The latest from London: Concerns about interest rates grow before job report

After the Fed’s minutes showed the US central bank was nervous about inflation and that rates could be hiked sooner than expected, UK markets took a dive yesterday. Higher bond yields and central banks hawkish tone pushed investors away from richly valued tech stocks, while banks performed well. The FTSE100 fell 0.9%.

This morning, the index is down 0.2% as investors await the U.S. nonfarm payrolls report, due just after 1 pm GMT. If numbers show that the job market is still buoyant, then this will strengthen the case for hawkish monetary policy.

In company news, Aston Martin reiterated its medium-term earnings guidance, and said sales for 2021 grew as expected. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell said it will continue "at pace" a $7 billion share buyback mainly funded by the sale of its Permian Basin assets in the U.S.

 

Things to read today:

From Facebook to Volkswagen and Samsung: why national stereotypes matter during corporate crises (The Conversation)

Can Tesla be stopped? (Bloomberg)

Inside Blackstone’s Plans to Create an Entertainment Empire (The Information)