The Guardian Business

Labor experts stunned at how anti-worker Trump has been with actions since last Labor Day that have hurt unionsDonald Trump has repeatedly vowed to champion US workers. Shortly before Labor Day last year, he said: “Every policy of the Trump administration is designed to lift up the American worker and “promote great-paying blue-collar jobs”. But in the year since last Labor Day, Trump has taken many actions that have hurt US workers and unions, with some labor experts saying they’ve been stunned

US-owned dating app allegedly allowed ad firms access to private information in breach of UK lawGrindr will pay £26m to settle a lawsuit brought by thousands of users in the UK who allege that the US dating app shared highly sensitive personal information, including in some cases their HIV status, with advertising companies.The settlement brings to an end a two-year legal battle, after the UK law firm Austen Hays filed a claim at the high court of England and Wales in April 2024 on behalf of Gri

Protest using 10 coffins to symbolise struggling manufacturing industry to take place in BrusselsJob losses in EU manufacturing will rapidly increase unless Brussels stops the “colonisation” of industry by Chinese component manufacturers, a leading industry trade body has warned.Eurometal predicts 300,000 job losses in manufacturing in the rest of 2026 because of expanding competition from China, which is now enjoying a record €1bn-a-day trade surplus with the bloc. Continue reading...

Isar Aerospace plans rapid expansion amid race to capitalise on expanding satellite-launch marketA German startup has launched the first commercial rocket to reach orbit from continental Europe, a milestone for Europe’s efforts to secure independent access to space.Isar Aerospace said on Sunday that it would rapidly ⁠expand satellite deployments after the ⁠first orbital launch of ​its uncrewed Spectrum rocket from Arctic Norway, marking a ⁠breakthrough for a region where several countries are se

Global AC demand will inevitably accelerate as the world continues to warm amid the climate crisisThe greenest campaigners against climate change have long suffered from a crippling shortcoming: they too often frame the challenge as a problem of excess consumption. This motivates calls to “degrow” the economy and to curb the population. The claim is that humans consume too many resources, which in the context of climate change means too much energy.Nowhere has the tension between this propositio

Fox announced host’s departure Thursday but gave no explanation, only saying it was effective immediatelyMaria Bartiromo’s lawyer sharply denied that she was fired from her job at Fox News on Friday, after reports that she was dismissed after divulging the network’s editorial guidance to the White House.Fox announced Bartiromo’s departure on Thursday but provided no explanation, saying only in a statement that it was effective immediately. Continue reading...

From mortgages to inflation, concerns about the public finances of major economies have wide-reaching consequencesWhen Donald Trump was asked recently about the threat of rising interest rates on US government debt, he told baffled reporters: “The ultimate intervention is our military. And if we have to use that, we will.”Perhaps not surprisingly, his bellicose words did not soothe fractious bond markets, and his resumption of the bombing campaign against Iran only made matters worse. Continue r

Number of new jobs being added has been fluctuating, with private companies adding 38,000 jobs in AugustThe US economy added 162,000 jobs in August, an uptick after a sluggish summer for the labor market.The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, still down from its most recent peak of 4.5% last November, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Despite the relative stability of the unemployment rate, the number of new jobs added to the economy has been fluctuating, going

Private equity firms and the companies they own employ over 13 million, from startups to rural hospitals and large retailers, but experts’ concerns of collapse are growingRetail stalwarts Saks and Eddie Bauer filed for bankruptcy. Kmart and JoAnn Fabrics are gone for good, a trail of layoffs and disappointed customers in their wake. Hospital giant Steward Health Care collapsed, costing thousands of jobs and leaving several communities without a local hospital.These once-trusted US companies have

Semi-conductor giant bets that support for open AI models could offset potential slowdown in demand for chipsNvidia will buy the popular developer platform Hugging Face for nearly $13bn, betting that support for ⁠open AI models could offset a potential slowdown in demand for the semiconductor giant’s chips.Shares ⁠in Nvidia were ⁠slightly lower ​after the $12.93bn (£9.57bn) deal – which ranks among its biggest ever – was announced for the database of AI models on Thursday. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latet economic and financial newsOther European government borrowing costs are dipping this morning too.The yield on 10-year German bunds is down 1.5bps to 3.36%, while French 10-year bond yields are 1.5bps lower at 4.23%. Continue reading...

Jump lifts currency to highest level against dollar in a month, while global markets remain jitteryBusiness live – latest updatesThe Japanese yen has soared by more than 2% against the dollar amid speculation the Bank of Japan is set to raise interest rates.The latest jump on Thursday lifted the yen to its highest level against the dollar in a month, at 155.57, and followed a 0.9% move the previous day. Continue reading...

Bank says gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily and the move will allow it to respond more rapidly in a ‘crisis situation’The Dutch central bank says it has moved 86 tonnes of its gold reserves out of the US and Canada to London, citing “increasing geopolitical unrest”.De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) said gold reserves held in London could be traded more easily than those held in New York and Ottawa. Continue reading...

Pay and shares deal nearly matches $58m award to John Ternus, his successor as CEO at the $4.7tn tech companyTim Cook has received a $47m (£35m) pay deal as Apple’s executive chair, a remuneration package that nears the level set for his successor as chief executive.Cook, who handed over to John Ternus on Tuesday, will be paid a base salary of $2m and $45m worth of shares. Half of the share award will be based on performance targets being met, while the remaining half will be paid out over four

Sean O’Brien, president of 1.3 million-strong union, was also first to speak at the Republican national convention in 2024The powerful Teamsters union is backing Republican candidates in the 2026 election cycle even after members have voted to support their Democratic opponents.The 1.3 million-strong union’s president, Sean O’Brien, angered many members and union leaders in 2024 when he became the first union president to speak at the Republican national convention (RNC). Continue reading...

Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage siteBarclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India.Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached

Budget carrier says airlines could go bust as it cuts passenger targets to reduce exposure to ‘unhedged winter oil’Ryanair has warned that air fares in Europe will jump next year if the oil price remains high and that some airlines could go bust.The Irish budget carrier has cut its passenger target for the year to 31 March, down from 216 million customers to 214 million, to help reduce its exposure to “unhedged winter oil” during the unprofitable off season, with jet fuel currently trading at $1

UK borrowing costs driven up, adding to challenges facing John Healey as he prepares for first budgetThe global government bond sell-off resumed on Wednesday, driving up the UK’s borrowing costs and exacerbating the challenges facing John Healey as he prepares his first budget.The yield – effectively the interest rate – on 10-year UK government bonds, or gilts, jumped to just below 5.3% in early trading: its highest level since mid-2008. Continue reading...

Exclusive: financial disclosures from Emil Michael – who also reaped millions from xAI stock earlier this year – show he sold his Perplexity stock for up to $25mThe top Pentagon official overseeing military artificial intelligence policy, who reaped profits earlier this year of up to $24m selling his private investment in Elon Musk’s AI company, has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, according to records seen by the Guardian. (Federal financial records show ran

It was a bumper season for Hollywood, almost back to pre-pandemic levels, with Tom Holland blockbusters winning out, but there was still a string of disappointmentsAs the world continued to burn and temperatures reached worrying highs, most of us decided to take refuge in the cinema this summer. It provided some relief for audiences, but even more so for the industry at large, with the season pushing past the magic $4bn mark to become the biggest since 2019, up 20% from last year. There were the