Latest Developments

North America
CNBC Economy

UK economy shrank 0.1% in April as Iran conflict weighed on growth

The U.K. economy shrank by 0.1% in the month to April, figures published on Friday showed, as the impacts of the Iran war continue to hamper growth. A 0.2% contraction in services activity was cited as the main driver of the negative growth, with officials saying it had been partly offset by a 0.1% rise in construction output. Production output showed zero growth for the month. Economists polled by Reuters had been expecting the British economy to contract by 0.1% month-on-month. April's print followed growth of 0.3% in March, 0.4% in February and no growth in January. One of the biggest contributors to the decline in services came from a fall of 9.1% in sports, amusement and recreation activities. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that this was the largest negative contribution from a single industry to both services output and real GDP growth. Some of the sector's decline was attributed to the war, with the ONS noting that the cancellation of various sporting events in the Middle East had affected the output of U.K.-based companies. Companies operating in the manufacturing, wholesale, transportation support, and travel agencies said that the conflict in the Middle East had contributed to reduced turnover in April. "A common theme of the comments received was the increase in prices because of the Middle East conflict," the ONS said. "These comments were mainly for energy and fuel costs, with some suggesting an impact seen in April 2026 and also suggesting an impact for future months." Suren Thiru, chief economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, said the data made a rate cut from the Bank of England next week unlikely, with the GDP decline signaling a "damaging descent into stagflation." "This decline is the first economic blow landed by the Iran conflict as falling fuel sales and slowing services output meant the U.K.'s early-year growth momentum stalled in April," he said. "Skyrocketing fuel costs have noticeably altered the U.K.'s growth trajectory having flipped from a tailwind to growth in March to a headwind in April as motorists cut consumption in the face of surging pump prices, after frontloading purchases in March." The U.S.-Iran war, which recently crossed the 100-day mark, has sparked supply constraints in global energy markets, prompting a resurgence of inflation.

UK economy shrank 0.1% in April as Iran conflict weighed on growth
North America
Yahoo Finance

Here Are Friday’s Best Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Adobe, Advanced Micro Devices, Ares Capital, Coca Cola, e.l.f. Beauty, FormFactor, Kratos Defense, Travelers, Williams-Sonoma, and More

Futures are trading higher as excitement builds for the Elon Musk Space Exploration Technologies IPO (NASDAQ: SPCX), which is priced at $135 per share and set to begin trading later today. We saw a big risk-on Thursday, which produced a massive rally across the major indices, as once again, President Trump said we are close to a peace deal with Iran after some major airstrikes and a threat to take over Kharg Island. That sent stocks soaring and oil plummeting. When it was all said and done, the Russell 2000 was the big winner, closing up 3% at 2,920, while the Nasdaq was close behind, finishing the session up 2.54% at 25,809. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last seen at 50,848, up 1.86%, and the S&P 500 closed the session at 7394, up 1.75%. Yields were down across the entire Treasury curve following the President’s prediction of near-term peace. The President also canceled additional airstrikes that were scheduled for Thursday night. Despite some nasty inflation news and data this week, hopes that inflation will start to taper with lower oil prices also helped drive prices higher. The 30-year-long bond closed the day at 4.95%, while the 10-year note was last seen 4.46%. The potential for an end to the four-month war with Iran once again lit the fuse for the sellers to step up to the plate, and they did on Thursday. Brent Crude finished on Thursday at $88.71, down 4.82%, while West Texas Intermediate closed at $86.07, down 4.40%. Natural gas was also hit and closed Thursday’s session at $3.07, down 3.52%. Gold had a nice turnaround day, which many on Wall Street attributed to short-sellers closing positions and a weaker dollar, but the fact is, the precious metal has remained in a slump, and recently hit a six-month low. The path of least resistance is likely lower. The final trade for Gold was posted at $4,210, up 3.45%, while Silver ended the session at $67.24, up a whopping 6.23%. 24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports daily to identify new investment ideas for both investors and traders. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Here are some of the best Wall Street analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen on Friday, June 12, 2026.

