The European Commission has imposed a €797.72m (￡665m) fine on Meta (META) for violating EU competition laws through its classified ads service, Facebook Marketplace.

The Commission's ruling centres on Meta's practice of "tying" Facebook Marketplace to its flagship social media platform, Facebook. This forced users to encounter Marketplace regularly, whether or not they chose to engage with the service, giving Meta a "substantial distribution advantage" over competing classified ad platforms. The decision underscores the Commission’s concern that this strategy unfairly stifled competition in the online classifieds market.

Meta’s conduct also extended to imposing "unfair trading conditions" on other classified ads service providers who advertise on Meta’s platforms. Specifically, Meta was found to have leveraged data from advertisers to benefit Facebook Marketplace, further skewing the competitive landscape in its favour.

In addition to the fine, the Commission has ordered Meta to cease the infringing practices and refrain from repeating the behaviour. The ruling highlights the European Union's firm stance on ensuring that market dominance is not abused to limit competition.

Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for Competition, said:

“Today we fine Meta €797.72m for abusing its dominant positions in the markets for personal social network services and for online display advertising on social media platforms.

“Meta tied its online classified ads service Facebook Marketplace to its personal social network Facebook and imposed unfair trading conditions on other online classified ads service providers.

“It did so to benefit its own service Facebook Marketplace, thereby giving it advantages that other online classified ads service providers could not match. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.

“Meta must now stop this behaviour.”

Wall Street opened higher this session as jobless claims fell last week. Here's what our colleagues across the pond wrote:

Shares in the E-commerce company were higher in pre-market trading as it launched the beta in the US overnight for a new discount storefront, Amazon Haul, focused on selling items $20 and below.

Shares in embattled server maker Super Micro Computer fell 6% in Wednesday's session and were down nearly another 9% in pre-market trading on Thursday.

Disney shares were muted in pre-market trading on Thursday morning, ahead of the company releasing its fiscal fourth quarter earnings.

Computer network equipment maker Cisco logged another quarterly fall in revenue in its fiscal first quarter results, released on Wednesday.

Shares in British luxury fashion brand Burberry jumped 18% on Thursday morning, after its recently appointed CEO Joshua Shulman said the company was "acting with urgency to course correct" following recent underperformance.

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United Utilities (UU.L) has hiked dividend payouts to investors despite heavy criticism over spilling vast amounts of sewage into England’s largest lake.

The water company’s chief executive said it was “making progress” on reducing pollution, following reports that it illegally pumped more than 140 million litres of raw sewage into Windermere in Cumbria between 2021 and 2023.

Louise Beardmore said the company had “commenced a programme of accelerated solutions” to sewage spills, promising to go “further and faster” over the coming years.

At the same time, the company increased its interim dividend to shareholders by 4.2% to 17.28p, and reported a 10.9% rise in revenue to ￡1.08bn for the six months ending in September.

Profit fell 12% versus the same period last year to ￡140.6m, while net debt was up 6% to ￡9.05bn.

United Utilities, which serves seven million customers in the north west of England, has asked regulator Ofwat to let it increase the average annual water bill by 32% by 2030.

Mortgage rates in the UK have increased once more, despite the Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates last week.

According to Moneyfacts, the average fixed-term mortgage rates have risen this morning. The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate now stands at 5.48%, up from 5.44% on the previous working day. Meanwhile, the average five-year fixed rate has risen to 5.21%, up from 5.17%.

Several major lenders, including Santander (BNC.L), TSB, HSBC (HSBA.L), Virgin Money, and Nationwide Building Society (NBS.L), have raised their mortgage rates in recent days.

The rate increases follow a rise in yields on UK short-term government bonds since the budget. These bonds are commonly used to price mortgage rates, and the yield increases reflect market expectations of higher borrowing costs ahead.

The pound ebbed lower against the dollar in early European trading on Thursday, falling to $1.2688 to trade near its lowest point since the global markets sell-off in August.

Gold prices fell on Thursday morning, as a stronger dollar continued to put pressure on the precious metal.

Spot gold dipped 0.7% to $2,555.06 per ounce, while US gold futures fell by 0.9% to $2,562.90, both falling below the $2,600 mark to the lowest point since September.

Oil prices were slightly weaker on Thursday morning, weighed down by a weak demand outlook and higher output forecasts.

Brent crude futures were flat at $72.27 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) (CL=F) fell 0.4% to $68.13 a barrel.

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Pub chain Young’s expects to take an ￡11m annual hit from a hike in employer taxes announced in the autumn budget.

Chief executive Simon Dodd said the impact of a rise in employer national insurance payments, combined with an increase to the minimum wage, would result in “significant increased costs for our industry in the near term”.

He added: “We will work to see how we can mitigate these headwinds without passing on all the cost to our loyal customers.

“We would like to see certainty and delivery of real business rate reform which will benefit all hospitality businesses”

Young’s joins fellow pub group JD Wetherspoon (JDW.L) in criticising the measures, announced by Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves, with the latter’s boss, Tim Martin, saying costs would jump “substantially” as a result.

It comes as Young’s reported higher half-year profit, helped by a bump in sales from the Euros football tournament over the summer.

Pre-tax profit for the half ending 3September was ￡25.3m, up 3.3% on the same period last year, while revenue rose 27.2% to ￡250m.

The global cryptocurrency market has surged past $3tn in value, reaching nearly $3.2tn earlier today, driven by renewed optimism following the election of Donald Trump. The market's resurgence has been fueled by hopes that a friendlier regulatory environment in the US could trigger a new boom for digital assets.

