Seoul\u2019s Kospi index, which is dominated by semiconductor manufacturers, slid by as much as 12.6% at one point on Wednesday, following on from a near 11% slump the previous day, reaching its lowest level since early April.<\/p>\n
The market is poised for a record two-day fall, and a remarkable drop of more than 40% from a peak reached a little over a month ago. Japan\u2019s Nikkei<\/a> declined 1.5%.<\/p>\n Datacentre projects in Britain will be forced to put down significant upfront fees to secure an energy connection under proposals to ease an electricity grid logjam<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ofgem, the sector watchdog, said there were 315 datacentres currently queueing to connect up, representing 73GW of demand. This is almost 30GW above the entire country\u2019s peak energy demand of 45GW.<\/p>\n Under the energy regulator for Great Britain\u2019s proposals to thin out speculative schemes, projects will be required to lodge significant upfront fees or financial security via letters of credit, bonds or cash deposits. This will be demanded when a project receives a connection offer and returned when the datacentre is switched on.<\/p>\n BMW is planning to cut as many as 8,000 jobs in Germany<\/a>, according to reports, in the latest sign of Europe\u2019s largest carmakers reducing costs under pressure from Chinese rivals.<\/p>\n The Munich-headquartered company has started a voluntary redundancy programme agreed with employee representatives, a BMW<\/a> spokesperson said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n The company and its \u200bworks council had agreed a severance \u2060programme targeting the administration and development \u200bdivisions, the spokesperson said. Production operations are excluded.<\/p>\n BMW\u2019s total workforce is about 160,000.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n The latest figures on the working population by local authority show the proportion of workless households increased in 53% of local areas in Great Britain between 2024 and 2025, up from 48% between 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n The rise in workless households, and especially of young people not in emplyment, education or traing (Neets) has attracted the attention of the new prime minister who included measures to help people back into work <\/a>during his first days at number 10.<\/p>\n Based on the household adult population survey covering people aged 16 to 64 to the end of 2025, the Office for National Statistics found that Inverclyde, Rhondda Cynon Taf and South Tyneside were the three areas to appear in the worst 10 affected in both 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n The percentage of workless households in Inverclyde, west of Glasgow, was 28.1% of its working population while in Rhondda and south Tyneside the figures were 25.6% and 23.8% respectively.<\/p>\n South Tyneside is the only local authority to have a household workless rate that has appeared in the worst 10 affected areas consecutively for the last five years.<\/p>\n The ONS said Wokingham, Reading, South Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Trafford appeared in the 10 areas with the lowest percentage of workless households in both 2024 and 2025. South Gloucestershire had a workless household rate of just 6.9% while Trafford had a rate of 7.9%.<\/p>\n Data published last month covering the UK found there were an estimated 25.9% of households with a mix of at least one working and one workless adult, and an estimated 14.4% of households where no member of the household was in employment.<\/p>\n Many of the areas covered had only small sample sizes and were excluded by the ONS from the final list of local authorities. Among them was Tendring district council, which covers Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, Nigel Farage\u2019s consituency. It had an estimated workless rate of 30.3% in 2025.<\/p>\n The collection of data has proved to be a huge headache for the ONS since the Covid-19 pandemic when tens of thousands of households stopped answering government surveys.<\/p>\n Last month my colleague Richard Partington wrote the government had urged councils and schools<\/a> in England to drastically improve the way they identify young people at risk of dropping out of training and work, as it admitted thousands are unaccounted for.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a010.01 EDT<\/p>\n Investors are also looking ahead to the interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve later today. The US central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates at their current range of 3.5-3.75% \u2013 though rising oil prices mean there is a growing possibility of rate rises in the future.<\/p>\n Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, says markets are now pricing in a 30% chance of a hike later today.<\/p>\n double quotation markThe question is, will new chair Kevin Warsh spring a \u2018surprise\u2019 hike on financial markets?<\/p>\n \u2026If the Fed does decide to hike rates tonight, then it would not be grounded in the current labour market or inflation readings, instead it will be rooted in risk management, in case this changes in the future.<\/p>\n The current economic data available to the Fed does not suggest that the US economy is overheating. June [nonfarm payrolls] slowed substantially to 57,000, and the May figure was also revised lower to 129k. