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Tech companies warn that move could jeopardise US hopes of dominating AI
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Business — Julia Kollewe
Brent crude has risen by around 1% and eurozone bond yields have increased slightly, amid nervousness over the prospects of a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz soon.
Wall Street indices have eked out modest gains while UK and European shares are down, with the FTSE 100 index in London falling 86 points or 0.8% to 10,792.
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a new round of sweeping tariffs on semiconductors – despite warnings from technology companies that the move could harm US hopes of dominating artificial intelligence.
One tariff approach under consideration would dramatically expand the number of tech products subject to the duties, hitting not just chips but potentially many of the goods made with them, such as laptops, gaming consoles or the servers that fill data centres, Politico reported on Thursday, citing eight people familiar with discussions .
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick favours a structure that would tie foreign companies’ relief from the tariffs to investment in US chip manufacturing to fuel more domestic production, according to four of the people, Politico said.
The administration is mulling a phase-in period for the new tariffs, the four people said. They added that the framework could still be substantially revised in the coming weeks or months.
Nvidia shares jumped 7.6% on Wall Street , after the US chipmaker’s boss Jensen Huang hailed a “golden age” for AI in the US and globally, as it more than doubled second-quarter revenues to nearly $100bn. Investors breathed a sigh of relief as worries over ballooning debt-fuelled spending on AI infrastructure triggered a selloff in AI companies’ shares in recent months.
Related: Nvidia’s quarterly revenue doubles to nearly $100bn as CEO declares ‘golden age’
Related: Three UK airports hit by cyber-attack with data of 8.7m customers accessed
Related: Number of young people in UK not in work or education falls below 1 million
Related: Top of the crops: record heatwaves help deliver bumper UK berry harvest
Related: Firm fined for hounding elderly people with nuisance calls claiming to stop … nuisance calls
Related: City firms race to prepare for FCA crackdown on bullying and harassment
Related: UK expects Meta to match US child safety measures after $18bn settlement
Related: Key witness in Meta trial says terms of settlement insufficient to halt apps’ harms to teenagers
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow, with news from Jackson Hole and elsewhere – good-bye! – JK
Oil prices and bond yields rise amid Middle East worries
Oil prices have reversed earlier declines and have gone up, as doubts crept into markets over whether the strait of Hormuz can reopen anytime soon.
Brent crude has gained $1.15, or 1.3%, to $89 a barrel, after hitting a two-week low of $85.40 on Wednesday.
Qatar’s prime minister will visit Tehran on Thursday to try to relaunch diplomacy between the US and Iran, with both sides at odds over control of the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and supplies flows in normal times.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Iran and Oman had agreed how to share the waterway and its revenues, but a senior Iranian source later said the two countries were still working on the details of an agreement.
Government bond yields rose slightly as a result, as higher oil prices could push inflation higher in coming months.
Germany’s 10-year bond yield rose 3 basis points to 3.253%, close to a 15-year high. France’s 10-year yield also advanced 3bps to 4.107% but remained below last week’s 18-year high of 4.143%. UK and US yields also rose slightly.
In the US, the Jackson Hole economic policy symposium is kicking off today, and a highlight is the keynote address by US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh on Friday.
Hetal Mehta , chief economist at St. James’s Place, said:
Kevin Warsh is likely to use his first Jackson Hole address as Federal Reserve Chair to focus less on the next interest rate decision and more on the Fed’s longer-term policy framework, including the work of the task forces he has established.
Markets will nevertheless be looking for reassurance on the Fed’s commitment to its 2% inflation target and, importantly, how policymakers would respond if price pressures began to build again. Recent inflation data have been encouraging and support the case for rates to remain on hold. However, Warsh may keep the door open to further tightening if progress on disinflation stalls, reinforcing the Fed’s data-dependent approach.
Warsh has previously advocated reducing the Fed’s reliance on detailed forward guidance, reflecting concerns that excessive signalling has contributed to policy mistakes in the past. The irony is that he now faces pressure to communicate more clearly to address questions around the Fed’s credibility. Explicit guidance on the near-term path for rates would therefore be at odds with his preferred approach, but markets will scrutinise his language closely for any indication of how the Fed’s reaction function is evolving.
Any discussion of balance sheet policy will also attract attention, particularly following the US Treasury’s decision to increase its bond buyback programme and the questions this raises about its interaction with monetary policy. For investors, the central issues will be whether Warsh can reinforce confidence in the Fed’s inflation-fighting credentials while setting out a clear and credible approach to policy communication.
UKHospitality launches new guest safety principles after Travelodge scandal
The UK’s hospitality industry body has launched new guest safety principles for accommodation providers, a week after the boss of Travelodge resigned following a backlash over security failings at the hotel chain.
