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Bond yields drop as market fears ease that Labour leader will be replaced by a more leftwing rival Elections 2026 – live updatesBusiness live – latest updatesUK government borrowing costs fell and the pound rose on Friday as Keir Starmer vowed to remain as prime minister despite the Labour party losing hundreds of council seats across England.Investors calculated that some of the intense pressure on Starmer's leadership had eased, as Labour appeared on track for a smaller losses than election experts had predicted. Continue reading......

Train operator will become 11th national service returned to public ownership since Labour was elected in 2024Great Western Railway will be nationalised in December, the government has announced.The train service has been in private hands for 30 years, mainly run by First Group. Continue reading......

Unemployment remained steady at 4.3% as the US-Israel war on Iran continues to rattle the American economyUS employers added 115,000 jobs in April and the unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%, a surprisingly robust gain to the labor market as the US-Israel war with Iran continued to drive up economic uncertainty.Economists projected about 55,000 new jobs and a 4.3% unemployment rate. A day earlier, the labor department announced 200,000 people filed for weekly unemployment benefits, a slight increase from the week before. Continue reading......

Carmaker gives one of largest warnings yet of conflict's impact on businesses while Trump tariffs also take tollToyota has reported a £3bn hit from costs from the war in Iran, as prices of parts and materials soared and sales dropped.The world's biggest carmaker said profits declined in its financial year to March as it was “likely unable to absorb newly added impact from the Middle East”, in one of the largest warnings yet of the war's impact on businesses. Continue reading......

US president expresses impatience at speed of EU's implementation and warns of 'much higher' tariffsUS trade court rules against Trump's 10% global tariffsBusiness live – latest updatesDonald Trump has walked back from his threat to tear up part of the US trade deal with the EU by hiking tariffs on car imports.The US president has given the EU until 4 July to implement its side of the deal, reducing tariffs to zero on most American imports, warning that the bloc would face “much higher” tariffs if it did not do so. Continue reading......

Promises to cut emissions and use more fuel-efficient planes fail to stop rise, with Ryanair's carbon footprint 50% up on 2019Emissions from flying in Europe have now passed pre-pandemic levels, with Ryanair's carbon footprint 50% higher than in 2019, research has shown.Total aviation emissions continue to increase despite industry pledges to decarbonise and the introduction of more fuel-efficient planes, driven by the massive expansion of low-cost carriers. Continue reading......

David Hinton will remain in post while successor is found, group says, a week after resignation of chair Chris TrainThe chief executive of South East Water has announced plans to step down, a week after the group's chair quit in the wake of major supply outages in Kent and Sussex.The supplier said David Hinton, who joined the board in 2013, would stay in post to allow an “orderly transition” over the summer while the group hunts for his successor. Continue reading......

Temperature swings have left crops across the Plains in terrible conditions, with some farmers opting not to harvestMerrill Nielsen's wheat crop looked healthy after he planted it in the fall on his 2,500-acre farm in north-central Kansas, about 50 miles west of Salina, the plants benefiting from higher-than-normal November rainfall.But an abnormally warm and dry winter, followed by extreme temperature variability, stressed the developing wheat. In the winter-to-spring transition, temperatures fluctuated from 70 to 80F on some days and lows in the teens or low 20s on other days. Continue reading......

International Airlines Group expects to spend £1.7bn more on fuel than planned since US-Israeli attack on IranBusiness news – live updatesThe parent company of British Airways has issued a profit warning and said it expects to spend about €2bn (£1.72bn) more on fuel than planned this year due to the Iran war.International Airlines Group (IAG), which also owns Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling, said it has hedged 70% of its expected fuel use for this year with costs expected to be about €9bn, up from previous forecasts of €7.1bn. Continue reading......

With transport set to be Australia's top-emitting sector by 2030, officials have recognised the need to investAt Penrith, a suburb on Sydney's rural fringe 50km (30 miles) west of the central business district, you can catch a train to the city every four to eight minutes during the morning peak, and roughly every 10 to 15 minutes during off-peak hours before midnight.On an express service, it takes 52 minutes to Sydney's Central station, comparable to the journey by car, without factoring in the morning traffic on a tolled motorway. Continue reading......

Trump also issues new deadline for EU to implement trade deal terms before raising tariffs to 'much higher levels'The US trade court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump's latest 10% global tariffs, finding across-the-board tariffs were not justified under a 1970s trade law.The US court of international trade ruled in favor of small businesses that challenged the tariffs, which took effect on 24 February. The ruling was 2-1, with one judge saying it was premature to grant victory to the small business plaintiffs. Continue reading......

