US economy added fewer jobs than forecast in December, but January interest rate cut very unlikely – as it happened

Newsflash: The US economy added fewer jobs than expected last month.America’s non-farm payroll rose by 50,000 in December, missing forecasts of a 60,000 rise.Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, and social assistance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports, while retail trade lost jobs.That shows a hiring slowdown, compared with the previous month; the BLS now estimates that 56,000 jobs were created in November, 8,000 fewer than its first estimate of 64,000.Time to wrap up!Hiring held firm in the US last month, official data showed, amid uncertainty over the strength and direction of the world’s largest economy

High costs, falling returns: what could go wrong for Trump’s Venezuela oil gamble?

Donald Trump has laid claim to billions of dollars’ worth of Venezuelan crude this week, which at a stroke has handed the world’s biggest consumer of oil up to 50m barrels – but his ambitions are far greater.The White House said Venezuela would be “turning over” the nearly $3bn (£2.3bn) of crude stranded in tankers and storage facilities before it is sold on the international market and after that the US plans to control all the country’s oil sales “indefinitely”.For the Trump administration, the seizure is the first move in taking control of Venezuela’s vast crude reserves, estimated to represent almost a fifth of the proven reserves on Earth, in a push to cut the oil price to $50 a barrel.But experts have been quick to point out that the crude cargo grab could be the last easy win for the president, with no quick or cheap fix to reignite the country’s oil production

Charity watchdog opens inquiry into City & Guilds’ sale of business arm

The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into City & Guilds’ sale of its qualification awards business to a private company last year.The announcement has been made after the Guardian revealed last month how City & Guilds bosses were handed million-pound bonuses after the charity privatised its business arm.The payments – which are understood to include a £1.7m award for the chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and £1.2m to the finance director, Abid Ismail – emerged after reports of how the privatised City & Guilds business has also embarked on a £22m cost-cutting drive and is shrinking its UK workforce after being sold by its charity owner to PeopleCert, an international certification company

Starmer rules out EU financial services alignment talks

Keir Starmer will exclude financial services from negotiations on closer alignment with the EU, prompting a sigh of relief from Brexit-weary City lobbyists.A government spokesperson said officials would continue to explore cooperation “where it is in our economy’s interest”, but it is understood there will be no push for City firms to return to the Brussels rulebook.The exclusion, first reported by the Financial Times, comes despite City bosses having largely backed EU membership in the run-up to the 2016 referendum and later warning of widespread disruption and job losses moving to the continent. Today, however, few are keen to face another period of uncertainty and potential unwinding of post-Brexit changes.UK regulators have been under pressure to dismantle a series of EU-era rules that politicians argue have hampered competitiveness and growth

Sainsbury’s blames ‘significant headwinds’ for drop in Argos sales at Christmas

Sainsbury’s has blamed “significant headwinds” from weak consumer confidence, heavy online competition and widespread discounting for a fall in sales at its Argos chain over the all-important Christmas quarter.The UK’s second-largest grocer said its supermarkets increased sales by 3.4% at established stores in the three months to 3 January but Argos sales fell 1% in the period.Argos, which has more than 600 stores and 400 collection points, most of which are within Sainsbury’s outlets, performed particularly badly in the crucial final six weeks, with total sales down 2.2% compared with the Sainsbury’s chain’s 4

Mining firms Rio Tinto and Glencore restart $260bn merger talks

Rio Tinto and Glencore have restarted talks over a merger that would create the world’s largest mining company.The talks come almost a year after previous discussions between the two mining companies collapsed. If a deal is agreed, it would create a global mining business with an enterprise value of more than $260bn (£193bn).The two companies said on Friday that they were in “preliminary discussions” about a “possible combination of some or all of their businesses, which could include an all-share merger”.Rio Tinto, which has an enterprise value of $162bn, said the deal under discussion would potentially result in it acquiring Glencore