Joanna Boydell , the budget hotel chain’s then-chief executive, was heavily criticised for her handling of incidents which included a case where a domestic abuser was given a key to a woman’s room before assaulting her.
Related: Travelodge boss quits amid fallout over hotel chain’s security failings
UKHospitality said the new guidance has been driven forward by its members and developed in partnership with accommodation businesses to further protect guest safety, security and privacy.
Verification should be proportionate but effective
Well-trained employees are the strongest safeguard
Security arrangements should continually improve.
Each principle is expanded upon in greater detail, including recommendations and practical scenarios to guide businesses. All accommodation providers are urged to use the new guidance to review their security arrangements and continue to strengthen standards across the sector.
Allen Simpson , chief executive of UKHospitality, said:
Millions of people stay in accommodation every year, right across the UK. Whether it’s visiting friends and family, taking a holiday or travelling for work, they all expect a safe, secure and welcoming environment, where their privacy and safety are the number one priorities.
I know that every accommodation provider in the UK takes this important responsibility incredibly seriously.
The expertise and experience underpinning that responsibility from across accommodation businesses has driven this detailed guidance forward, and I’m extremely grateful for the dedication, effort and knowledge they have put into developing this document.
This guidance has been developed to ensure that any type of accommodation business, whether it’s a city centre hotel or a rural holiday park, can use these principles to review their current security arrangements and continue to strengthen standards in ways that work for their specific business. I would urge every single accommodation provider to do so.
The guidance has been developed by a UKHospitality working group, with representatives from Accor , Center Parcs , Clermont Hotels , Fuller’s , Haven , Hilton , IHG Hotels & Resorts , Starboard Hotels , Travelodge , Warner Hotels and Premier Inn owner Whitbread .
Bots and bargains: Zara owner launches cut-price Lefties in UK to rival Primark
The owner of Zara is taking on Primark , Shein and the supermarkets with the launch of its cut-price chain Lefties in Britain, backed by an army of robots.
The Spanish fashion brand opened its first UK store in Liverpool on Thursday, a few weeks after quietly launching its UK website.
The store has embraced robotics to reduce staffing costs, with self-checkouts that scan a whole basket in one go and a clothes-hanger sorter. Shoppers put their hangers in a slot as they pay and they are taken on a hidden conveyor belt to two robots behind a screen who sort them into boxes for different sizes.
The outlet at the Liverpool One city centre development also has fitting rooms equipped with a hatch through which unwanted items go to be sorted behind the scenes, again by robots.
Related: Bots and bargains: Zara owner launches cut-price Lefties in UK to rival Primark
Pernod Ricard shares tumble after sharp sales declines in China and US and gloomy outlook
Pernod Ricard has posted sharp sales declines in China and the US and issued a more gloomy forecast through 2029, in a sign of the downturn facing global spirits makers.
Shares in the French wine and spirits group fell more than 6% as chief executive Alexandre Ricard told investors that the US, its largest market, offers little potential over the next three years, dragging down overall performance.
The maker of Martell cognac and Absolut vodka, whose merger talks with Jack Daniel’s maker Brown-Forman , based in Kentucky, ended in April without a deal, now expects sales growth at the lower end of its 3% to 6% target range through 2029.
The assumptions that drive that kind of outlook are based on a US market which is not in growth over that period and which is quite soft.
However, he said Pernod’s broad geographic footprint should help underpin sales in the coming years.
Sales in the US and China fell 14% and 19%, respectively, in the year to 30 June, and prospects for the current year are also muted.
Pernod, the world’s second-largest spirits maker after the UK’s Diageo , forecast broadly stable organic net sales, with trading conditions in the US and China expected to remain tough in its first quarter.
Bernstein analyst Trevor Stirling said Ricard’s comments on the US had been expected after Diageo said earlier this month that the market would remain negative for the next three years.
There was no “massive surprise” in the results to justify the share reaction, he added, given Pernod’s performance and guidance were in line with expectations and peers.
Ricard said Pernod expects to complete its €1bn restructuring programme a year ahead of schedule and has cut around 3,600 jobs since its 2024 financial year.
The board is also considering a potential stock market flotation of the group’s Indian business and has already taken preparatory steps. India has overtaken China as Pernod’s second-largest market.
Three UK airports hit by cyber-attack with data of 8.7m customers accessed
Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports have been hit by a cyber-attack, with hackers accessing the data of about 8.7 million customers.
Hackers obtained their email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes, as the incident affected data related to “car park, lounge and fast-track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups”, said Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which operates the three air hubs.
The company added that “at no point has passenger safety or aviation security been compromised” during the incident and operations at the airports were unaffected. The hacked system did not hold customer bank and payment details.
