Thanks for joining me. We begin the week with labour market figures which could boost hopes for interest rate cuts from the Bank of England.
Monthly average salaries have fallen for the first time since last October, according to Adzuna’s closely-watched jobs report.
Although the decline is small, slowing wage growth could ease fears about a future uptick in inflation and bolster the chance of a rate cut by the Bank later this year.
5 things to start your day
1) Post Office suffers leadership crisis amid Horizon investigation – Fresh expertise parachuted in ‘to change company culture and rebuild trust’
2) Rishi Sunak’s startup fund pulls the plug on dozens of companies – Scheme set up to support new businesses through Covid is seeking to recover £5m
3) Former M&S chief’s motor leasing giant faces debt crunch – Slump in second-hand electric car prices has spooked car fleet’s investors
4) China agrees to electric car tariff talks as EU fights to avoid trade war – Automotive industry fears crackdown on Chinese EVs would spark tit-for-tat tariff rises
5) Britain’s ‘queen of pottery’ slumps to £1.4m loss – Sharp rise in production and staffing costs push homewares brand into the red
What happened overnight
Asian shares were mostly lower after US stocks coasted to the close of their latest winning week on Friday, even as Nvidia’s stock slowed further from its startling run.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.7pc to 38,869.94, making it the sole major benchmark in Asia to post gains on Monday.
The yen weakened to 159.93 per dollar during morning trading.
Minutes of the Japanese central bank’s last policy meeting released Monday put the yen under renewed pressure as it indicated that “any change in the policy interest rate should be considered only after economic indicators confirm that, for example, the CPI inflation rate has clearly started to rebound and medium-to long-term inflation expectations have risen.”
Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1.2pc to 17,815.42, while the Shanghai Composite lost 1pc to 2,969.59.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.7pc to 7,740.80. South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.7pc to 2,763.95.
On Friday, the S&P 500 slipped 0.2pc to 5,464.62, but it remained close to its all-time high set on Tuesday and capped its eighth winning week in the last nine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up less than 0.1pc to 39,150.33, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.2pc to 17,689.36.