Thanks for joining me. Boeing workers have voted to go on strike after rejecting a £25,000 pay rise in another setback for the troubled planemaker.
Around 30,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted by about 96pc in favour of the strike, which is due to begin at one minute after midnight on the US West Coast.
5 things to start your day
1) British-born population to be in decline from 2035 | Deaths will consistently outnumber births in Britain from the middle of the next decade
2) Britain’s choice: spiralling debt, £40bn in spending cuts or tax rises every 10 years | Spending watchdog issues stark warning as UK struggles under £2.5 trillion debt pile
3) Low-skilled migrants cost taxpayers £150,000 each | Pressure on public services outweighs tax take for low-earners, finds OBR
4) Musk has turned Twitter into ‘hyper-partisan hobby horse’, says Nick Clegg | Former deputy PM claims platform has been reduced to elite people ‘yelling at each other’ about politics
5) Scotland’s last oil refinery to close over net zero petrol car ban | Hundreds to lose jobs as Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos prepares to shut Grangemouth
What happened overnight
Asian stocks were mixed after stocks in the United States pulled closer to their records following a couple of economic reports that came in close to expectations.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.9pc in morning trading to 36,491.80 after a 3.4pc increase Thursday.
The Japanese yen strengthened against the dollar, which fell to 141.05 from 141.79, adding pressure on the nation’s export trade.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.1pc to 17,422.75, while the Shanghai Composite edged down 0.1pc to 2,714.77.
China is set to release its monthly economic data on Saturday, with market predictions that the three key indicators — industrial production, fixed asset investment, and retail sales — will show a slowdown.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3pc to 8,096.00. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.1pc to 2,568.41.
Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Thursday after new inflation data reinforced expectations for a 25-basis point rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.
The S&P 500 gained 41.63 points to 5,595.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 235.06 to 41,096.77, while the Nasdaq jumped 174.15 to 17,569.68.