In an email to customers, London Stansted said:
We would urge you to be particularly cautious of unexpected emails, calls or text messages claiming to be from us. We will never contact you unexpectedly to ask for payment or banking information. We apologise for any inconvenience or concern this may cause.
Related: Three UK airports hit by cyber-attack with data of 8.7m customers accessed
Lauren Wills-Dixon , partner and head of privacy at law firm Gordons, said the news will be concerning for customers.
So far we know that around 8.7 million customers have had their data stolen, including email addresses, phone numbers and postcodes, but not bank details. The scale of this attack is notable - the important thing now is how Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which operates all three airports, responds in line with its cyber security plan.
This is another reminder of the importance for organisations to take legal, regulatory and best practice measures to build and maintain cyber resilience. Airports sell a number of services including lounge access, parking and fast-track bookings. Wi-fi access also requires customers to input their data. As a result, operators will hold large amounts of customer data and this, together with the increased use of technology, only increases the threat of a cyber attack.
MAG has done the right thing in communicating early with affected customers, and has already said it’s working with specialist advisors who will be taking appropriate action to contain the risk and inform the Information Commissioner’s Office in line with guidance.
Arjan Bredenoord , the lead clinician in the AstraZeneca phase III trial of Tezspire for eosinophilic esophagitis, a chronic inflammatory disorder of the oesophagus, said because of the disease,
Patients start to eat smaller bites, start to avoid food, start to chew very slowly and start to avoid any social situation where eating is involved. So, it has a big impact on their lives, and it would be very valuable if you could treat that with an appropriate therapy.
For many of these young patients, it’s a very big challenge to take a medicine twice a day, and often results in failure of the therapy. Tezepelumab can be administered only once every four weeks, so there is very little burden for patients.”
This medicine targets TSLP, an alarmin that is released by the epithelium in response to stress. TSLP plays a role in type 2 inflammatory conditions, including chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps, allergic asthma and eosinophilic esophagitis.
Nowadays we see more and more patients being diagnosed with EOE. It seems that the incidence is doubling every five years now, so it’s a big new indication.
AstraZeneca gets boost from late-stage trial success of Tezspire after recent setbacks
Britain’s biggest pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca said its asthma drug Tezspire had positive results in a late-stage trial in patients with a chronic inflammatory disorder of the oesophagus –- a boost to its drug portfolio after a string of recent setbacks.
The study showed that Tezspire, developed with California’s Amgen , met its main goals. It significantly reduced inflammation in the oesophagus and eased difficulty in swallowing, compared with a placebo in patients suffering with eosinophilic esophagitis.
EoE is a chronic and progressive inflammatory disorder of the esophagus affecting more than 470,000 people in the US, with the prevalence increasing five-fold since 2009. Nearly half of patients, including adolescents, do not achieve adequate disease control with current first-line treatments, which include dietary restriction, corticosteroids and proton pump inhibitors. For patients, the risk of food moving slowly or becoming stuck can make daily meals difficult and stressful.
Tezspire, a monoclonal antibody, generated $1.1bn in sales for AstraZeneca last year.
Chief executive Pascal Soriot is steering AstraZeneca towards its goal of $80bn in annual sales by 2030, betting on up to 20 new drug launches as the company faces patent expiries and suffered several drug setbacks recently.
In July, its injected drug Wainua (approved to treat nerve damage from a rare genetic disease called hATTR amyloidosis) unexpectedly failed a heart disease trial, while a late-stage study of the rare disease drug Ultomiris also failed .
AstraZeneca also scrapped an advanced study of experimental lung cancer drug volrustomig earlier this month after a committee overseeing the trial said it was unlikely to meet its main goal.
Despite the latest news, the company’s shares dipped 0.4% on Thursday, having fallen 14% since Wainua’s trial failure.
While the Tezspire results are encouraging, investors remain focused on upcoming results from two cancer trials that are seen as critical to AstraZeneca’s pipeline.
Sharon Barr , executive vice president of BioPharmaceuticals R&D at the company, said:
The positive results of the Phase III CROSSING trial reinforce our confidence in the differentiated mechanism of action of Tezspire, which has now demonstrated clinically meaningful efficacy in a third epithelial-driven inflammatory disease.
Epithelial science represents an important and rapidly evolving area in respiratory and immunology medicine, and we look forward to sharing these results at an upcoming medical meeting and with regulatory authorities as quickly as possible.
Epithelia are tissues consisting of sheets of similar cells bound closely together, which include the epidermis, the surfaces of the eyes, the surfaces of the hollow tubes and sacs that make up the digestive, respiratory, reproductive, and urinary tracts, and the secretory cells and ducts of various glands.
