Middle East Tensions Soar & Labour's Business Backers

 Your morning briefing, the business news you need in just 15 minutes.

On today's podcast:

(1) The killing of an Egyptian soldier in a clash with Israeli troops at a Gaza border crossing on Monday further inflamed regional tensions after an Israeli airstrike killed an estimated 45 Palestinians at a camp for displaced people.

(2) The Labour party has won the endorsement of 120 business executives who have said that a “new outlook” is needed so the UK can “break free” from a decade of economic stagnation in a letter to The Times.

(3) Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will promise pensioners a tax cut if his Conservatives upset the odds and win the general election, the latest gambit to try to shore up the core vote as internal polling showed the Tories could lose more than 100 seats due to the resurgence of the right-wing Reform UK party.

(4) Price increases at UK retailers fell in early May to their lowest level in more than two years, adding to signs of an improving economic outlook.

(5) The US stock market is finally as fast as it was about a hundred years ago. That was the last time share trades in New York settled in a single day, as they will from Tuesday under new Securities and Exchange Commission rules.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.