The UK posted public sector net borrowing of £18.3bn in August, above expectations of £15.6bn and above the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast. Borrowing so far this financial year is £8.1bn higher than the OBR projected. Public sector net debt is just below £3 trillion, around 94% of GDP, the highest since the early 1960s. With inflation reported at 3.1%, debt interest costs are adding further pressure.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock said upside risks to inflation are starting to emerge, clearing the way for a rate increase at the RBA’s 28–29 September policy meeting. She said the key issue will be whether the three earlier rate hikes are enough to return inflation to the 2.5% target within a reasonable timeframe. Separately, the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates this week for the first time since 2023, as central banks respond to persistently high fuel prices.

Uber said it will cut about 10% of its global workforce, affecting roughly 3,300 corporate jobs, and will require most employees to work from the office. The restructuring is aimed at streamlining the organisation by merging operations and tech teams, cutting “microteams” by nearly 50%, and reducing management layers to improve efficiency.

Uber drivers have filed a collective lawsuit in Amsterdam, alleging the company’s AI-driven pay system breaches data-protection rules and suppresses earnings. The suit follows a €825m fine issued by the Dutch data protection authority over automated account deactivations. Drivers say dynamic pricing introduced in the UK in 2023 cut annual income by about £5,000, and a 2025 University of Oxford study also reported substantial drops in earnings after the model was introduced.

Tim Cook will become Apple’s executive chair after stepping down as chief executive, with a $47m compensation package that includes a $2m base salary and $45m in share awards. His successor, John Ternus, will take over as CEO with a $3m base salary and a $55m share award that is more heavily tied to performance. Cook has led Apple since 2011, a period in which the stock has risen about 2,200% and the company is now valued at roughly $4.7tn.

BT is benefiting from the recovery and sale of old copper cabling as copper prices hit record highs amid an AI-led surge in demand. The company has received a £99m upfront payment from recycler EMR, after taking £105m in 2024. As Openreach advances its full-fibre rollout, BT expects selling stripped copper over the next decade to generate more than £2bn in revenue.

Nintendo reported net profit for the quarter ended June surged 53.5% year on year to ¥147.4bn, far above market expectations, helped by the Trump administration refunding about $100bn in tariffs. Revenue fell 10% to ¥517.8bn. Following the results, the company’s Tokyo-listed shares rose 2.87%.

Eight of the world’s largest listed oil companies reported a combined $93bn in net profit for the second quarter of 2024, covering the three months to June 30, nearly doubling from about $50bn a year earlier. The surge followed a global oil supply crisis triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran, which at one point pushed crude above $126 a barrel. The article describes the shock as the most severe supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. It says soaring energy prices were the main driver of the profit jump.

Donald Trump said he had called off planned military strikes on Iran, easing geopolitical tensions. Brent fell 5% to $83.50 a barrel after touching $81.55, while US West Texas Intermediate dropped more than $5 to $79.47. Both benchmarks had gained more than 20% in July amid renewed US-Iran fighting and tanker attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4%, with energy stocks down 2% and travel and leisure shares up 2.1%.