Coca-Cola, Stella shortages loom as West Yorkshire Lockwood Haulage workers to strike
There could be Coca-Cola , Budweiser , Stella and Heineken shortages, as 40 workers at Lockwood Haulage Ltd in West Yorkshire plan to strike next month in a dispute around pay.
The workers, Unite members based in Knottingley and South Kirby, have rejected a “miserly” 1% increase, applied across all grades and allowances, backdated to 1 March 2025, the union said.
They are forklift truck drivers and machine operators in Lockwood’s glass division, and will walk out in an all-out strike from 2 September.
Lockwood, a family-owned medium-sized business, has also said it will introduce an attendance-based bonus scheme, rather than pay increases. This would be £250 each quarter if they meet the attendance criteria, which workers believe will leave them financially worse off.
The cost-of-living crisis is impacting these workers, who previously worked for GXO before being transferred in March 2025 in a TUPE agreement and have not had a pay rise since October 2023, Unite said. They work four days on four days off and their salary includes weekend working, shift allowances, and bank holiday pay.
Unite has attended multiple meetings to try to reach an agreement but said Lockwood has failed to resolve the issue.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said:
The fact that workers have not had a pay rise in nearly three years is an absolute insult and to be now offered a measly one per cent is a further kick in the teeth.
Moving away from yearly increases to a bonus scheme is simply another way to shortchange our members at Lockwood. Unite will not allow this unacceptable attack on pay and our members have our full support in their industrial action.
Strike action will have a major impact on Lockwood’s customer Ardagh Glass and the household names it supplies which include Coca Cola, Budweiser, Stella and Heineken, and could lead to shortages of these products, according to the union. It also produces whiskey bottles for Jameson , J&B and Johnnie Walker as well as wine bottles.
Unite regional officer Jessica Sangha said:
Any strike action is completely the fault of Lockwood management, who have insulted our members with this paltry pay offer.
Industrial action can be avoided, but that relies on Lockwood coming back with improvements to the pay offer which our members will find acceptable.
Workers at the Knottingley site previously went on strike in July 2025 in a bid to gain Unite recognition after being transferred from GXO, where they had recognition, after Lockwood refused to recognise the union. Unite members won the dispute and the union is now formally recognised for collective bargaining at Lockwood.
The company has been contacted for comment.
Trump administration reportedly considering new round of 'sweeping' tariffs on chips
The Trump administration is reportedly considering a new round of sweeping tariffs on semiconductors – despite warnings from technology companies that the move could harm US hopes of dominating artificial intelligence.
One tariff approach under consideration would dramatically expand the number of tech products subject to the duties, hitting not just chips but potentially many of the goods made with them, such as laptops, gaming consoles or the servers that fill data centres, Politico reported on Thursday, citing eight people familiar with discussions .
US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick favours a structure that would tie foreign companies’ relief from the tariffs to investment in US chip manufacturing to fuel more domestic production, according to four of the people, Politico said.
The administration is mulling a phase-in period for the new tariffs, the four people said. They added that the framework could still be substantially revised in the coming weeks or months.
Here’s more reaction to the 981,000 young people not in education, employment or training (Neets) in the UK.
Chris Goulden , deputy chief executive of the Youth Futures Foundation, said:
This is a stark reminder that, despite small fluctuations in the data, the youth employment challenge remains a large, long-term problem. Hundreds of thousands of young people are continuing to miss out on the opportunity to earn, learn and build a secure future, leaving long-term scarring effects on their wellbeing, health and earning prospects.
Behind the statistics are young people facing real and often complex barriers to entering and staying in education, training and employment.
Jon Sparkes , chief executive of learning disability charity Mencap, said:
Today’s welcome figures are a reminder that young people are not work-shy, but it is too often the systems around them that are failing to meet their ambitions…youth unemployment is still at its highest in more than a decade.
Only around one in four adults with a learning disability has a paid job, despite the vast majority telling us they want to work. The issues – inaccessible recruitment, a postcode lottery of employment support, and employers lacking confidence – are as high as they were yesterday.
Sam Tims , lead analyst at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a think tank, said:
Nearly a million young people not earning or learning is the result of an economy that leaves young people behind, creates too few opportunities, and particularly fails those growing up in poverty.
It speaks to a lack of support for young people to move forward with their lives. Not only does growing up in persistent poverty more than triple the risk of being out of work or learning, inadequate income also prevents people from being able to move back into learning or earning.
He added that the review by former government minister Alan Milburn on youth unemployment must be a “turning point” for the support offered to young people.
Related: British firms to get £3,000 for every long-term jobless youngster they hire
The jobs guarantee scheme is a new government programme which has promised to create 90,000 fully funded jobs by 2029, a key part of the government’s £2.5bn drive to tackle high youth unemployment.
The first young people have started their jobs under the initiative. It offers a direct route into work for all 18– 24-year-olds who have been claiming universal credit and looking for work for 18 months.