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, but there was a sharp drop in the labour force participation rate, which fell to 61.5% from 61.8%.<\/p>\n The inflation outlook has also moderated in recent weeks. Headline inflation fell 0.4% on a month-on-month basis in June, and the annual rate was 3.5%. Core CPI was flat on a monthly basis, but the annual core CPI rate moderated to 2.6% from 2.9%.<\/p>\n \u2026There are still some outstanding concerns regarding price pressures, for example, the rising costs of AI and business investment, and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, which is causing volatility in the oil price. However, we think that a preemptive rate hike at this stage would be premature, since the Fed cannot control geopolitical risks that trigger energy price rises.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a009.49 EDT<\/p>\n US stocks wobble as chip sell-off and Middle East conflict add pressure on markets<\/p>\n Wall Street has opened lower today, with the blue chip S&P 500 index falling 0.14% and the tech heavy Nasdaq down 0.05%.<\/p>\n US chip stocks are wobbling, although their falls are not as steep as yesterday \u2013 Sandisk has opened down 3%, while Micron is down 0.7%. Advanced Micro Devices is down 1.7%, and Western Digital has recovered a bit today, up 1.2%.<\/p>\n Markets are facing twin pressures this week from the volatility in AI chip stocks, as well as a rising oil price. Brent crude is currently up 6.7% to $89.68 a barrel.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Grant Thornton to buy rival CBIZ in $5bn deal Audit and consulting firm Grant Thornton has announced a $5bn deal to buy rival CBIZ in the largest takeover in the accounting sector in decades. <\/p>\n It means that Grant Thornton, which is part of an international network of firms, will become the fifth largest audit and consulting firm in the US, trailing just behind the Big Four (consisting of Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG).<\/p>\n Without the deal, Grant Thornton was the ninth largest US firm in the sector, while CBIZ was eighth.<\/p>\n The company plans to separate CBIZ\u2019 benefits and insurance serives into a new entity, backed by private equity firm New Mountain Capital, which bought a stake in Grant Thornton two years ago.<\/p>\n Grant Thornton Advisors CEO Jim Peko said:<\/p>\n double quotation markBy combining our multinational platform \u200bwith CBIZ\u2019s strong market presence, we\u2019re broadening our ability to \u200csupport \u2060businesses through every stage of growth \u2014 from early development to global scale.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Oil climbs 6% as Trump says US will give Iran a ‘beating’<\/p>\n Oil prices are rising further today, with the international benchmark Brent crude now up 6.4% to $89.47 a barrel.<\/p>\n The accelerated rise comes after Donald Trump said the US would deliver a \u201cbeating\u201d to Iran in retaliation against an attempted \u201csurprise\u201d attack. <\/a><\/p>\n Fox News reports that Trump said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019ll be hitting them hard. They\u2019re going to get a beating\u2026 We are going to beat the fucking shit out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.56 EDT<\/p>\n The FTSE<\/a> has lost some of its momentum from earlier in the day, and is now up by just 0.06.<\/p>\n But Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at the broker Wealth Club, notes that many investors have been drawn to the UK stock market\u2019s defensive qualities.<\/p>\n double quotation markInvestors are gravitating back towards companies with tangible cash flows, reliable dividends and established pricing power, qualities the FTSE 100 has in abundance.<\/p>\n Other exchanges have been hit by a wave of sell-offs as concerns spread about lofty chip stock valuations, growing Chinese competition and the huge AI spending commitments across the sector, but the Footsie has been standing strong. The tech-light nature of the index is insulating it from AI-focused jitters and its constituents are proving particularly resilient as investors seek out more stable returns amid the volatility.<\/p>\n The internationally focused index is also benefiting from currency gyrations as investors await the next interest rate decision from the Fed, and while a hold is expected, a more hawkish tone is forecast given lingering inflationary pressures.<\/p>\n \u2026The FTSE 100 is packed with companies with a big stake in the real economy, rather than the future prospects of a world dominated by AI technologies, and right now that\u2019s where more investors are seeking shelter.<\/p>\n Having been on the back foot for so long, the index is still considered to be largely undervalued, trading at a sizeable discount to US equities on earnings multiples, and if more shine comes off the biggest tech stars, it\u2019s well placed to benefit from a swing towards more stability.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Standard Chartered to launch $1bn share buyback Standard Chartered has announced it will hand $1bn to investors as part of a fresh share buyback, after a better-than-expected bump in second quarter profits. <\/p>\n The London-headquartered bank, which makes most of its money in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong and Singapore, said pre-tax profits rose 2% in the second quarter to $2.3bn, better than the $2.1bn forecast by analysts.