Amazon tells staff it plans 16,000 job cuts after email leak<\/p>\n
Amazon has now officially told staff it plans to cut around 16,000 jobs globally as part of efforts to streamline its operations, after it sent an email to its employees in erro<\/a>r.<\/p>\n It is the latest major round of job cuts at the retail technology giant, coming only three months after it axed 14,000 job<\/a>s.<\/p>\n It is understood the bulk of jobs impacted by the latest cuts will be in the US but there will also be some job losses in the UK. The company did not disclose how many UK workers will be affected.<\/p>\n Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, told staff in a blog post:<\/p>\n As I shared in October, we\u2019ve been working to strengthen our organisation by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy.<\/p>\n Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm \u2013 where we announce broad reductions every few months. That\u2019s not our plan.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n The GMB union has responded to the latest wave of job cuts at the US retail technology giant Amazon, which will also affect the UK, although we don\u2019t know how many.<\/p>\n Rachel Fagan, GMB Organiser, said:<\/p>\n Amazon is showing itself for what it is; a company that cannot be trusted to do the right thing by working people in the UK.<\/p>\n Bosses are overseeing thousands of job losses which will cause huge damage in towns and cities across the country.<\/p>\n Now is the time for decision makers to recognise Amazon as a company fixated on eye-watering profits at the expense of workers and local people.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>SpaceX mulls $1.5tn IPO timed to \u2018align with Musk\u2019s birthday and the planets\u2019<\/p>\n Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX is considering a flotation valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn (\u00a31.1tn) that will reportedly be timed for early summer to coincide with a planetary alignment and the multibillionaire\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n The world\u2019s richest person is targeting a symbolic date of mid-June for the initial public offering, according to the Financial Times. This would be around the same time as Jupiter and Venus appear in close proximity to each other and shortly before Musk turns 55 on 28 June.<\/p>\n The FT also reported that SpaceX is seeking to raise $50bn \u2013 valuing the rocket company at $1.5tn \u2013 compared with previous reports that it was looking for $25bn at an $800bn valuation. Last week, it was reported that the rocket company was considering Bank of America, JP MorganChase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for leading roles in the share sale<\/a>.<\/p>\n Musk, whose $680bn fortune would be turbo-boosted by a SpaceX<\/a> flotation, said last year the company\u2019s annual revenue would be $15.5bn, with $1.1bn of that coming from contracts with Nasa. The billionaire owns about 42% of SpaceX, as well as nearly 17% of the electric carmaker Tesla, where he is chief executive. He also owns more than three-quarters of the social media platform X.<\/p>\n The SpaceX mega rocket Starship takes off from a test base Boca Chica, Texas, USA, 18 November 2023. Photograph: Adam Davis\/EPAShare<\/a>ONS moves to supermarket checkout scanner data, which means inflation is slightly lower<\/p>\n Tom Knowles<\/p>\n The way UK inflation is calculated will now include collecting price data from supermarket checkout scanners, the Office for National Statistics <\/a>said, after years of delays. This means that the inflation rate will be slightly lower when applied to past data.<\/p>\n In a bid to modernise how consumer prices are measured, the ONS said that from March, the prices shoppers pay at supermarket checkouts or online will be incorporated into its inflation data.<\/p>\n Until now, the ONS has measured inflation by sending out price checkers at the same time every month to shops around the UK to record the prices of specific items. Prices were also collected from websites, telephone calls, catalogues and brochures.<\/p>\n The switch to taking data straight from supermarket tills comes five years after the ONS first announced plans to do so, due to the unexpected size and complexity of the switch.<\/p>\n The ONS said the process has involved<\/p>\n replacing 25,000 monthly price points\u2026 with 300m price points derived from sales of over a billion units of products per month taken directly from checkouts.<\/p>\n The statistics body said the data will also enable it to better capture the impact of a wider range of promotions, such as store discount cards, on average price inflation. This is because it will be the price charged at the till, not the price shown on the shelf, that will feed into the inflation statistics.<\/p>\n If the new supermarket scanner data had been used between January 2019 and June 2025, it would have lowered the average inflation rate by 0.03 percentage points, and led to a 0.1 percentage point difference in the published rate in 39 out of 66 months, the ONS said.