This marks a striking recovery, surpassing even the highs of 2021, when pandemic-era stimulus boosted speculative investments. Just a few months ago, the crypto market had been stagnating, with prices and trading volumes showing little movement.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD), the dominant cryptocurrency, has been at the forefront of this rally, hitting a record high of $93,657. The milestone coincides with a broader market surge, with Bitcoin up 30% since the US elect.

The euphoria is largely attributed to the belief that Trump’s election, alongside the victories of several pro-crypto candidates in US Congressional races, has reduced regulatory uncertainty.

Other cryptocurrencies have also seen significant gains. Ether (ETH-USD), the second-largest digital asset, has risen by about 33% since the election, reaching $3,220. Meanwhile, Dogecoin (DOGE-USD), a highly volatile token backed by Trump ally Elon Musk, has soared by 140%.

European gas prices have surged by 4.5%, reaching €45.65 per megawatt-hour, the highest level since November 2023. The increase comes amid colder weather in the region and after a warning about a reduction in supplies from Russia, which has driven up demand for heating, as well as a dip in wind power generation.

In the UK, the price of next-day gas also saw a notable rise, climbing 4% to 115p per therm —its highest point since November 2023.

The rise in gas prices is attributed to a combination of factors, including a “dunkelflaute” — a term used to describe periods of low wind speeds that reduce electricity generation from wind farms, further tightening energy supplies across Europe.

Europe has become susceptible to swings in supply levels on the global gas market after pipeline supplies were largely switched off by Russia following Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine.

Asian markets retreated overnight, following a lacklustre finish on Wall Street and a report showing an unexpected uptick in US inflation. Investors in the region grew cautious amid concerns that rising prices in the US could prompt the Federal Reserve to maintain tighter monetary policies for a prolonged period.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 (^N225) index dropped 0.5% to 38,535.70, while South Korea’s Kospi (^KS11) edged up by 0.1%, settling at 2,418.86. In Australia, however, the S&P/ASX 200 (^AXJO) climbed 0.4% to close at 8,224.00.

Chinese markets were hit harder, with the Hang Seng (^HSI) in Hong Kong falling 2% to 19,435.95, while the Shanghai Composite index (000001.SS) lost 1.7%, ending at 3,379.84. The steep declines in Chinese shares come as investors have shown growing concerns over the country’s economic recovery and regulatory challenges.

WH Smith (SMWH.L) has reported a 16% increase in annual profits, buoyed by strong performance from its travel division, which continues to outperform despite wider economic uncertainties.

The retailer posted underlying pre-tax profits of ￡166m for the year ending 31 August, up from ￡143m the previous year. The group’s trading profits surged by 15%, reaching ￡189m, driven by its network of stores in airports, railway stations, and hospitals worldwide. Particularly strong growth was seen in the UK, where profits from these travel locations jumped by 20%.

However, the company’s high street business struggled to match this growth, with earnings remaining flat at ￡32m. This was despite the fact that sales in the division fell by 2% on a like-for-like basis.

Chief executive Carl Cowling said: “The group has delivered an excellent performance throughout the year, particularly over the key summer trading period.”

“While there is some economic uncertainty, we are confident that 2025 will be another year of good progress for the group.”

Naeem Aslam, chief investment officer at Zaye Capital Markets, tells us how traders are already adjusting to a Trump 2.0 administration by looking for clues in tweets.

Tom Selby, director of public policy at AJ Bell, fears that the interests of savers may be left behind as measures could put savers’ money at risk and undermine their retirement goals.

He said:

He added:

Here's how Wall Street performed overnight, from our colleagues across the pond:

Burberry (BRBY.L) has launched a ￡40m cost-cutting programme as part of a plan to turn the company around, after sales continued falling in the second quarter.

Chief executive Joshua Schulman, who joined the company in July, said he wants it to focus on “productivity, simplification and financial discipline”.

The fashion house swung to a ￡53m loss for the half-year ending 28 September, down from ￡223m profit for the same period last year.

Revenue fell 20% year on year to ￡1.09bn, as the London-listed firm also suspended its dividend payments to shareholders.

Schulman said the turnaround plan will involve improving the business’s website and in-store productivity and shaking up pricing.

He added that the company, founded in England in 1856, needs to focus on well-known products like outerwear and cater more for its core customers.

In a strategy update on Thursday, the company said it had focused on modernising its brand “at the expense of celebrating our heritage”.

Rachel Reeves will tell City chiefs she has a plan to boost the economy with billions in pension investment as she continues to battle criticism over her tax-raising budget.

The chancellor was warned by business chiefs she needs to “work hard” to restore confidence in the UK as a destination for investment following the Budget “piling additional costs on firms”.

She will use her first Mansion House speech as chancellor to announce plans for the creation of pension “megafunds” which could result in around ￡80bn to invest in businesses and infrastructure.

Under the plans, the reforms will be introduced through a new Pension Schemes Bill next year, consolidating defined contribution (DC) schemes and pooling assets from 86 local government pension scheme authorities.

Megafunds will mirror schemes in Australia and Canada, where pension funds take advantage of size to invest in assets that have higher growth potential, the government said.

But Confederation of British Industry chief economist Louise Hellem said the change had the potential to be good for investment and savers but added: “With the budget piling additional costs on firms and squeezing their headroom to invest, the government needs to work hard to regain the confidence in the UK as a place businesses and communities can succeed.

“Pension schemes will want to operate within a UK economy that is prospering.”

The ￡26bn increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) announced at the budget, which comes into effect from April, is one of the chancellor’s decisions which has caused business unease.