Roles on offer are matched to the individual’s skillset, with the government funding up to 25 hours’ paid work for six months to get young people into the labour market.
Work must be “part of the answer” to the mental health crisis among young people, the work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden , said as he met some of the first beneficiaries of Labour’s youth jobs guarantee scheme , our economics editor Heather Stewart reported from Nottingham .
Some of the recruits were packing and labelling boxes of products to be posted out to households, and others are in administrative roles. They told McFadden about long periods of fruitless jobhunting.
A rise in cases of mental illness is widely cited as one cause for the increase in the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neets) in recent years.
But McFadden said the reasons could run the other way, too.
Work is part of the answer. Work is good for you. It’s bad for your mental health to be sitting at home, isolated.
Related: ‘Work is good for you’: how UK scheme could help tackle youth mental health crisis
Ben Harrison , director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, a think tank, said the figures show “ there are no quick fixes to the youth employment crisis” facing the UK.
And although nearly three quarters (73%) of employers recognise youth worklessness as a national crisis , according to the Work Foundation’s research, more than a third (36%) report having cut entry-level jobs in the last year. For young jobseekers, facing repeated rejection and struggling to secure a foothold in work can be particularly demoralising , he said.
Although more young people are now looking for work than a year ago, they are doing so at a particularly difficult moment to take their first steps into the labour market. Work Foundation research indicates the number of ‘starter’ jobs accessible to people entering work for the first time has fallen by 49% over the last decade , leaving only one starter vacancy for every three NEET young people nationally.
This decline in employment opportunities is critical, as without improving young people’s access to secure jobs, it will be very challenging to sustainably reduce the number of young people outside the labour market. Government and employers must therefore focus urgently on expanding the quantity and quality of entry-level opportunities available to them.
In particular, to ensure the Jobs Guarantee genuinely strengthens the first rungs on the jobs ladder for young people, it must create additional, secure jobs that provide realistic routes to sustained employment and progression. And there is scope for government to provide additional support to employers to improve recruitment, induction, mentoring and workplace adjustments to help ensure these workplace policies are not creating additional barriers to young people seeking work.
“Almost one million young people stuck out of work is a crisis which has been a decade in the making, and will take time to turn around,” warned TUC general secretary Paul Nowak .
The prime minister has rightly made getting more young people into work a priority – from strengthening vocational education to delivering greater access to work placements and training.
The evidence is crystal clear - good quality employment support, more good training places and a strong growing economy with more vacancies is what we need. Holding down workers’ rights will only hold back young people’s employment prospects.
That’s why the prime minister must keep going with measures to support young people into good quality work – including by delivering rights to guaranteed hours in full and ending the scourge of insecure work.
The government’s jobs guarantee is an important step forward too. But ministers need to put the turbo boosters on the scheme by expanding places and ending the 18-month wait.
We know that early experience of good-quality, paid work can make a huge difference to young people’s prospects across their lifetimes.
Number of young people not in work or education in UK falls from over 1 million but remains high
The number of young people not in education, employment or training has fallen in recent months after topping a million earlier this year, but remains high.
There were 981,000 young people aged 16 to 24, so-called Neets , between April to June, down 30,000 from the first quarter of the year, according to the Office for National Statistics .
Compared with the same period last year, the figure is still 30,000 higher.
The total number went over one million earlier this year for the first time in over a decade, fuelling calls for more help to get young people into work.
Alan Milburn , the Blair-era cabinet minister turned social mobility adviser, set out a hugely detailed and damning picture of what he called a “record of failure”, one that is letting down young people, when he published the first part of a government-commissioned review in late May.
Related: ‘A record of failure’: what’s in the first part of Alan Milburn’s Neet report?
Oil prices fall as Iran-Oman hold talks about strait of Hormuz, shipping traffic up
In the markets, oil prices have fallen with shipping traffic through the strait of Hormuz rising slightly despite the standoff between the US and Iran.
Iran and Oman are engaged in talks about how to manage the waterway. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell as low as $86.22 a barrel this morning, and is now down 0.6% at $87.35 a barrel.
Ten commodity vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, up from eight on Tuesday, according to Reuters, citing data from Kpler. (Some ships turn off their transponders and aren’t captured in the data.)
Two medium-range fuel tankers, a liquefied petroleum gas carrier, a Panamax-sized tanker, and three handymax-sized tankers entered the strait from the Gulf of Oman. A medium-range fuel tanker, a bitumen tanker and a bulk carrier exited the waterway from the Gulf.
Iran and Oman are still working on the details of an agreement on the strait, a senior Iranian source told Reuters on Wednesday, after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the two countries had agreed how to share the waterway and its revenue.
A tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the waterway, causing a fire that was later put out, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said early on Thursday.
Meanwhile, traffic slowed for a second day at the other key waterway of the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
A total of 19 commodity vessels passed through Bab el-Mandeb on Wednesday, including six tankers that exited, including a very large crude carrier, down from 24 on the previous day, the Kpler data showed.
Call-blocking device company fined for 'hounding' people with nuisance calls
A company that made its money promising to protect elderly people from nuisance calls has been fined £190,000 for “hounding” them with hundreds of thousands of nuisance calls of its own.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said Elderly Aids Ltd , a company selling call-blocking devices, made 758,053 cold calls between May 2024 and February 2025 to try and sell its products.
About 20 complaints were made to the ICO and the Telephone Preference Service - a service that prevents your telephone number from being shared - some of which said callers were aggressive, misleading and often failed to identify themselves.
One complainant said they were “overcharging for call blocking services that they aren’t authorised to sell – my father was persuaded to sign up to pay £139 upfront and a £6.99 monthly fee”.
The ICO described Elderly Aids Ltd’s actions as “bombarding people with the very nuisance calls it claimed to protect them from”.
When the ICO started investigating the company, Elderly Aids Ltd repeatedly ignored requests for information while continuing to cold call people.
The company also attempted to strike itself off the Companies House register once it became aware it was under scrutiny and is now registered at a default address.
Andy Curry , head of investigations at the ICO, said:
Not only did this company target vulnerable people who had explicitly asked not to be called – they harassed them to sell call-blocking devices.
EAL showed a complete disregard for the law and the people they were hounding. This penalty should serve as a clear warning to any business that thinks the law does not apply to them - we will hold them to account for both exploiting people in this way and trying to avoid accountability.
UK car production down on weaker exports, despite rise in electric cars
Car and van production in the UK declined last month because of weaker exports as well as routine summer shutdowns at some plants.
Vehicle production fell 11.6% year on year in July to 63,655 units, according to the latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The decline reflects weaker exports, down 15.9% to 47,377 vehicles, as well as earlier scheduling of routine summer maintenance shutdowns at some plants, the industry body said.
Car production declined 10.6% to 61,767 units, as a 9.3% rise in output for UK buyers failed to offset a 15.8% fall in exports. Shipments to all major markets were down, including the EU (-15.2%), the US (-17.7%), Turkey (-18.5%), China (-36.9%) and Japan (-24.4%).
Commercial vehicle output also fell sharply, down 34.4% to 1,888 units, with deliveries to UK customers and export markets down 49.6% and 18.5% respectively.
Electrified cars were a bright spot, with output of fully electric and hybrid models recording the first monthly increase of the year, up 6.8% to 25,678 units. Electrified models accounted for more than four in 10 cars built in July, up from around three in 10 a year ago.
So far this year, UK factories have turned out just under 450,000 cars and commcercial vehicles, down 8.1% on the same period in 2025, reflecting model changeovers, the closure of a plant last year, and trade and investment uncertainty. Even so, the latest independent forecast expects UK car and light vehicle output to remain broadly stable this year, at 740,000 units, before growth resumes in 2027.
Output could still reach one million units by the turn of the decade, but only if the UK addresses its competitiveness and secures fresh model investment.
The SMMT has welcomed the government’s recently launched review of its ZEV (zero emission vehicle) mandate, as it hopes for “meaningful reforms” to the regulation that would help reduce the high cost of selling EVs in the UK.
Ben Hunt , a retail analyst at Panmure Liberum, upgraded his Halfords forecasts, saying:
Favourable summer weather has driven a meaningful 2027 upgrade, but importantly there is also a clear underlying improvement, reflecting strong exit momentum from 2026.
Management expects a more first-half-weighted profit profile, reflecting strong trading to date and increased technology and marketing investment in the second half. Even so, we believe guidance retains some prudence and would not be surprised to see further upgrades before year-end.
Longer-term we expect momentum to be sustained by further benefits from Fusion garage conversions, the return of the cycling replacement cycle and the rollout of Fusion learnings across the wider Autocentres estate.
With tyres finally showing signs of stabilisation and operational expenditure growth moderating, all areas of the P&L [profit and loss] are now moving in the same direction.
Halfords profits boosted by demand for aircon services
Halfords shares are soaring this morning after the bike and car parts retailer raised its profit forecast for the year, partly after scorching summer weather drove demand for its airconditioning services.
The company said it has seen “strong demand in seasonal categories” that was “in part reflecting unusually warm summer weather”.
A spokesperson later confirmed this included air conditioning services, such as regassing air con units, along with cycling, and touring and camping equipment. Shares jumped more than 10% on Thursday morning.