<\/p>\n It said it would also collect an additional day of prices for hotel stays in its inflation data each month to iron out the volatility that can come during a major event such as a big sports match or music concert.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Amazon tells staff it plans 16,000 job cuts after email leak<\/p>\n Amazon has now officially told staff it plans to cut around 16,000 jobs globally as part of efforts to streamline its operations, after it sent an email to its employees in erro<\/a>r.<\/p>\n It is the latest major round of job cuts at the retail technology giant, coming only three months after it axed 14,000 job<\/a>s.<\/p>\n It is understood the bulk of jobs impacted by the latest cuts will be in the US but there will also be some job losses in the UK. The company did not disclose how many UK workers will be affected.<\/p>\n Beth Galetti, senior vice president of people experience and technology at Amazon, told staff in a blog post:<\/p>\n As I shared in October, we\u2019ve been working to strengthen our organisation by reducing layers, increasing ownership and removing bureaucracy.<\/p>\n Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm \u2013 where we announce broad reductions every few months. That\u2019s not our plan.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>US dollar sinks to its lowest level in four years; Swiss franc at decade high<\/p>\n Here\u2019s our full story on the dollar:<\/p>\n The US dollar has fallen to its lowest level in four years after Donald Trump<\/a> brushed off concerns over the currency\u2019s fall, sending investors fleeing to traditional havens including gold and the Swiss franc.<\/p>\n The dollar dropped by 1.3% against a basket of currencies after the president\u2019s comments on Tuesday, marking its fourth day of declines, then slipped by a further 0.2% on Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I think it\u2019s great,\u201d Trump said of the weaker dollar, during a visit to Iowa to promote his record on the economy<\/a>. Asked whether he was concerned about the currency\u2019s slide, he told reporters: \u201cI think the value of the dollar \u2013 look at the business we\u2019re doing. The dollar\u2019s doing great.\u201d<\/p>\n The greenback has tumbled by 10% over the past year, while Tuesday\u2019s fall was the largest one-day drop since last April, when Trump announced his sweeping tariff plans<\/a>, marking a global market sell-off.<\/p>\n The dollar has now touched its lowest level since February 2022, after unpredictable US policymaking, including Trump\u2019s recent threats to take over Greenland<\/a> and impose further tariffs on European allies, unleashed fresh geopolitical shocks.<\/p>\n \u201cA weaker dollar is a two-sided coin,\u201d said Steve Sosnick, a market strategist at Interactive Brokers, adding that it was good for multinational companies.<\/p>\n If you have operations around the world and foreign currency revenue that will have a conversion advantage when you turn it into US dollars, that will be good. On the other, it makes imported goods more expensive and there might be some inflationary impact from that.<\/p>\n The dollar\u2019s slide has also propelled some rival global currencies to multi-year highs.<\/p>\n The Swiss franc has soared to its highest level against the dollar in more than a decade, as traders have sought out a store of wealth traditionally viewed as a haven insulated from global volatility. The franc has already climbed 3% against the dollar so far this year, after a 14% rise in 2025.<\/p>\n The euro has also surged to $1.20 against the dollar, setting a new milestone, while the pound hit $1.38 for the first time since October 2021.<\/p>\n Dollar falls to four-year low against basket of major currencies.<\/a>Dollar falls to four-year low against basket of major currencies.Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.18 EST<\/p>\n Here are the comments in full from Chuck Robbins, who runs Cisco Systems which produces IT infrastructure enabling use of AI.<\/p>\n He told the BBC<\/a> the technology will be \u201cbigger than the internet\u201d, but the current market is probably a bubble and some companies \u201cwon\u2019t make it,\u201d as reported earlier<\/a>.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a lot of discussion about: \u2018Is this a bubble?\u2019. And the answer is probably yes, but we had a bubble in 2000 with the internet. And look at where we are today.<\/p>\n So the winners emerge, and there\u2019s carnage along the way, but it is going to be bigger than the internet.<\/p>\n It feels a lot like it (the dotcom crash), but what happens is you\u2019ll have money that will be invested in companies that won\u2019t make it, but the winners will emerge, the applications and use cases will begin to evolve.<\/p>\n Robbins compared AI to iPhones, with the constant development of new applications, saying new uses for the technology will develop over time.