Oil tumbles and stock markets soar on hopes Middle East war will end soon, as Bank of England warns of ‘substantial negative supply shock’ – business live

As the clocks ring noon in the City of London, here’s the situation.European and Asia-Pacific stock markets have rallied sharply, after Donald Trump signalled that the Iran was could end soon.The UK’s FTSE 100 share index is up 1.9% now at 10,369 points, up 192 points to a two-week high.The pan-European Stoxx 600 index is up 2%, with gains in Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid and Milan

Housebuilder Berkeley to halt buying new land and hiring staff

One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has said it will stop buying new land and hiring new staff, as it grapples with the impact of the Iran war on the property market.The London-focused housebuilder Berkeley said it would cut costs as it warned that “geopolitical volatility” and reduced potential for interest rate cuts could weigh on the business.The FTSE 100 company said it would stop buying new land, implement a hiring freeze and employ fewer subcontractors.The group now expects to report more than £1.4bn in pre-tax profit from 2027 to 2030, compared with an earlier forecast for about £450m this year and in 2027

US tech firm Oracle cuts thousands of jobs as it steps up AI spending

Oracle is cutting thousands of jobs as the US technology company seeks to reassure investors that its bet on AI infrastructure will pay off.The $420bn firm, headquartered in Austin, Texas, started making employees redundant on Tuesday, with thousands of Oracle’s 160,000-strong workforce expected to leave.About 10,000 people have lost their jobs so far, the BBC reported, citing an unnamed employee at the company, which is chaired by Larry Ellison, the billionaire ally of Donald Trump. He is worth $189bn (£142bn) and is the world’s sixth richest person, Forbes estimates.Michael Shepherd, a senior manager at Oracle, who was not affected by the cuts, posted on the social media site LinkedIn that there had been a “significant reduction in force” at the business

I wore Meta’s smartglasses for a month – and it left me feeling like a creep

Content creators love the built-in camera; sceptics call them ‘pervert glasses’. Do we really need any more hi-tech wearables, even with a voice assistant that sounds like Judi Dench?Lately, I’ve been hearing Judi Dench’s voice in my head. She tells me tomorrow’s forecast, when to turn right, that there’s been another message in my group chat. Day or night, Dame Judi is eager to assist. When I ask the eight-time Academy Award nominee what I’m looking at, she answers: a residential area, a person in a pub, daffodils

The Spin | ‘It keeps you young’: England Over-70s bask in glory of Ashes and World Cup wins

“You could compare and contrast if you so desired,” says England Over-70s manager Chris Lowe, offering the straightest of bats to my shameless prod. “You’re the journalist, so you probably will.”It would be professional negligence not to. So let us duly look at the fate that befell Brendon McCullum’s England team over the winter, alongside that of their England Over-70s counterparts, whose itinerary bore a startling resemblance to their junior brethren.For both it began in Australia where Ben Stokes’s side succumbed to a bruising 4-1 Ashes defeat, weeks before the Over-70s swept to a 3-0 triumph in the wonderfully named Silver Ashes

Can Congress stop the ‘straight greed’ of US sports teams leaving their cities?

WWE star CM Punk called it “straight greed”. Illinois governor JB Pritzker called it a “slap in the face”. An overwhelming majority of fans say they will hold a grudge.This cacophony of disgust has been prompted by the real possibility that the Chicago Bears could relocate to Hammond, Indiana. The Bears’ owners bought a site in Arlington Heights, Illinois, for a new stadium, but negotiations over property taxes have stalled construction