Inflação do Reino Unido fica inesperadamente em 2,8% com custos de transporte mais elevados compensados por aumentos mais lentos nos preços dos alimentos

The US Federal Reserve is due to announce its latest interest rate decision in just under four hours, where it is expected to opt for rates on hold.

Markets are eagerly awaiting the subsequent press conference chaired by Fed chair Kevin Warsh for any clues on the future direction of rate policy.

Back to our main story, UK inflation holding at 2.8% in May, here is our analysis:

As soon as Iran choked off oil supplies through the strait of Hormuz at the start of March, there were dire warnings about rocketing UK inflation and the drastic action the Bank of England might take to rein it in.

At one point, investors were expecting as many as three quarter-point rises in interest rates before the end of the year – a sharp turnaround from earlier forecasts of rate cuts.

Yet since then a series of economic readings have come in better than forecast. Wednesday's news that inflation was steady at 2.8% last month, is the latest evidence raising hopes that the real-world impact of the Middle East war on the cost of living could be more muted than first feared.

Three months on from the start of the conflict, inflation remains well above the Bank's 2% target, and consumers have certainly endured rapid increases in the price of petrol. The cost of motor fuels in May was up an eyewatering 25% on a year ago, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Brent crude is trading below $80 a barrel, at $79.81 a barrel, the lowest since early March, amid hopes that the memorandum between the US and Iran could lead to the reopening of the strait of Hormuz, where oil tankers are still stranded, allowing global oil flows to resume (which would be a slow process and take months, experts caution).

Thank you for reading. We'll be back tomorrow with more business and economic news. Take care! – JK

Here's our full story on Jaguar Land Rover:
Jaguar Land Rover has U-turned on plans to shift one of its factories to making only electric cars as part of an effort to focus on growth in the US, as Britain's largest carmaker further rowed back on the transition away from fossil fuels.

The manufacturer told investors on Wednesday it would offer petrol and hybrid versions of new models, including smaller SUVs that had been planned to shift to all-electric sales.

It aims to make US sales equivalent to the current size of the business – a shift that would imply it selling a further 250,000 cars to wealthy Americans.

Carmakers across the world have delayed their shift to EVs as governments dilute regulations or, in the case of the US under Donald Trump, removed nearly all incentives to sell battery cars.

As the world's richest economy, the US has by far the most millionaires and billionaires capable of affording luxury vehicles such as JLR's Range Rover, which starts at more than £107,000 ($143,000), and its smaller premium cars. Executives at JLR are hoping to win a share of an unprecedented wave of inherited money in the US in the coming decades.

PB Balaji, who took over as chief executive of JLR last year, said:

To truly manifest the power of our brands, we will increase our focus on North America, our biggest market. The rising demand for luxury products coupled with the strong preference we see for our brands signals significant growth potential.

Elon Musk's SpaceX has overtaken Amazon as the world's fifth-most valuable company days after its stock market debut.

The milestone came as it agreed to buy the startup behind the AI-powered coding app Cursor for $60bn (£44bn), in an attempt to capitalise on the technology's success as a coding tool.

SpaceX is the parent of Musk's AI business, xAI, which will be able to boost its capabilities in an area – AI systems writing code – that has proven to be a strong commercial success for Anthropic, the rival company behind the Claude chatbot.

The group also includes the SpaceX rocket company, social media platform X and the satellite maker and internet service provider Starlink, which is the only profitable part of the business.

The news of the Cursor acquisition was announced as SpaceX passed Amazon in market capitalisation, an important measure of value for a publicly listed company. SpaceX shares rose by 13% on opening on the Nasdaq index on Tuesday.

At one point, its valuation rose as high as $2.97tn, leaping over Amazon's $2.65tn to become the world's fifth most valuable company by market value. Its shares later eased back to about 5% up at the close and a valuation just ahead of the e-commerce company of $2.66tn.

He is known as the “wolf in cashmere†– the owner of the world's biggest luxury group whose brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Tiffany have made him one of the world's richest people.

But Bernard Arnault, a close friend of Donald Trump, is under fire from journalists' unions in France for buying up almost all the country's business and economic press.

Reporters Without Borders said Arnault had a “stranglehold†on the main business titles in France after his LVMH group bought the centrist business weekly Challenges.

LVMH, whose brands include fashion, perfumes, champagne and spirits, has an array of business publications including the leading economic daily paper, Les Echos, and the business information service L'Agefi.

John Lewis is to spend £20m on a revamp of its Glasgow store in the city centre's Buchanan Galleries in a vote of confidence in the shopping mall not long ago scheduled for demolition.

It is the largest cash injection within a wider plan to spend £50m this financial year on refreshing its shops, with department stores in Reading, Cambridge, Leicester and Liverpool all earmarked for an upgrade.

The Glasgow project includes expanding the beauty hall with a fragrance hall and gift emporium. The company said every corner of the 28,000 sq metre store would be upgraded, including a new John Lewis Platter in-house cafe-restaurant and more women's and men's fashion labels.

