Welcome to taking stock on.... Wednesday 6th September 2023
Taking Stock: Is a look at today's top business news & investment views plus we cover the winners, losers, the most read company news & the most followed. Today this includes:
SUBJECT
Would you mind having a wind farm next to your house?
VOX CONTENT
MOST FOLLOWED
MOST READ RNS
RISERS
TOP BUSINESS STORIES
UK builders suffer sharp fall in orders as rates rise -PMI
British construction firms suffered a sharp drop in orders in August, adding to concerns about a slowing economy amid rising interest rates, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The S&P Global/CIPS UK Purchasing Managers' Index for the construction industry fell to 50.8 in August, remaining in growth territory but down from 51.7 in July.
The reading was slightly above the forecast of 50.5 in a Reuters poll of economists.
Tim Moore, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the decline in recent months in residential house-building was the steepest since early 2009 excluding the COVID-19 lockdown period, although August's figure was slightly above a low struck in June.
Builders cited weaker economic conditions, cutbacks to new building projects and local planning delays as factors holding back house-building activity.
Petrol prices 'likely' to rise further as cost of oil jumps
Brent crude climbed to more than $91 (£72) a barrel on Tuesday, a 10-month high, after Saudi Arabia and Russia unexpectedly announced their voluntary squeeze on supplies would continue until the end of the year.
Saudi Arabia and Russia unexpectedly announced they would extend voluntary oil production cuts until the end of this year, trimming an estimated 1.5 million barrels a day out of the global market.
The UK's air traffic control system was brought down on the August bank holiday in a "one in 15 million" event, its boss said.
The system shut itself down after receiving highly unusual duplicate "markers" on a flight plan.
Hundreds of flights were delayed or cancelled as a result on 28 August, a bank holiday, and the day after.
The company that controls the UK's air traffic services, Nats, said it had never happened before.