Closing summary
Global stocks are drifting, as traders await news from the Ukraine talks, and clues on central bank policy from the US Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium later this week.
Guardian exclusive:
The Treasury is considering a new tax on the sale of homes worth more than £500,000 as a step towards a radical overhaul of stamp duty and council tax, the Guardian has been told.
As Rachel Reeves prepares the ground for tax rises in this autumn’s budget, senior ministers have tasked officials to study how a new “proportional” property tax could be implemented and model its impact before reporting back to ministers, who have been briefed on the proposals.
Officials are initially examining a potential national property tax, which would replace stamp duty on owner-occupied homes, sources said. They are also studying whether, after the national tax, a local property tax could then replace council tax in the medium term in an effort to repair battered local authority finances.
No final decisions have been made. A national tax could be implemented during this parliament, while it is understood an overhaul of council tax would take longer, at least requiring Labour to win a second term in office.
The members’ club chain Soho House has agreed a $2.7bn (£2bn) deal to take it private after a tricky four years listed on the New York stock exchange.
New York-based MCR Hotels will lead new equity investors in the chain of clubs as part of a deal that will involve it ditching its stock market listing.
Actor turned startup investor Ashton Kutcher – who is thought to have been a longstanding member – will also join Soho House’s board of directors, while the MCR chief executive, Tyler Morse, will be vice-chair.
Train fares in England could rise by as much as 5.6% next year, as campaigners said passengers could be priced off the railway.
Increases in train ticket prices are calculated using the inflation reading for July, which will be announced on Wednesday.
UK metals companies have threatened to take legal action against the government over tariffs on raw steel imports from Asia which they claim have caused a “tsunami” of problems for the industry.
Earlier this summer, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, reduced the amount of raw steel from Vietnam and South Korea that can be imported tariff-free in a move designed to protect UK raw steel makers, which face competition from cheap imports.
Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest news on business and markets. Take care! – JK
Updated
Wall Street flat, European shares and oil prices dip
Wall Street has opened flat, while European shares have dipped as markets nervously await news from the Ukraine peace talks at the Oval Office in Washington between Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders.
British officials said the leaders planned to use the meeting to flesh out details of the Nato-style guarantees which were promised over the weekend by Steve Witkoff, the president’s Ukraine envoy.
You can read more on our live blog here:
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was less than 5 points higher. Over here, the FTSE 100 index edged 8 points higher to 9,146. The German and italian markets dipped 0.1% while the French bourse lost 0.6%.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, is down by 0.4% at $65.6 a barrel while spot gold is now flat at $3,337 an ounce.
Updated
Monzo looking to launch mobile phone service in UK
Monzo is looking to launch its own mobile phone service in the UK, in a move that will heighten competition among big phone groups and secure new revenue for the growing digital bank.
The online-only lender, which was launched in 2015, is in the early stages of developing a digital sim card: a software version of the insertable chip used to connect a phone to cellular networks and the internet.
That could open the door to lucrative mobile phone contracts with new and existing customers, putting pressure on incumbents like VodafoneThree and BT-owned operator EE. Big phone providers are already facing competition from financial firms including Revolut and buy-now-pay-later provide Klarna, which are also trying to take a slice of the mobile phone market.
A spokesperson for Monzo said in a statement:
Monzo is known for transforming products - and an entire industry - to deliver a great experience for customers. So when we heard from our customers that mobile contracts can be a pain point we set out to explore how we could do this the Monzo way, and are in the early stages of developing this idea.
The move, which was first reported by the Financial Times, would help diversify revenues for Monzo, which has already gone from a scrappy newcomer luring millennials with a sleek app and hot coral pink card, to a fully licensed bank with more than 13 million UK customers and more than 2,000 staff.
Watchdog criticised for clearing ex-defence secretary Shapps to join missile maker
The watchdog that monitors government ministers’ professional appointments after leaving office has been criticised for clearing Grant Shapps, a former Conservative defence secretary, to join Cambridge Aerospace as long as he promises not to work on defence matters.
In a ruling that drew scorn from political ethics experts, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), which monitors and advises on the revolving door between Westminster and the business sector, gave Shapps the green light to become the chair of defence company Cambridge Aerospace.
