Business news live: Easyjet rises 6% to lead FTSE 100 higher, oil prices drop despite ceasefire fears

Co-op has taken the decision to ban products from Israel, similar to its stance with Russia.

The retailer said pressure from members is the reason behind the ban, which will see it “stop sourcing relationships with countries where there are internationally recognised community-wide human rights abuses and violations of international law”.

As well as Israel, 16 other countries feature on its list including Russia, Syria and Iran.

Debbie White, Co-op chair, said: “As a business, we have a long-standing legacy of doing the right thing, supporting Fairtrade and championing ethical sourcing and this policy is a natural progression of this.”

Another of Elon Musk’s businesses is showing growth in the UK.

Accounts filed with Companies House show Starlink turnover increasing to £4.2m in 2024, with pre-tax profit almost doubling to just over £200,000.

A company statement said:

“The company’s strategic focus is on expanding its role as a gateway services provider.

“We will continue to pursue opportunities to innovate improve operational efficiencies and enhance our technologies to better support and grow our customer base in the UK.

“These efforts will ensure we remain competitive and responsive to the evolving needs of our clients.”

Starlink is part of SpaceX.

The battle for your current account has begun once more.

NatWest are the latest bank to launch a cash switch offer, promising £125 in cash to eligible switchers who move to them using the Current Account Switch Service (CASS).

If you haven’t used that before, it’s free, safe, quick and works with all the major banks – basically it’ll do the switching work for you, once you tell them who you are going to and so on.

Additionally there’s £50 for opening a new savings account with them, plus rewards and access to a 5.5 per cent interest rate.

The usual terms and restrictions apply but if you’re considering moving banks, it’ll be a consideration.

She cautioned that inflation remaining stubbornly high, around 3.5 per cent for the remainder of the year, risks perpetuating wage and price increases across the UK.

Lots of talk yesterday about Tesla’s robotaxi launch.

It wasn’t as high-profile as they’d envisaged and they are playing catchup with the likes of Waymo, but the share price has certainly reacted positively.

It rose more than 8 per cent yesterday and is another 2.15 per cent up upon opening today – yet Tesla shares remain more than 13.5 per cent down for 2025 as a whole.

There remains an element of uncertainty around the Israel-Iran ceasefire, with President Trump displaying his anger at both of them and saying each may have violated it.

There’s not an outsized market reaction though, suggesting it may yet play out without escalating further.

Gold is down 1.96 per cent today, at $3,328.50, having been above $3,430 earlier this month.

Brent oil is also still down 4 per cent today, despite rising a little from the lows hit in the early hours. It sits at $68.65 a barrel just now.

Japanese investment giants SoftBank have put forward plans to build a $1tn AI and robotics complex in the US, reports the FT.

Plans would look at bringing high tech manufacturing at scale and could include a free-trade zone and involvement with chipmaker TSMC.

Nothing is yet confirmed and the size could eventually vary, the report suggests.

US president Donald Trump has hit out at both Iran and Israel over seemingly immediately breaking the brokered ceasefire. We can probably expect further developments here over the course of the day – and the knock-on effects on oil and the stock markets.

The president made the remark as he spoke to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House en route to his Marine One helicopter.

“Iran violated it but Israel violated it too. Israel, as soon as we made the deal, they came out and they dropped a load of bombs the likes of which I’ve never seen before. The biggest load that we’ve seen,” he said, visibly angry.

“I’m not happy with Israel. You know, when I say ‘OK, you have 12 hours,’ you don’t go out in the first hour and just drop everything you have on them. So I’m not happy with them. I’m not happy with Iran either.”

Government measures to ease industrial electricity costs should go further to help end the “structural disadvantage” faced by UK automotive companies, a representative body said.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) called for the proposed relief on standing charges included in the Industrial Strategy published on Monday – which will apply to battery manufacturing – to be extended to automotive manufacturing.

It stated that UK automotive manufacturers pay more for electricity than anywhere else in Europe, and in excess of double the average.

This is partly because of energy taxes which are six times higher and added more than £200 million to manufacturers’ bills last year, the SMMT said.

Lidl has launched an urgent recall for a popular air fryer, warning that it could be a “fire hazard”.

The discount supermarket chain has shared a recall notice for the Tower eight litre dual basket air fryer, which it had sold in its stores.

It said all stock with the T17129L product code has been affected but stressed that no other Tower products sold in Lidl GB stores have been impacted.

Tower is recalling the products “due to risk of overheating”, the retailer said.