Thanks for joining me. We begin with a look at the latest data on wages, which have grown at a faster pace than expected.
Total pay grew by 5.9pc in the three months to April, official figures show, in a blow to hopes of summer interest rate cuts.
5 things to start your day
1) Higher share of pensioners pay income tax than working people for first time, says IFS | The number of working-age people who are neither employed nor job-hunting has surged since Covid
2) Labour plotting wave of tax raids drawn up by IMF, claims senior Tory | Dame Harriett Baldwin warns triple lock at risk under a Starmer government
3) PwC accused of ‘deeply flawed’ audit in legal row with Lucky Strike maker | Big Four firm failed to exercise reasonable care and skill, claims tobacco giant
4) Volkswagen to sell solar panels for charging electric cars | Car giant says move will reduce costs for drivers by up to 40pc
5) IPhone users can ask AI to write their emails in deal with OpenAI | Apple announced new features as seeks to show it has an answer to rival Google’s AI tools
What happened overnight
Asian stocks were subdued as investors pondered the implications of fresh political uncertainty in European markets after right-wing gains in the EU parliament elections and a snap poll in France.
Moves were mostly modest, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipping 0.5pc in thin trading.
Chinese blue chips fell 1.2pc, having been shut on Monday, while the yuan hit a seven-month low.
Going the other way, Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.3pc and South Korea stocks rose 0.4pc.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite index managed to mark their second record closing highs in four days. The S&P 500 gained 0.3pc, reaching 5,360.79, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.4pc, closing at 17,192.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading American companies rose 0.2pc, to 38,868.04.
The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes rose to 4.469pc, from 4.428pc late on Friday.
