Article #40841

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Anthropic confidentially files for initial public offering on US stock market

Shares in Alphabet have dipped in pre-market trading, as investors digest its planned $80bn stock sale.

They’re down 1.8% at $369.63.

Youth unemployment remains an area of concern as labour costs and AI erode entry level jobs. It is expected to be 16.9% in 2026, rising to 17.8% in 2027.

With firms facing squeezed margins because of input costs and minimum wage increases, growth in average earnings is forecast to ease from 3.7% by Q4 2026 to 3.3% by the end of 2027.