5:00 am, July 1, 2023
Apple is first public company valued at three trillion dollars
Apple became the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a three trillion dollar (£2.36 trillion) market value, marking another milestone for a technology juggernaut that has reshaped society with a line-up of products that churn out eye-popping profits.
Apple shares closed up 2.3% at 193.97 dollars (£152.73) on Friday, bringing its market value to 3.04 trillion dollars.
Apple is one of a handful of technology companies, including Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia, that helped drive the S&P 500 to a gain of nearly 16% in the first half of the year.
Ipso upholds sexism complaint against Clarkson
The press watchdog has upheld a complaint that a Jeremy Clarkson opinion column in The Sun was sexist towards the Duchess of Sussex, describing some of the comments about her as ‘pejorative and prejudicial’.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) also rejected complaints that the piece – in which Clarkson wrote he had dreamed of Meghan being paraded naked through British towns and publicly shamed – was inaccurate, harassed the duchess and included discriminatory references to her on the grounds of race.
The newspaper will have to publish a summary of the findings against it on the same page as the column usually appears, along with a notice flagging the statement on the front page of Saturday’s edition and on its website.
Final Fiesta to be built next week
The final Ford Fiesta will roll off the production line next week, marking the end of the UK’s best-selling car ever.
Ford announced in October last year that it would be stopping the Fiesta in 2023, with the firm now confirming that the final examples will be produced on July 7. A Ford spokesman told the PA news agency that it would coincide with the annual summer shutdown at the firm’s factory in Cologne, Germany.
Autocar reports that Ford will keep hold of the final two Fiesta models produced, with one destined for Ford’s German outfit, and the other for Ford’s UK heritage car collection.
People told to read energy meters
People across Great Britain have been urged to take meter readings on Saturday as new energy prices come into force that are likely to save households hundreds of pounds a year.
The average price for each unit of electricity that someone uses has been slashed to 30p per unit, while gas prices will drop to 8p per unit.
It will save the average household around £426 a year on their energy bills, according to regulator Ofgem – which sets the levels and calculated average usage.
Councils pay £450m to support free bus passes
English councils are being hit by a ‘completely unsustainable’ annual bill of more than £450m to prop up the free bus pass scheme, according to new analysis.
The Local Government Association (LGA), which calculated the figure, warned that the cost is putting services at risk.
Councils in England are legally required to reimburse bus operators for journeys made by older and disabled people who use a pass entitling them to free off-peak travel.
World’s largest airliner returns to Birmingham
The world’s largest airliner is returning to Birmingham airport as Gulf carriers ramp up capacity.
Emirates will resume using its 615-seater Airbus A380s from Saturday for one of its two daily return flights between the West Midlands airport and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The vast majority of A380s around the world were put into storage at the height of the virus crisis, sparking speculation they would never return due to the existence of more fuel-efficient aircraft.
FTSE ends June on a high
A last-minute minute rally from the FTSE 100 saw it end the month in the green on Friday, higher than where it finished in May, but only slightly.
The top index in London ended the day at 7,531.53 as it soared following better-than expected house price figures from Nationwide.
It was a 59.84 rise on the day, or 0.8 per cent.
On the last day of May the FTSE had ended at around 7,446 but it is still down on the quarter, which started at around 7,632.
Changeable weather
The weather will continue to be changeable this weekend, according to the Met Office.
On Saturday, more rain and drizzle is expected with brisk winds also in the north.
There will be some sunny spells breaking through and other areas will be dry and warm.