Analysts at Peel Hunt, one of Halfords’s brokers, said the warm weather added around £5m to its profit in the first half of the year, with “extremely strong” sales in the three categories.
Of course, this may be difficult to replicate next year, when presumably the weather will normalise, but it is in the bag for this year now, and this incremental c£5m is at the heart of our upgrade.
The update follows Britain’s hottest and driest summer in years, with five heatwaves and drought declared across large parts of England and Wales.
The retailer said it now expects annual profit of between £55m and £65m, above the £52.6m analysts had forecast.
Halfords said the rest of the upgrade came from “continued momentum” in its core business, as it pushes ahead with a turnaround plan under chief executive Henry Birch .
Nvidia shares are now up 6.4% in pre-market trading, ahead of the Wall Street open later today.
Major supplier Micron Technology is 4.3% ahead in pre-market trading.
“Nvidia delivered a beat-and-raise quarter, but the real positive was the earnings call,” said Ben Barringer , head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot.
Investors came into the results with a laundry list of concerns around competition, the durability of AI spending, memory costs, margins, financing arrangements, open-source models and China. Management did a good job of systematically addressing each one.
The headline numbers were strong, with guidance implying around 70% revenue growth despite demand running closer to 100% growth and remaining constrained by supply.
On competition, Nvidia pointed to AWS as a customer, reinforcing its position even as hyperscalers develop their own silicon. While concerns about competition are unlikely to disappear, management made a convincing case that its ecosystem continues to provide a significant advantage.
Durability was another key question investors wanted answered and management’s response was robust. Alongside 70% growth guidance, Nvidia highlighted roughly $2 trillion of backlog, suggesting demand remains exceptionally strong.
Gross margins were probably the main negative. Nvidia reported margins of 75% but guided to 74%, citing rising memory prices. Management suggested margins could trough at around 71% before recovering as pricing adjusts. While worth monitoring, investors appeared comfortable with that explanation given the scale of demand.
Financing has also been flagged as a risk by some investors. Nvidia emphasised that it is not making loans to customers but creating financing platforms, which it views as vital to address this unique AI opportunity. Whether that becomes a meaningful business remains to be seen, but management sought to dispel credit risks being taken on.
Open-source AI was another area management addressed. Nvidia’s view is that open and closed models will coexist, leaving the company well positioned regardless of how the market develops.
But China remains one of the bigger unresolved issues , with little contribution from the region reflected in the current numbers.
Overall, this was a strong quarter, but more importantly a strong call. Investors arrived with a long list of worries and management provided reassuring answers to most of them. The stock was initially flat after the results but rose around 5% following the call, suggesting that it was the commentary and strong guidance , rather than just the headline numbers, that ultimately convinced the market.
So, what is driving these massive revenues at Nvidia? asks Kathleen Brooks , research director at the investment platform XTB.
Firstly, there has been an explosion in its customer base . Nvidia doesn’t publish customer numbers with its earnings report, but Jensen Huang said that last year one lab was driving the AI buildout, now there are multiple lab buildouts at once. Huang called it a golden age for AI , in the US and around the world. A broader customer base will keep revenue growth buoyant, it also means that Nvidia is less reliant on hyperscaler capex spend to continue to grow its own revenues.
It’s not just the hyperscalers who want data centres, revenue from other parts of the market is now starting to pick up steam. Nvidia Cloud customers, along with industrial and enterprise clients now make up $40.3bn of revenue, up more than 100% in a year . The hyperscalers generated $48.7bn. Another reason why the stock price is rallying is because other parts of the market are quickly catching up to the hyperscalers.
There has been a lot of concern about Nvidia’s equity investments in other AI companies, however, so far, they are paying off. Net income for last quarter included a $7.8bn gain in equity investments, which include Intel and SpaceX .
While some are worried about a circular financing model that could leave Nvidia exposed if the investments turn sour, Nvidia’s supporters argue what else is a cash-generating machine like Nvidia supposed to do with its money? The company reported data centre sales of $92bn last quarter, and makes 92% of its revenues through its data centre and chip sales unit.
When your bread and butter business is performing at this level, Nvidia has plenty of money to invest to broaden the global AI ecosystem, and there could even be upside if money generated through these investments feed back into Nvidia’s sales.
Analysts said Nvidia’s results are a shot in the arm for the AI trade. Brooks added:
With revenues this big, and demand for its products getting bigger every month , it will be a brave trader who will bet against Nvidia in the aftermath of this report. For now, the company has proven that criticism of its investment and financing model for AI is overblown , and today’s results could give the whole AI trade, and the US stock market, a shot in the arm, after a volatile few months for the tech trade.
These results are good news for Nvidia’s suppliers after the company said that it would double its supply commitments to $279bn, primarily related to memory costs. Nvidia’s largest memory suppliers include SK Hynix , Samsung and Micron .