Here Are Friday’s Best Wall Street Analyst Research Calls: Adobe, Advanced Micro Devices, Ares Capital, Coca Cola, e.l.f. Beauty, FormFactor, Kratos Defense, Travelers, Williams-Sonoma, and More
Europe
The Guardian

Elon Musk on track to become world’s first trillionaire today as SpaceX lists on US stock market – business live

Good morning. Elon Musk’s SpaceX will touch down on the US stock market today after successfully conducting a record-breaking initial public offering, but will its shares head towards the moon? Shares in the rockets-to-satellites-to-AI company will begin trading in Wall Street today, after SpaceX raised $75bn through its IPO. The listing will put SpaceX among the largest public companies, and could see Musk declared the world’s first trillionaire later today. Last night, SpaceX announced it had has raised $75bn in a record-breaking initial public offering, which values the company at $1.77tn. It successfully sold 555,555,555 shares of its Class A common stock, at $135.00 per share. Banks underwriting the deal have also been given an “over-allotment option” to buy an extra 83.3m shares, which would pump up the size of the IPO to about $86bn. SpaceX attracted orders for more than three times the amount on offer, the Financial Times reports – with strong demand from institutions and also retail investors. That could help propel SpaceX’s shares up today, as those who missed out in the IPO (or didn’t get as many shares as they wanted) try to get on board. This strong demand came despite concerns that the company was overvalued – being sold at 92 times last year’s revenues (a hefty valuation). Investment research group Morningstar claimed earlier this week that SpaceX was worth only $63 a share – less than half the IPO price of $135 – and warned there is “a major disconnect between market expectations and underlying fundamentals”. Michael Field, the chief equity strategist at Morningstar, suggests investors should sit out the IPO and wait for “a more attractive entry point down the line”.

Elon Musk on track to become world’s first trillionaire today as SpaceX lists on US stock market – business live
Europe
BBC Business

UK economy contracts as Iran war impact felt

The UK's economy shrank slightly in April as the Iran war began to have an impact on businesses, official data has indicated. The economy contracted by 0.1% in the month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, with some firms citing the conflict in the Middle East as having raised costs and affected turnover. April's contraction was the first monthly fall since August last year, but had been forecast by economists after stronger than expected growth in March. Analysts said that after a good start to the year the economy was set to slow over the next few months, and they expect the Bank of England to keep interest rates unchanged when it meets next week. In the three months to April - which is generally seen as a less volatile measure - the ONS said the economy grew by 0.7% compared with the previous three-month period. When the Iran war broke out it led to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil tankers, causing crude oil prices to surge. The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark, has risen as high as $120 since the conflict began, but has fluctuated as hopes of an end to the war have risen and fallen. On Friday, the price sank to a three-month low of $86 on hopes that a resolution to the conflict could be close. The increase in oil prices since the start of the war has led to a rise in petrol and diesel prices in the UK. Household energy bills will also increase in the coming months with the energy price cap rising in July. Oil prices also have a wide-reaching effect on the cost of many goods and services. Yael Selfin, chief economist at KPMG UK, said that while the economy grew over the three months to April, "the contraction in April is more indicative of growth prospects for the economy going forward". The monthly figure, she said, "points to renewed fragility in the UK economy, with pressure on both consumers and businesses likely to persist over the coming months".

