Wednesday 11 July 2018

Facebook is set to be fined the maximum
£500,000 for data breaches by the UK’s data protection watchdog.
The Information Commissioner’s Office said the social media giant
failed to ensure that Cambridge Analytica had deleted users’ data.
The fine would be small fry for Facebook, a company valued last
year at around $590bn (£445bn).

Speculation has grown that Mark Carney’s Bank
of England will raise interest rates next month as a raft of data
suggests the British economy is gathering momentum. Growth in the
three months to May bounced to 0.2% after flatlining in the three
months to April. The growth was driven by the services sector,
which expanded 0.4%.

Starbucks is to charge customers a 5p levy
for paper cups in a bid to reduce single-use paper and plastic
waste. Starting on July 26, customers who present a reusable cup
will be given the standard 25p discount, while those that ask for a
paper cup will not get the discount and will be charged the 5p
“latte levy”.

Ocado has set out plans for expansion that
include using its hi-tech warehouses to sell clothing and homeware.
The online retailer’s shares closed up 9% at £11.03, the biggest
riser on the FTSE 100, as it was dubbed the “Microsoft of retail”
by an analyst. An Ocado spokesman said: “We have to make sure we
innovate for the future.”

The chief executive of Tesco UK is stepping
down from the company board after being diagnosed with throat
cancer. The former boss of wholesaler Booker, Charles Wilson,
became Tesco’s UK chief following the supermarket’s £3.7bn takeover
of Booker in March. The grocery giant said Wilson had responded
well to treatment.

“This business is on a burning platform. We don’t have a
God-given right to exist and unless we change and develop this
company the way we want to, in decades to come there will be no
M&S.” Archie Norman, who took over as M&S’s chairman
last year, on the existential threat faced by the high street
giant.

FTSE 100: up +0.05 to 7,692.04
Dow Jones: up +0.58 to 24,919.66
Dax: up +0.53 to 12,609.85
Cac 40: up +0.67 to 5,434.36
Nikkei: down -1.05 to 21,962.98
Hang Seng: down -1.57 to 28,232.09
US dollar: buys €0.8526 and £0.7541
Sterling: buys $1.3256 and €1.1302
Oil: $78.28 down -0.58