Closing summary
British Airways is hiring 350 additional staff at Heathrow in London to avoid the summer airport chaos seen two years ago.
The carrier, owned by IAG, expects this summer to be its busiest since the pandemic and will hire about 350 new workers in customer services and ground handling, Bloomberg News reported, citing a spokesperson for the airline. BA is also upgrading some of its computers and other technology at Heathrow.
In Germany, unemployment rose more than expected last month, reinforcing the view that Europe’s biggest economy will recover only gradually this year.
Joblessness rose by a seasonally adjusted 25,000 in May, compared to expectations of a gain of just 7,000. The unemployment rate held at 5.9%, the Federal Labor Agency said today.
“The spring recovery did not really get going this year,” said labour office head Andrea Nahles. “Improvement is still a long time coming.”
German unemployment up more than expected, damping rebound hopes https://t.co/VUagDVaGCB via @weberalexander pic.twitter.com/acxZyjkkia
— Zoe Schneeweiss (@ZSchneeweiss) June 4, 2024
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Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. Take care – JK
European gas prices ease as Norway outage likely to end by Friday
European gas prices eased after news that an outage affecting Norway’s gas exports to Britain that sent prices soaring yesterday will likely be repaired by Friday.
The news eased supply crunch concerns, but the outage was a fresh reminder of Europe’s dependence on Norwegian gas.
Europe’s benchmark gas price, the Dutch front-month contract , fell 4% to €34.93 per mega watt hour.
The outage drove up European gas prices yesterday to a peak of €38.56, their highest level since December. Gassco, the Norwegian state owned company, attributed it to a crack in a two-inch pipeline onboard Equinor’s offshore Sleipner Riser platform.
Oil prices slid by 2%, with Brent falling by $1.52 to $76.84 while US light crude dropped by the same amount to $72.70. Opec+ nations (the oil cartel and allies led by Russia) revealed on Sunday that they would gradually phase out production cuts after September.