More on Shein . The company, which sells £5 dresses and £11-£15 jeans, is set to price its initial public offering (IPO) at HK$48.56 a share, near the midpoint of its HK$47.60 to HK$49.50 range, Reuters reported.
The IPO will value the company at about a quarter of its nearly $100bn peak in 2022, and well below the $66bn it was valued at in a 2023 fundraising round.
Related: Fast-fashion giant Shein sets cut-price $27bn valuation for Hong Kong IPO
Shein, which is headquartered in Singapore and was founded in China, launched its Hong Kong IPO on Monday. It is due to announce the final IPO price next Monday, with trading expected to begin the following day.
It is one of the longest-awaited initial public offerings (IPO) of recent years, after plans to list in New York were blocked by regulators over forced labour concerns. Shein then considered a £50bn float in London, but faced similar questions about its supply chain from campaigners, MPs and investors.
Cornerstone investors, led by existing shareholders Boyu Capital, Tiger Global and General Atlantic, have subscribed for $383m of shares, its prospectus showed. Tencent , Greenwoods, Taikang Life and UBS Asset Management will also buy shares.
Shein has said it will use 80% of the proceeds to improve its technology and expand its brand and global reach. It has also agreed to pay up to $3.5bn in cash to certain investors who bought special shares in earlier private funding rounds.
The retailer is grappling with slower revenue growth, weaker earnings and shrinking profit margins.
Introduction: Asian technology shares ride high on AI optimism after Nvidia’s ‘stunning’ results
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the global economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.
Asian technology shares rose after bumper results from the US chipmaker Nvidia last night.
There was a sigh of relief after AI bellwether Nvidia reported a doubling in quarterly revenue to nearly $100bn and forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street forecasts. The chipmaker, the most valuable company in the world with a $5tn market cap, made revenues of $96bn in the second quarter which is set to rise to $108bn in the third.
Jensen Huang , the California company’s founder and chief executive, jubilantly declared that demand is accelerating as the AI industry had reached a “golden age”.
Related: Nvidia’s quarterly revenue doubles to nearly $100bn as CEO declares ‘golden age’
The results showed no signs of slowing demand for chips and revived confidence in the AI trade after a recent sell-off in tech shares on Wall Street and Asia, leading to a massive drop in the South Korean stock market in July.
Kathleen Brooks , research director at XTB, described the figures as “nothing short of stunning”.
Nvidia shares rose 4.7% in post-market trading to $219.53 and if the rally continues into Thursday, as Brooks expects, it could break through the $220 barrier, heading towards the $235 highs seen in May.
Susannah Streeter , chief investment strategist at the Wealth Club, said:
The AI juggernaut is rumbling on with Nvidia smashing through expectations, amid voracious demand for the tech backbone of the AI revolution. The results solidified high expectations for the company’s mega revenues going forward, and shares firmed up, leaving behind the post-results wobbles seen after previous updates. Given the might of Nvidia, which carries the largest weight of any company in the S&P 500, the results are closely watched as a gauge of sentiment towards AI adoption, and the prospects for the index, which so many portfolios track.
Demand for its Blackwell chips has been particularly significant, showing that customers are continuing to spend heavily on Nvidia’s newest generation of AI accelerators rather than simply filling existing capacity. With demand still running ahead of supply, Blackwell is helping to power the next leg of the AI infrastructure build-out.
However, once the initial excitement settles, questions are likely to resurface about the durability of this boom in revenues. It’s becoming less about whether Nvidia can keep climbing the AI mountain, and more about how long it can sustain this extraordinary pace of ascent and whether the vast sums being poured into AI infrastructure will ultimately deliver the returns needed to justify the colossal investment.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.3%, with shares in the memory chipmaker Samsung Electronics up 3%.
The Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges climbed 0.95% and 1.37% respectively while the Singapore market added 0.4% and Taiwan was 0.3% ahead. However, other major Asian markets were in the red, with Japan’s Nikkei edging 0.2% lower and the Australian exchange falling nearly 1%.
In Hong Kong, the online fashion retailer Shein is set to price its stock market flotation at $26.5bn, raising $1.7bn, Reuters reported, citing two sources.
In the US, the Jackson Hole economic policy symposium kicks off today, and markets are on tenterhooks for a keynote speech from US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh on Friday.
Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium begins in the US
1.30pm BST: US Initial jobless claims for week to 22 August
Wall Street indices have eked out modest gains while UK and European shares are down, with the FTSE 100 index in London falling 86 points or 0.8% to 10,792.
This report is published with credit to theguardian.com. Full available text from the wire is above. Read on theguardian.com →
Source: theguardian.com · Julia Kollewe. Published 27 Aug 2026, 02:57 pm.
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