Windfall profits could lock in Trump-era political wins for the industry and slow clean-energy transitionThe billions in profits big oil is reaping due to the Iran war may stymie the energy transition, experts and advocates fear, incentivizing oil and gas expansion and boosting the sector's funds for political lobbying.“Windfall profits from Trump's war will allow big oil to build a wall of money around its Trump-era political victories,” said Lukas Shankar-Ross, a deputy director at the green group Friends of the Earth. Continue reading......

Fifa association with Panini goes back to 19702030 World Cup will be final tournamentPanini World Cup sticker albums will become a thing of the past following the centenary finals in 2030 after Fifa announced a new partnership on Thursday.The Fifa association with Panini already stretches back more than 50 years, with the first World Cup sticker book published ahead of the 1970 finals in Mexico, and will have reached 60 years by 2030. Continue reading......

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsBritish house prices fell by 0.1% in April as the Iran war hit confidence and drove up borrowing costs.New data from mortgage lender Halifax that the average house price edged down by 0.1% in April, following a -0.5% fall in March. The average property price has dipped to £299,313, compared with £299,609 a month earlier.“After a strong start to the year, recent global developments have added a greater degree of uncertainty to the outlook. In particular, higher energy prices have fed into inflation expectations, prompting markets to reassess the path for interest rates – a shift that has already pushed up borrowing costs for many buyers.“This understandably leads to more caution among some households, with the cost-of-living once again front of mind and extra thought being given to planned property moves. Continue reading......

Ryan Cohen selling tube socks and baseball cards after offering $55.5bn, although source of funds remains unclearThe CEO of GameStop, Ryan Cohen, said he was selling vintage video games, baseball cards, GameStop merchandise and a $14,000 pair of tube socks to help fund the company's proposed $55.5bn acquisition of eBay.His platform of choice? eBay, of course. Continue reading......

Urban legend has it AI-based system scanned aviation data and weather-betting sites, then identified mismatches to get good oddsOnline platforms such as Polymarket allow gamblers to bet against one another on practically anything, including weather wagers such as the “highest temperature in London tomorrow”. According to an online urban legend, a Chinese student successfully gamed this system to make a pile of money.The student supposedly used Metar, meteorological aerodrome reports. These are used in the aviation industry and are updated hourly, unlike most other publicly available weather forecasts which only update every few hours. The student is said to have used an AI-based system running on two PCs in his dorm room to download Metar data, scan weather-betting sites and identify mismatches between the two where he could get good odds. He made a series of successful bets and soon amassed more than $100,000 (£73,500). Continue reading......

Appliance giant slashes earnings forecast and hikes prices by 10% with another 4% spike plannedWith the war in Iran and economic concerns putting pressure on consumers and how they spend their money, Whirlpool is having to adjust to Americans delaying big-ticket purchases while also raising prices to help stabilize its North American business.The company known for brands such as KitchenAid, Maytag and its namesake, said that the Iran war led to a “recession-level industry decline” in America as consumer confidence collapsed in late February and March. Revenue dropped nearly 10% in the quarter as sales of major appliances in North America declined more than 7%. Continue reading......

There will still be a need to have gas in the wings to keep the lights on, so the financials stack up on Severn plant purchaseThe eye-catching non-Hormuz news in energy-land last month was that Great Britain is set for a record-breaking summer for wind and solar power generation. The national energy system operator even thought there could be periods – a sunny weekend or a bank holiday afternoon of low demand, for example – when more renewable power would be available than the electricity grid needed.So, on the face of it, it is an odd moment for Centrica, owner of British Gas, to fork out £370m to buy a 16-year-old combined-cycle gas turbine plant in south Wales. After all, the government's clean power plan imagines that, come 2030, Great Britain's entire fleet of gas plants will be used to generate only 5% of its electricity, down from 31.5% in 2025. Continue reading......

Facebook and Instagram owner claims charges should not be calculated based on a company's global revenueMeta has launched a legal challenge against the UK's media regulator over the fees and fines regime it is enforcing under landmark digital safety legislation.The Facebook and Instagram owner is claiming that Ofcom's methodology for calculating the charges is flawed and should not be based on a company's global revenue. Breaches of the Online Safety Act can be punished by fines of up to 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue (QWR) or £18m – depending which is higher. Continue reading......

Shell has made $6.9bn in profits since the Iran war began, cashing in on soaring energy prices. The enormous profits have reignited calls for higher taxes on fossil fuel companies to fund support for those hardest hit by rising costs.Lucy Hough speaks to energy correspondent Jillian Ambrose. Continue reading......