UK economy contracts as Iran war impact felt
Europe
The Guardian

After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI

The so-called ‘magnificent seven’ tech goliaths already account for more than a third of the S&P 500’s market value. Illustration: Alvaro Dominguez/Guardian Design/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenThe so-called ‘magnificent seven’ tech goliaths already account for more than a third of the S&P 500’s market value. Illustration: Alvaro Dominguez/Guardian Design/Getty ImagesUS economyAnalysisAfter SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AIEduardo PorterThey’re about to get more AI rammed down their throats, stuck into their pension plans and investment portfolios Americans are growing worried about what artificial intelligence portends for their futures. Eight in 10 Americans report concern over AI, compared with a third who report being excited, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll. More than half think it will do more harm than good in their daily lives. Seven out of 10 think it will reduce the number of available jobs. Skeptical though they may be, they are about to get more AI rammed down their throats and stuck into their pension plans and their investment portfolios, whether they want it or not – binding their futures ever more tightly to the frenzied, risky, multibillion-dollar dash by technology moguls to develop machines capable of mimicking human thought processes to take over cognitive tasks. First up is this week’s massive $75bn initial public offering (IPO) for Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the largest ever, which at $135 a share will value the company at a cool $1.77tn, among the 10 largest companies in the world by market capitalization. While the company makes most of its money these days selling internet access, it largely needs the money to finance Musk’s vast AI ambitions, which include blasting datacenters into orbit. The offering is just the first in a series: both Anthropic and OpenAI have already filed paperwork for their own IPOs later in the year, which will add two multitrillion-dollar artificial intelligence behemoths to the US’s main stock indices. Even investors who don’t care to buy their stock will end up owning a bunch, either in their 401(k) retirement plans or among their holdings of market index funds – supposedly safer investments for non-professional investors, built to reflect the entire market – which are forced to buy AI shares in proportion to their weighting in stock indices like the Nasdaq and the S&P. Musk has been lobbying for SpaceX to be quickly invited onto the indices, which would force index funds to buy the stock, no matter its price, and providing it a hefty boost. The tech-heavy Nasdaq changed its rules to fast-track the listing of behemoths like SpaceX. So did the FTSE Russell, to ease the entry of megacaps to its US indices. Standard & Poor’s is sticking to its rules. This means SpaceX will have to post a profit – which it has not yet done – make a minimum set of shares available to the public and wait about a year to get onto the S&P 500, the most tracked index. The SpaceX offering, moreover, amounts to less than 5% of its shares – which will limit its immediate footprint. But if SpaceX follows the pattern set by large firms after their IPOs, some half of its shares could be trading openly by the time it joins the S&P 500 next year. This would give it about a 1.5% share of the S&P 500’s market capitalization of more than $60tn – forcing index funds to plow hundreds of billions into Elon Musk’s gambit to become the world’s first trillionaire. If this sounds like a risky bet, it is. Musk, the guy who at the helm of “Doge” tried to devastate the federal bureaucracy, firing employees hand over fist, and who helped dismantle USAID despite knowing it would lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths, will have sole control over the company on which the retirement of many Americans may depend, allowing him to follow his baser instincts wherever they lead. And that’s not the half of it. The so-called “magnificent seven” tech goliaths – Nvidia, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta and Tesla – already account for more than a third of the S&P 500’s market value. Investors’ views on the tech titans’ massive AI investments have largely driven the ups and downs of the equity market as a whole. Adding SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic to this set will give tech billionaires an even tighter grip on Americans’ financial future as they pursue their dystopian sci-fi dreams, free from any sort of government regulation. There may be a silver lining – of sorts. Having a lot of AI stock in a retirement plan may offer a hedge for the newly irrelevant workers displaced by artificial intelligence, granting them some stake in the economic fruits of the new hi-tech economy. But the balance of risks points in the wrong direction. A future in which the new AI agents hypercharge economic productivity and propel human prosperity to where it has never gone before remains an aspiration. Claims of astonishing progress by the latest AI models may well be true. But they have not been matched by significant gains in productivity. Dystopian scenarios appear ever more probable even as the economic rewards investors are counting on remain stuck far off on the horizon.

After SpaceX’s huge IPO, Americans’ financial future will be bound to AI
Europe
BBC Business

Watch: Three things to know about SpaceX's stock market debut

SpaceX will become a publicly traded company on Friday, in what is expected to be the highest-value stock listing in history. The BBC's Samira Hussain explains what it means for SpaceX's future and for the company's CEO, Elon Musk, who is set to become the world's first trillionaire. It is seen playing with a ball in his enclosure, only two days after his arrival. The peal of a full set of a 14th Century church's bells is heard once again across a parish. Watch the latest news summary from BBC World News. International news updated 24 hours a day. The princess had been in a coma for more than three years, and was 47 at the time of her death. The company behind the campaign said the first 100 people who could prove they had their US visa rejected would receive a television to watch the matches from home. There were wild celebrations in host nation Mexico, as their team kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over South Africa. The BBC spoke to match-goers outside Azteca Stadium, where Mexico began the tournament with a 2-0 victory over South Africa. The BBC's Gary O'Donoghue looks at the US president's mixed messaging over the war and the questions it raises. White House reporter Bernd Debusmann gets a preview of the temporary structure that will host a UFC fight 14 June. Vivian Panka, who plays Regina George, says she has been scared to leave her room.