<\/p>\n He said it will make \u201clots of things better\u201d, but also has \u201cpotential risks we all have to mitigate\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>British Land to buy Life Science REIT for \u00a3150m in lab push<\/p>\n British Land, one of the UK\u2019s biggest property developers which owns the office complex Broadgate in the City of London, has struck a \u00a3150m deal to buy Life Science REIT (real estate investment trust).<\/p>\n British Land focuses on building office and shop clusters in London, and is one of the country\u2019s largest owners and operators of out-of-town retail parks. It is also constructing lab buildings, for example in the Knowledge Quarter near King\u2019s Cross station in north London.<\/p>\n The company said it \u201csees a compelling opportunity to grow its Science & Technology footprint\u201d through the acquisition, adding five well-located assets.<\/p>\n The Life Science REIT portfolio is all located with the \u201cgolden triangle\u201d of Cambridge, Oxford and London. It contains two central London buildings within the Knowledge quarter, a modern 24-acre technology park in Oxford, and a 13-acre campus and another building in Cambridge.<\/p>\n British Land acknowledged that demand for lab space was \u201cmore muted\u201d<\/a> in 2025.<\/p>\n It is paying 42.8p for every Life Science REIT share. That firm\u2019s share price jumped by 19% to 42.2p on the news.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The budget hotel chain Travelodge has warned that recent government policies have made trading conditions \u201cmore challenging\u201d after the sector missed out on fresh business rates relief.<\/p>\n A day after the Treasury announced additional tax relief for pubs and music venues<\/a>, the Travelodge boss Jo Boydell said the move was \u201cneglecting the broader hospitality sector\u201d. She added:<\/p>\n Higher rates and a lack of bespoke support, together with wider regulatory cost increases sends the message that the government does not understand the economic value that our sector delivers.<\/p>\n Travelodge said its business rates bill is set to increase from \u00a338m over the past year to \u00a350m in 2026 due to changes taking effect in April, with \u201cfurther significant rises\u201d in the following years as transitional relief measures are phased out.<\/p>\n Its warning came as the 625-strong hotel business reported a 0.7% increase in revenues to \u00a31.04bn last year.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Coinbase adverts banned in UK for suggesting crypto could ease cost of living crisis<\/p>\n A cryptocurrency company advised by George Osborne has been banned from showing a set of adverts that suggested using its services could be a solution to the cost of living crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Coinbase, which appointed the former Conservative chancellor to chair its global advisory council last year, has been told by the UK\u2019s advertising watchdog that its adverts were \u201cirresponsible\u201d and \u201ctrivialised the risks of cryptocurrency\u201d.<\/p>\n The adverts from the US crypto exchange include a sarcastic two-minute video showing people singing \u201ceverything is just fine, everything is grand\u201d as their home falls into a state of disrepair and suffers a power cut, while outside Britons cheerfully dance through streets littered with rats and piles of overflowing bin bags.<\/p>\n As the ad progresses, a shopper faces rising prices for fish fingers in a supermarket, white-collar workers lose their jobs, a sewage pipe bursts and rubbish falls from the sky.<\/p>\n The clip ends with large text saying: \u201cIf everything\u2019s fine, don\u2019t change anything\u201d, before being replaced with the Coinbase logo. The company, which was founded in 2012, provides a platform for people to buy and sell various cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n The Advertising<\/a> Standards Authority (ASA) said the advertising campaign, which launched in August, implied that using Coinbase could be an alternative to the financial concerns associated with the cost of living, and so trivialised the risks associated with investing in cryptocurrencies.<\/p>\n We considered that using humour to reference serious financial concerns, alongside a cue to \u2018change\u2019, risked presenting complex, high-risk financial products as an easy or obvious response to those concerns.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Royal Mail delivered Christmas letters and parcels late to about 16m people<\/p>\n Royal Mail has been criticised for offering an \u201cunacceptable\u201d performance over the crucial Christmas period after it failed to deliver letters and cards on time to about 16 million people, Citizens Advice found.<\/p>\n The consumer watchdog, which carried out research into Christmas deliveries, said that figure was 50% higher than in 2024, and the highest level over the festive period in five years, excluding when Royal Mail was hit by strike action in the run-up to Christmas four years ago.