Shapps told Acoba that the company, founded three months after the Conservatives’ general election defeat last year, planned to “develop technologies to reduce risks to aviation”. Disclosures show he cited examples such as airport delays caused by drones.
Ashton Kutcher joins Soho House board as it agrees $2.7bn deal to take it private
It’s official: The private members’ club Soho House has agreed a $2.7bn deal, including debt, to take it private after a tricky four years listed on the New York stock exchange.
New York-based MCR Hotels will lead new equity investors in the chain of clubs as part of a deal that will involve it ditching its stock market listing.
Actor turned start-up investor Ashton Kutcher – who is thought to have been a longstanding member – will also join Soho House’s board of directors, while MCR chief executive Tyler Morse will be vice chairman.
Soho House was founded in 1995 with a single club in the central London area from which it takes its name. It was founded by the restaurateur Nick Jones, who has a 5% stake, although the biggest investor is the US retail billionaire Ron Burkle, who holds 40% of the company. Richard Caring, the owner of the Ivy restaurant chain, has a 21% stake. All three will retain their stakes, as will US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Updated
Record salaries for UK chief executives as pay rises for third year in a row
The bosses of Britain’s largest listed companies took home record high pay packets for the third successive year, according to a report.
Analysis found that the record set in the last financial year means the average FTSE 100 chief executive is now paid 122 times the salary of the average full-time UK worker.
Executive pay has been on the rise for the past four years, partly as a consequence of pay cuts taken during the pandemic, at a time when many households are still struggling with a cost of living crisis.
The median pay of a FTSE chief executive climbed to £4.58m in the last financial year, up from £4.29m a year earlier, an increase of nearly 7%, according to analysis by the High Pay Centre.
England train fares could rise by up to 5.5% in 'outrageous' increase
Train fares in England could rise by as much as 5.5% next year, as campaigners warn that passengers could be priced off the railway.
Increases in train ticket prices are calculated using the UK inflation reading for July, which will be announced on Wednesday morning.
The retail price index – the measure of inflation often used in train fare calculations – will hit 4.5% in July, according to forecasts by the bank Investec.
The government has not confirmed how it will calculate the cap on regulated fares, which account for about half of rail journeys, for 2026. However, the most recent 4.6% rise was one percentage point above the RPI reading from July 2024.
It means that train ticket prices could rise by as much as 5.5% next year.
Bruce Williamson, spokesman from the campaign group Railfuture, said such an increase would be “outrageous”.
What would be the justification for jacking up fares above inflation? There isn’t any.
It’s ripping off the customer, driving people off the trains and onto our congested road network, which is in no-one’s interest.
Novo Nordisk share price rises on US approval for Wegovy to treat liver disease
Novo Nordisk shares rose by 5.4% after the US health regulator approved its blockbuster Wegovy obesity drug as a treatment for a serious liver disease.
The Danish company received accelerated approval from the FDA on Friday, for Wegovy to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) in adults with moderate to advanced liver fibrosis, in combination with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity.
After US pharma firm Eli Lilly hiked the price of its popular weight loss jab Mounjaro by up to 170% in the UK, from September, there are also expectations that patients will switch to cheaper alternatives such as Wegovy.
Patients face paying up to almost three times more for Mounjaro than before.
The new prices mean Mounjaro prescriptions will now cost two times more than its closest alternative, Wegovy, even though both medications were previously available at similar prices.
Experts at online healthcare provider ZAVA expect many patients will begin exploring lower-cost options.
While Mounjaro may be the most effective option overall, other GLP-1 medications still offer significant weight loss for most users.
Mounjaro has been shown in studies to be more effective in reducing weight than its main rival Wegovy.
According to the online pharmacy Chemist4U, there has been a sharp rise in the number of men using weight loss injections in the UK. At the start of 2025, men accounted for only a small proportion of prescriptions for Mounjaro and Wegovy. Six months later, one in five prescriptions go to male patients. On average, male uptake across both drugs has risen by around 1,200%, with Mounjaro increasing by almost 2,000%.
