Thanks for joining me. Gazprom’s exports to Europe will average barely a third of levels seen before Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine by 2035, a document for bosses reportedly shows.
It said a new pipeline to China would also have less capacity and command lower prices than in Europe, according to the Financial Times.
5 things to start your day
1) George Osborne’s support of Standard Chartered in question after Hamas financing claims | Lender has dismissed fresh allegations from a former executive as ‘fabricated’
2) Mike Lynch stares into the abyss as jury decides fate of ‘Britain’s Bill Gates’ | After giving his side of the story, all the British tech tycoon can do is wait for a verdict
3) Airbus unveils stealth combat drone to support fighter jets | Unmanned aircraft to assist RAF pilots in reconnaissance and countermeasures
4) Tesco launches Amazon rival selling luggage and furniture | Retailer to add 9,000 products to digital marketplace in bid to become ‘one-stop shop’
5) Labour risks breaking debt rule with net zero borrowing binge | Starmer’s clean energy drive won’t boost growth enough to bring down debt, warns IFS
What happened overnight
Asian stocks broadly rose as a softening US labour market firmed up bets of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September.
Worries about a cooling US economy, however, kept a lid on risk appetite, while the focus in Asia remained on Indian markets.
Stocks remained volatile after the plunge on Tuesday as voting results showed a slimmer-than-expected victory margin for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8pc, although the Nikkei closed down 0.9pc as the renewed strength in Japanese yen weighed.
US stocks rebounded from an early morning slump to close higher on Tuesday as new data showed that job vacancies slid in April to their lowest level since 2021.
The S&P 500 rose 7.94 points to 5,291.34. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 140.26 to 38,711.29 and the Nasdaq Composite added 28.38 to 16,857.05.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury slid to 4.33pc from 4.39pc late Monday and 4.50pc late Friday.