Watch: Three things to know about SpaceX's stock market debut
North America
CNBC Economy

A Chinese start-up's unfolding dilemma exposes cracks in Beijing's tech funding machine

The rush of capital into China's tech start-up world hit a speed bump this month. Within hours of each other last Friday, a Chinese city government ordered companies to disclose their financial ties to robot vacuum maker Dreame Technology, and China's State Council issued sweeping rules to tighten oversight of the country's 23 trillion yuan ($3.4 trillion) private fund industry. The events, in quick succession, underscored Beijing's tough balancing act in trying to rival U.S. tech dominance. While the state pours in money to support China's tech ambitions, there are not always the guardrails and market forces to prevent widespread misallocation. Beijing is reining in a co-investment model that local authorities have embraced in recent years to lure businesses into their regions, said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group. Local governments often "race to outspend one another" on strategic sectors, generating substantial fiscal waste and raising credit risks for the central government, Wang said. Chinese local governments have sought to pivot from land financing — which has essentially collapsed since the housing crisis in the early 2020s — to equity finance, using state capital and government guidance funds to acquire stakes in startups and use capital gains as a new source of fiscal income. Wall Street-linked U.S. funds that once invested in China have also largely pulled out in recent years due to geopolitical risk, leaving a gap for local Chinese yuan-denominated funds to fill. Local officials cannot necessarily evaluate projects the way professional investors do, and tend to go all-in on one or a handful of hopefuls — leaving public finances exposed when bets sour, Wang added. Dreame became the world's largest robotic vacuum maker by sales in the first quarter, according to research consultancy IDC, with fast-growing footholds in Europe and the U.S. And the startup's ambitions run far beyond floor cleaning. Echoing the aggressive expansion of certain Chinese start-ups, since its founding in 2017, Dreame has spawned nearly a thousand affiliated enterprises, spanning electric vehicles, smartphones, humanoid robots, bubble tea and satellite networks. Founder Yu Hao claimed in January he was building an ecosystem that would "become the first $100 trillion company in human history." That sprawl has come under scrutiny in recent weeks. A city government in Jiangsu province, one of China's biggest electronics manufacturing hubs, asked local companies to audit their exposure to Dreame-linked entities, including investment sizes, fiscal outlays and business operations, according to state-backed media. Yu's social media account on Weibo was also suspended, preventing the outspoken founder from making viral comments, according to state-linked media.

A Chinese start-up's unfolding dilemma exposes cracks in Beijing's tech funding machine
Europe
The Guardian

Diane Keaton’s nail clippers for $960: what’s behind the new boom in celebrity estate auctions?

‘The personal legacy market has exploded’ … Diane Keaton in a scene from Mack & Rita. Photograph: Landmark Media/AlamyView image in fullscreen‘The personal legacy market has exploded’ … Diane Keaton in a scene from Mack & Rita. Photograph: Landmark Media/AlamyMoviesDiane Keaton’s nail clippers for $960: what’s behind the new boom in celebrity estate auctions?With beloved stars’ personal items increasingly up for grabs after they die, a new generation of fans are bidding on everything from bowler hats to dog bowls Rupert NeateFri 12 Jun 2026 02.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 12 Jun 2026 06.22 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on GoogleFrom Diane Keaton’s bowler hats and polka dot scarfs, to Gene Hackman’s used paint brushes, to Terence Stamp’s love letters from Jean Shrimpton and even Matthew Perry’s black leather wallet (his credit cards and AAA membership card still inside), fans are being offered – at a price – increasingly personal items from the estates of dead celebrities. The growing trend for auctions of deceased famous people’s personal items – which has boomed ever since the hugely popular Marilyn Monroe estate sale in 1999 – has even attracted its own portmanteau: “deleb” as in dead celebrity. The first of no fewer than four auctions of Keaton’s professional and personal items went on sale at Bonhams in New York earlier this week with her original Annie Hall script selling for $394,000, way more than its $2,000 estimate. View image in fullscreenA handwritten letter and inscribed sheet music to Diane Keaton from Al Pacino. Photograph: Bonhams AuctionsSeveral of her trademark hats sold for thousands of dollars, including a black felt Neogranadine (modern day Colombia) cup hat that she wore in an Instagram video teaching fans how hats can be used to enhance their best features. It sold for $5,888, including buyer’s premium, many multiples of its $200-300 estimate. A box of six of her trademark brown polka dot scarfs – that was also estimated to sell for $200-300 – sold for $6,144. A “curated box” of safety pins and nail clippers went for $960. The first Keaton auction raised $1.2m, with 47 of the 50 lots selling for more than their estimate. In total, Bonhams, in collaboration with celebrity specialist The Fine Art Group, will sell 787 of Keaton’s items. They range from original collages by Keaton and a Gucci sequin suit and beret worn to the Lacma charity gala in 2021, to personal and prosaic items including a “job lot” of her trademark black turtlenecks, a collection of kitchen chopping boards and dog food bowls. Shane David Hall, director of Fine Art Group’s high-profile client division, says fans are increasingly keen to own celebrities’ personal items and not just items related to their professional lives like film scripts or art collections. “Over the past 20 years the personal legacy market has really exploded,” he says. “People really feel a personal connection to celebrities and how they have influenced their own lives, and there is a real desire to own something of theirs to keep and deepen that connection.” View image in fullscreenCult collector’s item … David Lynch’s cap and director’s chair auctioned with 450 pieces of memorabilia and personal items in 2025. Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/APHall says it is celebrities with cult followings, such as Keaton and Perry, that attract the most interest and where the interest is perhaps more focused on personal objects than professional items. “There is a new generation of collectors with disposal income, and they are more aligned to celebrities and athletes than their parents,” Hall says. “With people like Diane Keaton, they really mean something to their fans, these are people that grew up with her films and her iconic wardrobe. Items of Diane’s are sentimental to them, there are pieces that fit in the trajectory of their own lives and remind them of significant moments in their own story. And of course they make great conversation topics, one could argue more so than an artwork by a famous artist.” Hall says knowing that so many of Keaton’s items would resonate with fans led to such a large collection going up for sale. “We like to have some value points that are accessible so there is the opportunity for everyone no matter their budget.” At the more affordable end was lot no 2216 of the second auction “Tailored & Timeless” – four pairs of her thick-rimmed prescription reading glasses which had an estimate of $200-300 (it sold for $2,176).

