Rouble recovers after Russia reportedly turns screws on exporters – business live

The rouble seems to like it and has strengthened a bit, to 93.8 per dollar.

Here’s more from Bloomberg:

Russia’s government will hold off on stiffening restrictions on the movement of capital and instead prepare recommendations for exporters to coax them into surrendering more of their foreign revenues to help stabilise the rouble.

Following a meeting on Wednesday between President Vladimir Putin and top officials, authorities are now crafting informal measures of capital control, according to three people familiar with the discussions.

Guidelines for large exporters are being prepared on an individual company basis and will go beyond mandating the sale of foreign proceeds to include hard-currency transfers such as dividend payments and loans, said the people, who requested anonymity to speak about deliberations that aren’t public.

Putin was informed of the plans at the meeting that included central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, according to the Russian business daily Vedomosti. Despite the ruble’s gains this week, it’s still among the three worst performers in emerging markets, having lost about 22% since the beginning of the year.

Russia won’t tighten capital controls for the time being after officials reached an informal agreement with exporters to surrender more of their foreign revenues, Bloomberg News reported, citing the business daily Vedomosti.

President Vladimir Putin discussed possible measures at a meeting that included Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, the newspaper said. Authorities opted to monitor exporters for now, instead of mandating stiffer restrictions on sales of foreign-currency proceeds.

Detection tools being developed to combat the growing threat of deepfakes – realistic-looking false content – must use training datasets that are inclusive of darker skin tones to avoid bias, experts have warned.

Most deepfake detectors are based on a learning strategy that depends largely on the dataset that is used for its training. It then uses AI to detect signs that may not be clear to the human eye.

This can include monitoring blood flow and heart rate. However, these detection methods do not always work on people with darker skin tones, and if training sets do not contain all ethnicities, accents, genders, ages and skin-tone, they are open to bias, experts warned.

Over the last couple of years, concerns have been raised by AI and deepfake detection experts who say bias is being built in these systems.

Severin Carrell

A two-week strike due to hit a British munitions plant that supplies missiles to Ukraine has been suspended after the Ministry of Defence agreed to talks.

Nearly 50 workers at the site at Beith, in Ayrshire, which assembles the Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles, had been due to walk out for a fortnight next Monday in a long-running row over pay and bonuses.

Strikes by GMB members were the first in the history of Defence Equipment & Support, the MoD agency that handles the military’s supplies, equipment and weapons and runs the Beith site.

Heather Stewart

Our special correspondent Heather Stewart has spoken to some older people who are returning to work – “unretiring,” either through choice or necessity.

“I’m into my fifth week now: I’m a newbie!” says 60-year-old Andy Barnard, who was a regular customer at his local Co-op in Lincoln before the manager suggested he apply for a job.

“It ranges from working on the tills, on the shop floor, stacking stuff and just generally doing everything,” he says of his new 16-hours-a-week role.

After 45 years in bricklaying, from which he retired in March, it’s taking Barnard a while to master the hi-tech tills and lottery machines. But he is enthusiastic. “All the girls and the staff they just take the mickey all the time, which is great fun. You get the regulars coming in and it’s good banter.”

Living locally with his mum and their four dogs, the money Barnard earns helps him avoid dipping into his savings.

During the pandemic and its aftermath, thousands of older workers left their jobs – whether for health or family reasons, or a straightforward decision to retire.

The sharp increase in economic inactivity among this age group concerned policymakers, coming at the same time as employers reported struggling to recruit suitable staff.

Helena Horton

New offshore windfarms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK billpayers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found.

The latest government auction for new offshore windfarms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation.

Rules set by the Treasury do not take account of predictions that the gas price will stay high and put an arbitrary limit on the number of farms that can be contracted. They mean that the budget set in the government’s contracts for difference auction is unlikely to be spent, because many windfarms will not get through the auction, so bills will be kept higher.

Nicola Davis

Covid vaccines should be made available for people to buy privately in Britain, leading scientists have urged, amid concerns over a new wave of the virus which could worsen in autumn and winter.

Unlike flu jabs, which individuals or employers can buy for about £15 from high street pharmacies, Covid jabs are only available on the NHS in the UK.

This month the UK government announced that the Covid autumn booster programme would cover a smaller pool of the population than earlier vaccination drives. The age limit has been raised from 50 to 65 and above, with some younger vulnerable groups also eligible.

Covid is on the rise, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Experts raised concerns the wave could continue to grow and add to winter pressures on the NHS.

Jasper Jolly

Here is our full story on the big BAE Systems deal:

Britain’s biggest weapons manufacturer, BAE Systems, has agreed to buy the US space technology company Ball Aerospace for $5.6bn (£4.4bn), in one of the largest takeovers by a UK company this year.

The FTSE 100 defence company said the purchase of the Colorado-based business would help it to expand in technologies that are US defence priorities.

The deal comes amid a surge in spending on global military and spying technology prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also follows the US setting up a separate arm of the military, space command, to try to keep up with China.

Ball Aerospace’s parent company, Ball Corporation, makes beer cans and aerosol bottles, but the defence business specialises in instruments, sensors and spacecraft, including some of the most sensitive satellite technologies, as well as civilian applications such as monitoring weather patterns.

Britain’s biggest weapons company BAE Systems has agreed to buy US space technology company Ball Aerospace for $5.6bn (£4.4bn), in one of the biggest takeovers involving a UK company this year.

The move comes amid a surge in government spending on global military and spying technology prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

BAE chief executive Charles Woodburn said:

The strategic and financial rationale is compelling, as we continue to focus on areas of high priority defence and intelligence spending.

Colorado-based Ball Aerospace, a subsidiary of Ball Corporation, designs makes instruments, sensors and spacecraft, including satellite technologies. Its parent company makes beer cans.

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

Shares across Asian markets are down, following Wall Street lower, after minutes from the US Federal Reserve’s last meeting indicated America’s central bank may keep interest rates higher for longer to fight inflation. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.4% while Hong’s Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 0.2%, paring earlier losses.

The minutes from July’s meeting, when rates rose their highest level in 22 years, cited “significant upside risks to inflation, which could require further tightening of monetary policy.”

The prospect of higher borrowing costs for a longer period pushed yields, or interest rates, on 10-year US government bonds to their highest level sine 2008 in New York.

Concerns about slowing growth in China are also weighing on markets.

Japan’s exports fell in July for the first time since February 2021, dragged down by lower demand from China for computer chips and cars. Exports dropped 0.3% year on year, while shipments to China were down 13.4%.

Russia’s rouble has weakened again against the dollar after plummeting on Monday. The Russian central bank stepped in with an interest rate hike to 12% the following day to stem the slide past the 100 threshold, but analysts say more measures are needed to return the currency to the 80-90 range preferred by the authorities.

At the moment, the rouble is trading at 95.1 per dollar, down 0.5%, after briefly falling to close to 102 on Monday, the lowest since March 2022.

There has been speculation that capital controls could be reintroduced to help prop up the struggling currency.

Citing a Russian finance ministry proposal, the Financial Times reported yesterday that large exporters could be forced to convert up to 80% of their foreign currency into roubles in order to raise demand for the currency.

Other proposals included a ban on foreign dividend payments and loan extensions, cancelling import subsidies, limiting currency swaps, and reducing the amount of foreign currency exporters can take out of Russia.

The Agenda

• 9am BST: Norges Bank interest rate decision (forecast: rise to 4% from 3.75%)

• 10am BST: Eurozone trade for June

• 1.30pm BST: US Initial jobless claims for week of 12 August (forecast: 240,000)

• 3pm BST: US Conference Board Leading Index for July