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re afraid there\u2019s no light at the end of the tunnel for consumers struggling with Royal Mail\u2019s persistent delivery failures,\u201d said Anne Pardoe, the head of policy at Citizens Advice. \u201cWhen people have no other postal provider to choose from, the sheer volume of delays is simply unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n The research, based on a survey of almost 2,100 adults conducted by Yonder, calculated that 5.7 million of the 16 million who experienced delivery delays missed out on receiving important information, such as health appointments, fines, benefit decisions and legal documents.<\/p>\n \u201cThe company\u2019s dreadful festive slump is about much more than late Christmas cards,\u201d said Pardoe. \u201cThis is a worrying trend, and with cuts to delivery days looming, [postal regulator] Ofcom<\/a> must start cracking down even harder on missed targets before things go from bad to worse.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>\u2018My Tesla has become ordinary\u2019: Turkey catches up with EU in electric car sales<\/p>\n When Berke Astarc\u0131o\u011flu bought a BMW i3 in 2016, he was one of just 44 people in a country of 80 million to buy a battery electric vehicle (BEV) that year. By the time he bought a Tesla in 2023, BEVs were no longer a complete oddity in Turkey<\/a>, making up 7% of new car sales.<\/p>\n Fast-forward two years and electric cars are selling so fast that Turkey has caught up with the EU in its rate of adoption. Its market is now the fourth largest in Europe, behind Germany, the UK and France.<\/p>\n \u201cA premium product is a thing that makes you happy but that not everyone can have,\u201d said Astarc\u0131o\u011flu, a mechatronic engineer from Istanbul and the developer of an app to find charging stations. \u201cMy Tesla has become an ordinary car over here.\u201d<\/p>\n BEVs made up 16.7% of new car sales in Turkey in 2025, just behind the EU\u2019s 17.4%, registration data published on Tuesday shows. While uptake is lower than in the Netherlands or the Nordics, where BEVs make up 35% to 96% of new cars sold, sales in Turkey have raced ahead of almost every country in southern and eastern Europe.<\/p>\n Its electric vehicle surge is part of a global trend in which emerging markets from Uruguay to Vietnam are spurning fossil fuel-burning cars at surprising speed. The latest data comes as Turkey prepares to host<\/a> the UN climate summit, and one month after the EU watered down<\/a> its 2035 ban on new combustion engine cars.<\/p>\n Analysts attribute the boom to a disparity in Turkey\u2019s special consumption tax, which has left electric cars only slightly more expensive than comparable petrol cars. Sales remained high even after the government raised taxes on electric vehicles in August.<\/p>\n \u201cPractically speaking, Turkish people don\u2019t buy electric vehicles because it\u2019s eco-friendly,\u201d said Ufuk Alparslan, an analyst at the climate thinktank Ember, saying that running costs were lower for electric cars. \u201cThe motivation is purely economical.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Amazon reveals fresh round of global job cuts in email sent in error to workers<\/p>\n Amazon<\/a> has told workers of a fresh round of global job cuts in an email that appears to have been sent in error.<\/p>\n Workers at Amazon<\/a> Web Services (AWS) received a meeting invitation from a top executive on Tuesday for the following day \u2013 subsequently cancelled \u2013 that also contained a draft email.<\/p>\n The message erroneously said the affected employees in the US, Canada and Costa Rica<\/a> had already been told they had lost their jobs.<\/p>\n It was signed by Colleen Aubrey, a senior vice-president of applied AI solutions at the company\u2019s cloud computing arm AWS, while the layoffs were referred to in the email as \u201cProject Dawn\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cChanges like this are hard on everyone,\u201d Aubrey wrote in the email, which was seen by multiple news outlets including Reuters and Bloomberg. \u201cThese decisions are difficult and are made thoughtfully as we position our organisation and AWS for future success.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Debenhams lifts forecast and will retain PrettyLittleThing brand<\/p>\n The British retailer Debenhams has lifted its forecast for 2025 profit as all its brands are doing well, including PrettyLittleThing.<\/p>\n The company, which rebranded from <\/a>Boohoo<\/a> last March after buying the department store chain Debenhams<\/a> out of administration five years ago, said trading had been better than expected. This means it now expects adjusted core profit for the 12 months to 28 February to come in at \u00a350m, rather than \u00a345m as previously estimated. It said:<\/p>\n This is a result of the continued momentum in our Debenhams brand, a discernible improvement in the performance of our youth brands and accelerated progress on our transformation plan. All our brands continue to trade profitably.