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King Charles’s personal shirtmaker. The world’s oldest hatters, who designed fitments for Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation crown and boast fans including Winston Churchill. A luxury sports brand with a “spy-ready” ski-suit.
Has James Bond assembled a crack team that can successfully take on his latest adversary?
Lawyers representing Danjaq, the US company that controls the rights to worldwide James Bond merchandising in conjunction with the UK company Eon Productions, have filed evidence running to 227 pages as it battles to retain control of the superspy’s name across Europe.
In February, the Guardian revealed that a Dubai-based property developer had filed claims in the UK and EU arguing that lack of use meant various protections had lapsed around James Bond’s intellectual property, including his name, his 007 assignation and the catchphrase “Bond, James Bond”.
Oil prices rose ahead of the Ukraine talks in the Oval Office in Washington, and as White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said India must stop buying Russian crude, which is helping fund Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Brent crude rose by 30 cents, or 0.46%, to $66.15 a barrel earlier and is now flat.
Navarro said in an opinion piece in the Financial Times – entitled: ‘India’s oil lobby is funding Putin’s war machine — that has to stop’ – that if India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the US, it has to start acting like one.
Updated
Soho House to be taken private in $1.8bn deal – WSJ
The private members’ club Soho House is reportedly close to reaching a $1.8bn deal to take it private after a tricky four years listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
New York-based MCR Hotels is set to lead new equity investors in the chain of clubs as part of a deal that would see it ditch its stock market listing, the Wall Street Journal first reported.
Soho House was founded in 1995 with a single location in the central London area from which it takes its name. It was founded by restaurateur Nick Jones, who still retains a 5% stake, although the biggest investor is US retail billionaire Ron Burkle, with a 40% stake. Richard Caring, the owner of the Ivy restaurant chain, also holds a 21% stake.
The new investors are expected to pay around $9 a share for about 15% of the Soho House & Co shares that trade publicly. That would value the company at about $1.8bn – well below the $2.8bn valuation it achieved soon after listing in 2021.
MCR Hotels is the third-largest hotel operator in the US, with more than 150 hotels often in notable buildings such as the High Line hotel and the TWA hotel at JFK airport, both in New York. It is currently converting the landmark BT Tower in London’s Fitzrovia into a hotel, after reaching a deal to buy it last year.
Soho House counts 10 locations in London, and 48 that are either open or planned around the world, with locations ranging from Paris and Istanbul to Bangkok and Mumbai. It has four clubs in Los Angeles, and three in New York.
The main economic event this week is the US Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole symposium in Kansas from Thursday until Saturday, whose theme is: ‘The policy implications of labour market transition’.
Fed chair Jerome Powell is due to the speak on the economic outlook and central bank policy.
Andrew Hollenhorst, chief economist at Citi Research, said:
Chair Powell will likely signal that risks to the employment and inflation mandates are coming into balance, setting up the Fed to resume returning policy rate to neutral.
But Powell will stop short of explicitly signalling a September rate cut, awaiting the August jobs and inflation reports. This would be fairly neutral for markets already fully pricing in a September cut.
Markets see an 85% chance of a quarter-point rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting on 17 September, followed by another reduction by December.
“There’s a swell of optimism at the start of the week, amid hopes for an easing of geopolitical risk and a more clement global economic environment,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Indices in Asia have benefited from a big pulse of positivity, with the Nikkei hitting fresh record levels. As more certainty has returned to corporate Japan, given that a new tariff regime has been agreed, it’s helped boost stocks.
The weaker yen has also been a positive force, given that it increases the value of profits made abroad. Car makers Toyota and Honda, as well as Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing, are among the biggest beneficiaries amid expectations that consumers overseas will keep snapping up their products given the greater clarity over pricing.
The FTSE 100 looks set for a small dose of Monday motivation, helping to erase some of Friday’s losses as investors take a glass half-full approach to the global economic outlook.
Investors are also waiting for the upcoming Jackson Hole central banker meeting, for clues about the direction of interest rates in the United States, with expectations that recent data will pave the way for more cuts. Despite the fierce criticism he’s had to shoulder from president Trump, Fed chair Jerome Powell is not expected to set a firm path for rate reductions. He is likely to say he’ll stay driven by the latest inflation and jobs data available. Wall Street futures indicate a positive start for the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq, and there’s the potential for a push back up to record levels.
