The world’s richest man plans to cut about 3,700 jobs, Bloomberg reports. Affected employees are due to be notified tomorrow. Mr Musk will also reverse the company’s flexible working policy and tell all surviving employees to come into the office. It marks the latest major overhaul since Twitter’s $44 billion acquisition. The billionaire has already fired the company’s entire board and ousted a number of key executives, including boss Parag Agrawal.

5 things to start your day

  1. Glencore flew millions in bribe money to Africa on private jets, courts The SFO revealed the plans ahead of the mining company’s sentencing at Southwark Crown Court today.
  2. Musk suggests Trump won’t return to Twitter before the midterms.
  3. ‘Dedicated’ staff take pay cut to save electric vehicle champion Britishvolt praises staff as it confirms it can fund ‘over the coming weeks’.
  4. Virgin Atlantic job applications double after male crew were allowed to wear skirts Gender neutral pronouns were also introduced as part of Virgin’s ‘See the World Differently’ campaign.
  5. BBC Radio 2 to move out of Wogan House All staff will leave the building in central London by the end of spring 2024, the broadcaster said, with most expected to move to Broadcasting House nearby.

What happened in the night

Asian shares fell on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve shifted the outlook for tightening from short-term and sharp to long-term and high, ending any thoughts of a short-term pause. Investors were initially cheered that the Fed at least opened the door to a slowdown in the pace of hikes after raising interest rates by 75 basis points to 3.75-4%, noting that monetary policy acted late. But Chairman Jerome Powell eased the mood, saying it was “too early” to think about a pause and that the peak in interest rates would likely be higher than previously expected. Futures are now split on whether the Fed will move by 50 or 75 basis points in December, and it has peaked for rates at 5-5.25% likely by May. They also suggest little chance of a rate cut until December 2023. All of this was not what the stock markets wanted to hear, and Wall Street fell sharply after Mr. Powell’s comments. Early Thursday, S&P 500 futures were up 0.1 percent while Nasdaq futures were up 0.2 percent. EUROSTOXX 50 futures followed the overnight move and fell 0.8% while FTSE futures lost 0.6%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.5 percent, with South Korea down 0.6 percent. Japan’s Nikkei was closed due to a holiday, but futures were trading about 300 points below Wednesday’s cash close. Chinese blue chips fell 0.7% after a services sector survey showed activity contracted due to Covid restrictions with the Caixin PMI falling to 48.4.