<\/p>\n The online retailer had planned to sell PrettyLittleThing as part of a cost-cutting drive to boost profits and reduce its debt burden, but now plans to retain the brand. It reiterated that it will still go ahead with the sale of non-core assets to \u201cmaterially\u201d reduce debt.<\/p>\n Given the success we are seeing with PrettyLittleThing\u2019s turnaround, the momentum it is building and the substantial opportunity ahead as a fashion-led marketplace, the brand will be retained.<\/p>\n Designers Victor Anate, left, Naomi Campbell and Edwin Thompson walk the runway at the PrettyLittleThing x Naomi Campbell Spring\/Summer 2024 fashion show as part of New York Fashion Week. Photograph: Evan Agostini\/Invision\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n On the stock markets, European shares are taking a breather and have fallen back after two days of gains.<\/p>\n US stock futures are pointing to a higher open on Wall Street later, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq seen rising 0.8%.<\/p>\n The pan-European Stoxx 600 index is flat ahead of the latest interest rate decision from the US Federal Reserve later today (markets are expecting no change but are waiting for further clues on policy from Fed chair Jerome Powell during the press conference).<\/p>\n A technology stocks index climbed as much as 2.7%, after ASML, the world\u2019s largest supplier of computer chip equipment, reported stronger-than-expected orders for the fourth quarter, highlighting booming AI demand. Its shares rose 7% to hit a record high, and are now trading 5.3% higher.<\/p>\n The Dutch company\u2019s chief executive Christophe Fouquet said the group expected a \u201csignificant increase\u201d in sales of its Extreme Ultraviolet machines this year, after fourth-quarter orders beat analysts\u2019 expectations.<\/p>\n Swedish truckmaker Volvo climbed 2.7% after it posted a smaller-than-anticipated decline in fourth-quarter operating profits.<\/p>\n On the flipside, the luxury group LVMH shares tumbled by 7% after chief executive Bernard Arnault expressed caution about the year ahead.<\/p>\n The FTSE 100 index in London has slipped 16 points, or 0.16%, to 10,191. Germany\u2019s Dax is down 0.13%, France\u2019s CAC has lost 0.9%, Italy\u2019s FTSE MiB slid 0.7% and Spain\u2019s Ibex is trading 0.6% lower.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a004.18 EST<\/p>\n Pound rises above $1.38 for first time since 2021; gold breaks through $5,300<\/p>\n The pound has also benefited from the weaker dollar, and rose above $1.38 for the first time since October 2021.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, gold briefly broke through the $5,300 an ounce level, as investors sought out safe-haven investments.<\/p>\n Sterling has climbed nearly 3% in the last four trading days, from around $1.34, reflecting a sharp unwind in dollar positions as investors respond to growing policy risk in the US, said George Vessey, lead currency and macro strategist at the cross-border payments firm Convera.<\/p>\n Several factors are weighing on the US currency simultaneously, but the common thread is erratic US policymaking, which has revived the dollar\u2019s risk premium and pushed investors to rotate out of dollar\u2011denominated assets or hedge their exposure.<\/p>\n He said for the pound, \u201cthe move looks convincingly bullish and could mark the beginning of a shift into a higher trading range, with the psychological $1.40 level now the next upside marker\u201d.<\/p>\n The FX options market reinforces this momentum. Positioning for a stronger pound versus the dollar is now the most bullish over a one\u2011week horizon since 2019, while longer\u2011dated risk reversals have surged back to levels last seen during the tariff shock last April.<\/p>\n More broadly, currency volatility has returned with force. The G10 one\u2011month implied\/realised volatility spread is at its widest in over a year, signalling that traders are bracing for more turbulence ahead.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Euro hits $1.20 as sentiment towards dollar sours<\/p>\n As sentiment towards the dollar sours, the euro has hit $1.20 against the greenback, setting a new milestone.<\/p>\n Last week, the euro rose about 2%, its biggest weekly gain since last April, when Donald Trump\u2019s sweeping \u201cLiberation Day\u201d trade tariffs caused global turmoil.<\/p>\n The dollar has been on the backfoot against a number of major currencies, sinking to a fresh four-year low today.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s trade and foreign policy and his attacks on the US Federal Reserve, America\u2019s central bank, have weakened the dollar. The latest sell-off intensified after he said the dollar\u2019s value was \u201cgreat\u201d when asked whether the greenback had declined too much.<\/p>\n 2025 was the European single currency\u2019s best year since 2017, as it climbed about 13%. However, the path to $1.20 has not been smooth \u2013 the euro was near that level in September but then the dollar recovered.<\/p>\n A year ago, the euro was trading close to $1, but has strengthened since then, helped by a European stimulus package led by Germany, the region\u2019s economic powerhouse, and efforts to boost long-term growth and security in the eurozone.