P&O Ferries proprietor confirms £1bn UK funding after Haigh row – newest updates
Thanks for joining us. The Government’s flagship investment summit kicks off later at London’s Guildhall when the business elite will rub shoulders with ministers to discuss the UK’s prospects as an investment destination.
The run-up has been plagued by blunders. Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be hoping for a gaffe-free day.
It comes as the latest data from the British Chambers of Commerce show that the share of companies hiring new staff has fallen to its lowest level since 2021.
5 things to start your day
1) Boom in internal migration as Britons quit England for Scotland and Wales | Britons are quitting England to move to Scotland and Wales at near record levels in a bid to escape higher living costs.
2) One million top taxpayers pay more than two fifths of all income tax | Top rate taxpayers now pay more than two fifths of all income tax, according to official data that lays bare how reliant Britain is on just 1m workers.
3) Billionaire Mulberry owner has ‘no interest’ in selling handbag maker to Mike Ashley | Mulberry owners Challice have told the Sports Direct tycoon that the £83m offer by Frasers Group was “a distraction”.
4) British chipmaker backed by Beijing hit by China tariff row | A crackdown on exports of advanced microchips to China has dealt a blow to one of Britain’s biggest semiconductor companies.
5) SpaceX’s successful rocket landing boosts hopes for travel to Mars | Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully caught a booster from its Starship rocket for the first time in a lift to humanity’s hopes of travelling to Mars.
What happened overnight
Asian stocks swung between gains and losses as investors struggled to reach a consensus view on China’s broad economic stimulus promises made over the weekend, which were light on specifics.
At a closely watched news conference on Saturday, Minister of Finance Lan Foan pledged to “significantly increase” debt, but left investors guessing on the overall size of the stimulus, a detail needed to gauge the longevity of a stock market rally.
Hong Kong opened lower and were choppy in early trade, contrasting sharply with their mainland Chinese peers which got off to a strong start.
The Hang Seng Index last traded 0.4pc lower, while the CSI300 blue-chip index rose 1.5pc. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.7pc.
Property stocks onshore and offshore, however, eked out solid gain as investors bet the latest stimulus measures could aid China’s beleaguered property sector.
The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index advanced 1.4pc, while the CSI300 Real Estate Index jumped 4.1pc.
The mixed picture left MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up a marginal 0.1pc, with trading in Asia thinned on Monday given a holiday in Japan.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
