Thanks for joining me. We begin with Germany, where officials are aiming to water down the EU’s plans for tariffs on China’s electric vehicles.
Government officials are aiming to find a solution in direct talks with China, according to Bloomberg News, after the EU proposed additional tariffs of up to 38pc on Chinese electric car imports.
5 things to start your day
1) Almost one million people claim mental health benefits since lockdown | Behavioural and mental disorders are biggest driver of Universal Credit health claims
2) Bellway confirms £650m bid for rival housebuilder amid property slump | The rejected offer emerged on the same day Crest Nicholson announced losses
3) Late Queen’s favourite marmalade maker posts loss for first time ‘in memory’ | ‘Churchill would have an appropriate saying for the adversity we faced’, says Wilkin & Sons chairman
4) Bankers sacked for faking work following rise of ‘mouse jigglers’ | Wells Fargo is said to have begun monitoring employees’ activity during the pandemic
5) Ben Marlow: Of course Musk’s $56bn pay day is obscene but he still deserves it | The Tesla owner is entitled to be paid in full – even if the sum is grotesque
What happened overnight
Asian shares were mixed in muted trading after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy intact.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 0.7pc to 38,998.04 after the Bank of Japan said it intends to begin reducing its government bond purchases as it eases itself out of its ultra-loose monetary policy.
It said a “detailed plan” for the reduction “during the next one to two years or so” will be decided at the next policy meeting in July.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3pc to 7,724.70. South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.2pc to 2,759.98. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.5pc to 18,030.33, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.1pc to 3,025.39.
In America, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded their fourth consecutive record closing highs yesterday and US Treasury yields touched their lowest levels since early April as investors reconciled cooler-than-expected inflation data with tempered rate-cut expectations from the Federal Reserve.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading US companies, however, fell 0.2pc, to 38,647.04, but the S&P 500 gained 0.2pc, to 5,433.74 and the Nasdaq Composite index added 0.3pc, closing at 17,667.56.
Benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds yielded 4.2442pc, from 4.295pc late on Wednesday.