The future of Ukraine hangs heavy in the balance as Zelensky, flanked by European leaders, prepares to meet Trump. Putin’s high bar for a peace deal may scupper hopes for an end to the conflict, but with more details emerging about what land could be ceded or retained in Eastern Ukraine, there does seem be more substance to the talks. With less talk of tougher sanctions on Russia, oil prices dropped back as supply concerns faded, but amid the ongoing uncertainty Brent Crude has begun creeping higher and has headed back above $66 a barrel.
The fall in fuel costs since June will be welcomed by households, although it’ll take time to filter through to the pumps and may not fully show up in this week’s inflation figures in the UK.
Rightmove’s monthly survey showed that 34% of UK homes are now seeing a reduction in price during marketing. In data that goes back to 2012, this figure has only been higher at this time of year in 2023, and a two-speed market is becoming more evident, with some sellers still pricing too high.
The overall average time to find a buyer is 62 days, with the high number of homes for sale allowing buyers the time to make their choice and negotiate.
The Bank of England’s third interest rate cut this year, which came on 7 August, is likely to be another boost of confidence for the market over the remaining months of the year, the property website said.
Colleen Babcock, property expert at Rightmove, said:
Buyers have the upper hand in this high-supply market, so a tempting price is vital to agree a sale. The strategy is working, with the number of sales agreed in the full month of July being the best at this time of year since 2020. At that time, the market had recently re-opened after the first pandemic lockdown, and generous stamp duty reductions had just been announced.
However, the high number of price reductions we’re seeing is an indicator that some sellers are still coming to market with too high a price and then reducing it to become competitive.
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Introduction: Stocks and oil rise before Ukraine meeting in Washington, UK house prices fall in August
Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.
Financial markets are focused on meetings at the Oval Office in Washington between Donald Trump and European leaders including Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, Trump has put pressure on the Ukrainian president to agree to a quick settlement, saying he could end the war “almost immediately” if he wanted to. The US president also ruled out allowing Ukraine to join Nato or retake Russian-occupied Crimea as part of negotiations with Moscow.
Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, has gained 0.5% to $66.16 a barrel while gold ahs risen by 0.4% to $3,348 an ounce.
Asian shares have got off to a good start to the week and European and US futures are also up, after Wall Street stocks traded near record highs last week on expectations of an interest rate cut at the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, perhaps even a half-point reduction under political pressure from the White House.
Attention now turns to Fed chair Jerome Powell’s appearance at the Jackson Hole symposium this week, starting on Thursday. Last week’s inflation data were mixed, with the consumer prices index showing limited price pressures while the producer prices index surprised higher.
In Europe, stock markets extended gains last week to their highest levels since March, before Trump’s tariff announcements.
The Nikkei rose by 0.77% and hit fresh record highs. The Shanghai exchange rose by nearly 0.7% towards a 10-year high while the Shenzhen market jumped 1.38% and India’s Nifty 50 rose by 1.2%, snapping a downtrend that began in late June amid tense US–India trade talks.
“Hope over fears,” says Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Both nations [China and India] would welcome any truce between Russia and the West, given their desire to maintain ties with both camps. European and US futures are also firmer.
The yen is softer, while gold demand remains strong — showing investors are cautious ahead of Trump’s meeting with Zelensky. Material progress could spark further oil weakness, a rally across equities, and softer gold demand. Disappointment would bring oil bulls back, pressure equities (except defense), and lift gold.
Turning to the UK housing market, savvy summer sellers, pricing realistically, have driven the best July for sales agreed since 2020, with prices falling again in August, according to the property website Rightmove.
Lower asking prices and good buyer choice are boosting sales activity, and the number of sales being agreed is now 8% ahead of this time last year. The number of homes for sales is 10% up on this time last year.
The average price of a property coming to the market for sale dropped by a seasonal 1.3% to £368,740 in August, in line with the 10-year average, following bigger-than-usual declines in June and July. With many people on holiday, prices usually fall in August.
The Agenda
10am BST: Eurozone trade for June
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