Thanks for joining me. Tesla shares have plunged amid reports that Elon Musk’s electric car maker is pushing back the unveiling of its self-driving taxis.
Mr Musk had set a data of August 8 for the launch but this has been pushed back to October, according to Bloomberg News.
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2) Tech boss attacks British pension funds as his company is sold to Japan | Graphcore’s Nigel Toon complains savers are being shortchanged by ‘focus on cost’
3) How Labour eco-donor Dale Vince is weaponising copyright laws to censor his critics | Tycoon steps up his assault as he launches libel lawsuits against his detractors
4) Government decision to approve new coal mine was unlawful, declares Labour | Deputy PM Angela Rayner reverses support for Cumbria pit over environmental impact
5) Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Just Stop Oil was right about BP all along | BP’s Faustian pursuit of profit has taken it from green darling to arch-villain
What happened overnight
The yen swung between losses and gains in volatile trade, reflecting investors’ skittishness after Tokyo was thought to have intervened to prop up the Japanese currency in the wake of a cooler-than-expected US inflation report.
Moves in the yen against the dollar and other major currencies stole the spotlight on Friday, though in the broader market Asian stocks were headed for a weekly gain on growing bets for a September rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
The dollar was last 0.1pc higher at 159.10 yen, after rising more than 0.3pc to an intraday high of 159.45 yen and falling 0.7pc to a low of 157.75 yen in early trading
Moves were similarly choppy in the other yen crosses though subsided over the course of the trading day, with the euro last 0.2pc higher against the yen and sterling up 0.2pc, both reversing early losses.
Speculation is rife that Japanese authorities had likely intervened in the currency market to shore up the yen on Thursday, after it surged nearly 3pc against the dollar at one point after the release of the U.S. inflation figures.
The dollar ended Thursday’s session with a 1.7pc loss against the yen, its largest daily decline since May.
Asian stocks were mixed, with Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index losing 2pc to 41,388.92.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1.9pc to 18,165.33 while the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.2pc to 32,965.52 after data showed that China’s exports increased by 8.6pc in June, better than the market expectation.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.8pc to 7,952.20. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.2pc to 2,857.11.
On Wall Street, investors sent Big Tech shares downwards, while directing more money to small companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1pc, to 39,753.75. But the S&P 500 lost 0.9pc, to 5,584.54 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 2pc, closing at 18,283.41.
The Russell 2000 index of small cap US companies rose 3.6pc, fuelled by expectations of interest rate cuts that would increase small cap profits.
The yield on benchmark 10-year US Treasury bonds fell to 4.21pc, from 4.28pc late on Wednesday.