Diane Keaton’s nail clippers for $960: what’s behind the new boom in celebrity estate auctions?
Europe
The Guardian

Trump claims US and Iran on verge of signing peace agreement, but Tehran says no final decision made

Donald Trump has claimed a deal with Iran is very close, but senior regime officials said a final conclusion had not been reached. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/ShutterstockView image in fullscreenDonald Trump has claimed a deal with Iran is very close, but senior regime officials said a final conclusion had not been reached. Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/CNP/ShutterstockIranTrump claims US and Iran on verge of signing peace agreement, but Tehran says no final decision madeIranian leadership has not confirmed claim, after the US president announced that planned strikes on Iran had been cancelled Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that Washington and Tehran were on the verge of signing a peace agreement, and announced that he was cancelling fresh missile strikes, after two days of escalating attacks on Iran that threatened to collapse the fragile ceasefire. His comments followed a new bout of public diplomacy by social media, but were dismissed by Iran’s foreign ministry, which said a final decision on an agreement had not been reached. “Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social network he owns. While the White House has long sought a peace agreement with Iran – and it would mark a major achievement for this administration – Trump has claimed dozens of times to be close to a deal without any agreement eventuating. “So far, Iran has not reached a final conclusion on the agreement,” Baghaei said. Tasnim, the semi-official Iranian news agency, wrote that “until a potential understanding is announced by Iran, any news from Trump on this matter should be dismissed”. A diplomat briefed on the talks said that the deal had largely been agreed to several weeks ago but that there was still a “50% chance” that it will collapse. “There are a lot of potential spoilers,” the diplomat said. The new agreement would provide for a timeline for demining the strait of Hormuz, during which the US naval blockade would remain in place. It also discusses mechanisms for further nuclear talks and the release of frozen Iranian assets but does not contain concrete agreements about how that will take place. Trump however, continued to claim that a deal had been reached, telling reporters at the White House that the strait of Hormuz would open “as soon as we sign, which could be soon … maybe over the weekend in Europe.” Trump claimed the negotiations had been approved by other parties to the conflict, including Israel, which has been publicly skeptical about any deal with Iran. Others included the Gulf states of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as regional powers Turkey and Pakistan. Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that Israel was not a party to the memorandum of understanding with Iran, but the prime minister “expressed his appreciation” for Trump’s commitment that the final deal would include the removal of enriched material, limits on missile production, and the cessation of support for proxies in the region, measures that have proved to be red lines for Iran in the past.

Trump claims US and Iran on verge of signing peace agreement, but Tehran says no final decision made