The lower ground floor will be the first to be completed, with a technology and sports floor due to be in place by late September. The store will remain open throughout, with the refurbishment expected to finish early next year.

Restaurants and pubs are expected to devise “enterprising†schemes to exploit a tax break on meals for under-18s, after one venue launched a menu for “kids†featuring wild burgundy snail salad and anchovy butter toast.

Rachel Reeves last month announced a temporary cut in VAT on children's meals from 20% to 5% between 25 June and 1 September, part of a “Great British summer savings scheme†to support struggling venues and ease pressure on families.

The chancellor highlighted the scheme during an appearance by video at last week's UK Hospitality trade conference that met with a muted reception.

Afterwards, leading figures in the sector added their voices to a chorus of ridicule for the “laughable†scheme, contrasting it with the £5bn in extra costs loaded on to pubs, bars, hotels and restaurants since Labour returned to power in 2024.

The activewear brand Lululemon has apologised after a promotional event held on the Great Wall of China appeared to mistakenly feature a Japanese drum, prompting an uproar.

The Canadian-headquartered company, known for its upmarket yoga leggings, has been growing rapidly in China and arranged for a yoga festival to take place in late May on a section of the wall near Beijing.

More than 2,000 people were invited to take part in the event, which was advertised as promoting Chinese culture and wellness, according to the Chinese state-run tabloid Global Times, with the well-known Chinese actor Zhu Yilong was booked to perform.

Zhu joined a drum group on the Great Wall for what was described as a traditional Chinese drum performance and posted a picture of himself in front of one of the instruments, which had the Lululemon logo on it, on his account on Weibo, one of China's largest social media platforms.

Weibo users accused the group of using a Japanese taiko instrument rather than a Chinese dagu drum. Many described this as inappropriate and insulting, according to the Global Times. Drum discussions had gathered more than 50m views on Weibo by Monday, and Zhu's studio called on Lululemon to respond to the controversy.

The online electrical goods seller AO World has revealed it is outsourcing up to 200 UK call centre roles to South Africa blaming rising labour costs, as it handed £20m to shareholders.

As the retailer reported a jump in profits, it said it was shifting the majority of call centre jobs overseas “in response to ongoing inflationary cost pressures, and particularly rising employment costsâ€. It expects to save about £4m a year as a result of the change.

AO said on Wednesday that pre-tax profits had jumped 145% to £50.5m in the year to 31 March, and it was handing £20m in special payments to shareholders.

About 150 roles in phone sales and enquiries have already been switched from AO's call centre in Bolton to South Africa over the last 12 to 18 months. A further 50 are expected to go, with roles switching as people in the UK choose to leave rather than through redundancies.

Morrisons increased sales by 1.7% to £4bn in the three months to 26 April, well behind inflation, as the supermarket said it faced a “challenging backdrop.â€

The Bradford-based chain, which recently lost its place as the UK's fifth largest supermarket to the German-owned discounter Lidl, said it had strong plans in place for the football World Cup period which kicked off at the weekend, when many households are expected to watch England and Scotland games at home with a beer and snacks, but “trading conditions remain highly competitiveâ€.

Referring to recent hopes of a peace deal in the Middle East which has pushed down oil prices, Rami Baitiéh, the chief executive of Morrisons, said:

While more recent international news creates some grounds for optimism, we continue to monitor the impact of input inflation very closely and we remain committed to doing whatever we can to help keep prices down for customers.

Underlying profits rose 5.7% at the chain to £323m during the quarter as sales at established stores increased by 2.2%, behind the pace of grocery inflation which stood at more than 3% during the period according to data from Worldpanel by Numerator.

Jaguar â Land Rover is targeting double-digit revenue growth in â the medium term, â and ​will prioritise selling the Defender brand in the US.

The British luxury carmaker said it will focus on the Defender to drive growth â in the US, a key growth market, under its partnership with ​Netherlands-based carmaker Stellantis. In May, the two companies ‌announced plans to jointly develop vehicles in the US.

JLR's financial performance has come under pressure from Trump era tariffs, particularly given its lack of local manufacturing in the US for Defender and Range Rover SUVs.

JLR is cutting costs and launching more premium cars to try and protect its margins from the impact of the â US-Iran war.

The carmaker reiterated that it aims ​to ​cut $2.3bn in costs over ​two years while maintaining an £18bn ‌investment plan ​from ​fiscal 2024, as it grapples with trade uncertainty, the aftermath of last year's cyber-attack, and a supplier fire.

JLR's boss PB Balaji, who took the helm in November, told the Financial Times there is “no way†the British carmaker will phase out its petrol vehicles as it expands its hybrid offerings to capture the “biggest growth opportunity†in the US.

He said the company would “give everything†to turbocharge its sales to “millionaires and billionaires†in the US as it seeks double-digit annual revenue growth within five years.

We are pivoting this business to face North America because we believe that's the biggest growth opportunity that is out there for premium brands . . . like us.