<\/p>\n Historically, the $1.20 level sits just above the euro\u2019s average since it was launched in 1999, according to Reuters. But it\u2019s still much lower than the peak of $1.60 it touched in 2008 during the global financial crisis.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>EasyJet warned over ‘misleading’ \u00a35.99 cabin bag fee<\/p>\n EasyJet has been told by the UK\u2019s advertising regulator that its claim that carry-on baggage fees cost \u201cfrom \u00a35.99\u201d is \u201cmisleading\u201d.<\/p>\n The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said there was \u201cinsufficient evidence\u201d that the price was available for large cabin bags \u201cacross a range of flight routes and dates\u201d.<\/p>\n It banned the airline from using the phrase in its marketing and asked it to ensure that for \u201cfrom\u201d prices for large cabin bags, the lowest price is available \u201cacross a significant proportion of flights\u201d.<\/p>\n In its defence, the budget airline told the regulator its advertised price was available on a range of routes but prices varied depending availability, demand and operational cost. It added that the actual price for a particular booking was clearly displayed before purchase.<\/p>\n The regulator\u2019s ruling comes after an investigation by consumer group Which? which found the price for adding a large cabin bag exceeded \u00a35.99 on all 520 easyJet flights analysed. The lowest price found was \u00a323.49 while the average was \u00a330.<\/p>\n An easyJet plane. Photograph: David Parry\/PA<\/p>\n Large cabin bags are designed to fit in overhead lockers on planes. Most low-cost airlines charge passengers an extra fee for bringing a large cabin bag.<\/p>\n Rory Boland, editor of magazine Which? Travel, said:<\/p>\n It\u2019s frankly astonishing that airlines think they can ignore the rules and mislead customers with unattainable prices, so it\u2019s absolutely right that the ASA has made this ruling against easyJet as a result of our complaint.<\/p>\n Our recent investigation found that there is a culture of airlines using low headline fares – then charging exorbitant prices on top to take a standard cabin bag. EasyJet said in a statement:<\/p>\n We always aim to provide clear information to our customers on pricing, and the purpose of this page was to display factual information on fees and charges to customers. Share<\/a><\/p>\n Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote, said it is likely that the dollar will continue to weaken.<\/p>\n There were plenty of major stories and market moves yesterday, but the most significant \u2014 and most impactful \u2014 was undoubtedly the sharp sell-off in the US dollar. It pushed the US dollar index to a four-year low and continues to drive gold and silver to fresh record highs this morning.<\/p>\n Trade and geopolitical uncertainty, tied to an increasingly unreliable American friend and ally, as well as growing concerns about what will happen to the Federal Reserve\u2019s credibility once Jerome Powell leaves office (it will fly out of the window), continue to weigh on the US dollar. Add to that the latest US consumer survey, which showed a sharp drop in consumer confidence, a marked deterioration in how households view the current situation, a decline in the share of consumers expecting income growth, and a steady rise in those saying jobs are hard to get. You get a pretty murky picture for the greenback and the two-speed US economy.<\/p>\n Still, this will hardly convince the Fed to cut rates today or in the coming months. Powell is likely to avoid political commentary at his post-decision speech today and keep the focus firmly on economic data to justify policy decisions.<\/p>\n That said, we all know the US President is waiting just outside the room \u2014 and anything he might say about the Fed\u2019s decision, or about how much he dislikes Powell, would only risk making matters worse for the US dollar, much to the delight of gold and silver longs. But with or without buzzy headlines, the US dollar looks condemned to weaken.<\/p>\n The only real comfort is that US inflation has not surged as a result of tariffs.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Introduction: AI boom will produce winners and ‘carnage,’ says tech boss; dollar sinks to four-year lows after Trump comments<\/p>\n Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.<\/p>\n The artificial intelligence (AI) will create winners but there will be \u201ccarnage along the way,\u201d the boss of a US technology company has warned.<\/p>\n
The easyJet cabin bag prices we collected were typically five times as much as the \u2018from \u00a35.99\u2019 it claimed. When booking a trip, customers should consider choosing an airline without cabin bag add-ons as it may work out cheaper.<\/p>\n
We always have some large cabin bags available for the lowest price.
In light of the ASA\u2019s feedback we have made some changes to the page to ensure the information is as clear as possible for consumers.<\/p>\n