The Bank of England has cut interest rates for the first time in more than four years in a knife-edge vote that marks a boost to the Labour government’s promise to kick-start economic growth (The Financial Times £).
In a tightly contested decision announced at midday, members of the nine-strong monetary policy committee, the group tasked with setting the UK base rate, lowered borrowing costs after holding them at their peak for the longest stretch in more than two decades (The Times £).
In another boost for Labour, the Bank more than doubled its growth forecast for this year to 1.25% from 0.5%, following a strong start to the year for the economy (The Telegraph £).
Morrisons is testing out raising the temperature of its freezers by 3C in the first move by a UK supermarket to depart from a long-held industry standard, in order to save energy and money (The Guardian).
Its move with the –15°C Coalition is being trialled in 10 stores from today. Read more in The Grocer.
Food is at risk of rotting in lorries under post-Brexit border checks, dairy and meat suppliers have warned (The Telegraph £). In a letter to Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, an influential group of food makers, hauliers and farmers said they were “deeply concerned” over the threat to Britain’s food security, biosecurity and food safety amid rising delays and friction.
A thief has been jailed for eight months after being found guilty of shoplifting almost 800 Cadbury Creme Eggs over a three-month period (The Guardian).
Amazon became the latest Big Tech company to underwhelm Wall Street on Thursday as it reported higher capital spending and shrinking margins even as sales at its closely watched cloud computing business accelerated (The Financial Times £).
The world’s largest online retailer, which has a stock market value of $1.9trn, said it expected revenue of $154bn to $158.5bn for the third quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $158.24bn (The Times £).
The Financial Times (£) investigates the life-long ties of Howard Schultz to Starbucks. ‘The private jet, board rights and $26mn of olive oil that bind Howard Schultz to Starbucks’
Next has upgraded full-year profit guidance after the retailer’s sales smashed expectations in the first half, driven by a surge in overseas online demand (The Mail).
The FTSE 100 clothing and homewares chain, seen as a bellwether for the wider high street, lifted its annual forecast by £20m to £980m, an increase of 6.7% on last year (The Times £).
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