Closing summary
The London-listed miner Anglo American has agreed to merge with its Canadian rival Teck Resources, in a deal that will create a $53bn (£39bn) global copper group after both companies saw off takeover attempts.
The merger to form one of the biggest copper producers in the world is expected to bring hundreds of job losses at Anglo’s London office as the company prepares to move its headquarters to Vancouver, Canada.
The new company will retain Anglo’s primary listing on the London Stock Exchange – held since 1999 - with secondary listings in Johannesburg, Vancouver and New York. But Anglo Teck’s senior leadership team will be based in Vancouver after sweeping efforts by the Canadian government to protect the country’s minerals sector.
In London, the tube network was brought to a standstill for a second day as RMT workers went on strike, in a dispute over pay and conditions.
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Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. Take care – JK
Updated
US economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than thought in year to March
The US economy created 911,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months through March than previously estimated, according to government figures, suggesting that job growth was already stalling before president Donald Trump’s aggressive trade tariffs.
This was towards the high end of expectations.
Bradley Saunders, North America economist at Capital Economics said:
The bulk of the downgrade appeared to be over the latter six months of the October 2024 to March 2025 period. If that pattern held into more recent months, then it raises the risk that the more worrying 500,000 decline in the household survey measure of employment over the past seven months provides the more accurate guide to labour market conditions.
The revisions imply that monthly non-farm payroll gains from April 2024 to March 2025 averaged around 71,000 per month, rather than 147,000 as the current data show (although they will not be officially incorporated into the data until the January 2026 employment report).
The breakdown shows broad-based revisions, with the largest downgrades in various services sectors – specifically leisure and hospitality (15,000 per month lower), professional and businesses services (13,000) and retail trade (10,000). With services being the last bastion of employment growth, this does not bode well for the overall health of the labour market.