<\/p>\n It came amid a rise in revenues from its wealth and global banking divisions, while predictions for potential defaults, linked to the ripple effects of the Iran war, held steady.<\/p>\n The results lifted StanChart shares, which were up 2.6% by midday, and helped the bank raise its income forecasts from the bottom of a 5-7% range to the middle of that predicted range.<\/p>\n Shareholders are now due to reap the benefits. CEO Bill Winters said in a statement:<\/p>\n double quotation markOur performance demonstrates the strength of our differentiated international network and the disciplined execution of our strategy. Clients continue to turn to us to facilitate trade, investment and wealth flows across the world\u2019s most dynamic markets\u2026 our upgraded income guidance and new share buyback of $1bn reflect our confidence in the business.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>FTSE 100 touches intraday high<\/p>\n The UK\u2019s blue chip FTSE<\/a> 100 index touched an intraday high this morning, rising by as much as 0.7% to 10,951 points.<\/p>\n It has since pared back some of that gain, now up 0.2% to 10,895 \u2013 but investors will be watching closely to see if it will end the day above 10,910, its previous high from February.<\/p>\n The index, which has a heavy weighting toward the finance and energy sectors, has been largely shielded from a rout in tech stocks that has rattled other global markets this week.<\/p>\n Russ Mould, investment director at the broker AJ Bell, says:<\/p>\n double quotation markThe FTSE 100 is sneaking above the all-time closing high from 28 February in early trading on Wednesday, helped by its lack of exposure to technology and AI stocks, and a slew of strong corporate results, with index heavyweights Standard Chartered, Reckitt Benckiser and Rio Tinto all delivering either better-than-expected profits, or bumper cash returns to shareholders, or both.<\/p>\n He adds that a key appeal for investors in the UK market is its reputation for paying out chunky cash returns \u2013 as evidenced today by fresh dividend hikes by Standard Chartered and Rio Tinto. <\/p>\n double quotation markThis bonanza for investors underpins one of the London market\u2019s attractions, namely cash returns.<\/p>\n Analysts expect the FTSE 100\u2019s members to pay out \u00a388.8bn in dividends in 2026, while today\u2019s announcements from Standard Chartered and Reckitt Benckiser take the total value of planned share buybacks by the index\u2019s members to \u00a340bn.<\/p>\n Add in around \u00a310bn in dividends and \u00a37.9bn from buybacks from other members of the FTSE All-Share and AIM All-Share indices, and the \u00a370bn in live or completed takeover deals, and investors with exposure to UK equities are poised to pocket \u00a3217bn this year, if all goes to plan.<\/p>\n That figure equates to just over 7% of the London\u2019s \u00a33tn stock market capitalisation, which as a total cash yield goes looks more than respectable relative to the 2.6% prevailing inflation rate, the 3.75% Bank of England base rate and the 4.98% benchmark ten-year gilt yield.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>English sparkling wine maker Chapel Down boosted by US buyers The long spell of hot weather and expansion in the US helped English sparkling wine The Kent-based firm said that its vines had benefited from the long spell of hot weather \u201cLast year was a really exceptional year,\u201d said James Pennefather, the chief executive of Chapel Down.<\/p>\n Wine from the grapes harvested last year will be ready to drink in about three years time Chapel Down said sales hit \u00a39.4m in the six months to 30 June as younger drinkers increasingly turn to a glass of fizz to celebrate events such as birthdays and anniversaries as well as more formal occasions such as weddings.<\/p>\n Pennefather said the brand had seen a \u201cspike in consumption over the summer months\u201d linked to sporting events such as Royal Ascot and the cricket, as the wine\u2019s![\"Phillip](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Philip_Inman.png\")
Phillip Inman<\/p>\n![\"Kalyeena](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Kalyeena_Makortoff,_L.png\")
Kalyeena Makortoff<\/p>\nKalyeena Makortoff<\/p>\n![\"Sarah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Sarah_Butler_Next_Gen.png\")
Sarah Butler<\/p>\n
maker Chapel Down increase sales by 19% in the first half of this year, but production at its vineyards is expected to be down on last year.<\/p>\n
but it was not expecting a repeat of last year\u2019s bumper crop, which was 15% ahead of the five year average \u2013 as the plants had been affected by a late frost in May. This year\u2019s crop is expected to be in line with the five year average.<\/p>\n
and Chapel Down said it was meeting increased demand as it is gradually bringing more of its 1,000 acres of vineyard into production after a spate of planting in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cfresh crisp style goes well with summer drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n