Good morning from the City AM liveblog team.
Stock markets wobbled on Monday as the US and Iran Iran agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks over their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz.
Talks are expected to resume on Tuesday, officials said, but any halt on hostilities is regarded as precarious by markets.
Overnight brent crude edged back above $72 per barrel on Monday, recovering from four-month lows, while Asian markets fell, led by Japan’s Nikkei, which was down around one per cent.
Meanwhile, Labour PM-in-waiting Andy Burnham is poised to give his first big set-piece speech today after winning in the Makerfield by-election, offering an early glimpse into what his government could look like.
Burnham will say that a 10-year plan will focus on devolution of power away from London with an emphasis on “reindustrialisation” and housebuilding to boost living standards.
He will also say that decision-making will be “pushed to regions and local communities”, with the a new political system to replace the “centralised, top-down model with locally driven economic growth” in an echo of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “levelling up” mission to boost growth in the North.
But the speech notwithstanding, all eyes across City trading floors and desks in Westminster remain focused on the question of Burnham’s pick as Chancellor and their tax and spend plans.
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Here’s a summary of our top headlines from over the weekend:
- LSE draws up ‘worst case scenario’ US listing flight risk
- Volkswagen’s China crunch deepens as Europe’s biggest carmaker weighs 100,000 job cuts
- Apple eyes blacklisted Chinese supplier to ease chip shortage
- Heatwave fans demand for aircon stocks
- FCA looks to check power of investment trust boards after Saba uproar
