400 trillion (£314 trillion) globally.The transition to rates set by the Bank of England and the U.S. Feder
  
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• Markets close in red as economic forecasts continue to weigh on traders

  10-06-2020 18:25 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The FTSE 100 closed 6.59 points lower at 6,329.713p at the end of trading on Wednesday.
  
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• Boeing aims to conduct key 737 MAX certification flight in late June - sources

  10-06-2020 18:19 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Boeing Cois aiming to conduct a key certification test flight on its grounded 737 MAX in late June, two people briefed on the matter said.The 737 MAX has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes killed 346 people.Boeing told airlines it hopes to conduct the flight in late June and also notified them of a fix to address safety concerns about the placement of wiring bundles, the sources said.
  
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• Boeing aims for key 737 MAX certification flight in late June - sources

  10-06-2020 18:19 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Boeing Cois aiming to conduct a key certification test flight on its grounded 737 MAX jet in late June, two people briefed on the matter said on Wednesday.The 737 MAX has been grounded since March 2019 after two fatal crashes killed 346 people.Boeing told airlines it hopes to conduct the flight in late June, the sources said.
  
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• Former Russian minister has bid to jail rival oligarch thrown out by High Court

  10-06-2020 18:14 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  A former Russian minister who tried to get a business rival jailed has had his High Court case dismissed, as a judge accused him of attempting to “vex and harass” the oligarch. Vladimir Chernukhin, a one-time deputy minister of finance under Vladimir Putin whose wife is a major donor to the Conservative Party, undertook “commital to prison” proceedings against Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire against whom he had won a high-stakes legal battle last year. In February 2
  
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• Possible Fed move to cap yield rise could further weaken U.S. dollar

  10-06-2020 18:13 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. dollar would probably come under further pressure if the Federal Reserve adopts targets for U.S. Treasury yields that would limit their rise and ensure that interest rates remain near zero for some time.Capping bond yields could diminish the attractiveness of U.S. Treasury debt, as investors look to other alternatives, analysts said.Since late May, the dollar has fallen about 4.2% against a basket of major currencies.
  
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• Moving on from Neil Woodford: how I’d cash in on FTSE 100 volatility

  10-06-2020 18:02 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  This time last year, Hargreaves Lansdown suffered reputational damage due to its support of the much-maligned Neil Woodford’s management fund. The post Moving on from Neil Woodford: how I’d cash in on FTSE 100 volatility appeared first on The Motley Fool UK.
  
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• EU watchdog sets up TikTok task force, warns on Clearview AI software

  10-06-2020 17:58 via uk.finance.yahoo.com
  
  Chinese video app TikTok's practices are to be examined by an EU task force, the bloc's privacy watchdog said on Wednesday, which also warned EU police forces against using facial recognition software from U.S. company Clearview AI.TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance, allows users to create short videos and has seen its popularity soar during the COVID-19 crisis.The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) said it would set up a task force to assess TikTok's activities across the bloc after a reques
  
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