Millions ‘knocking at door of starvation’ after war in Ukraine, warns UN

ggood morning.

Gazprom’s UK operations are said to be planning a subtle rebranding as the company seeks to distance itself from its Kremlin-controlled owners.

Gazprom Energy, which supplies gas to British companies, is considering adopting the name of its British parent company – GM&T – to improve its chances of survival, reports the Financial Times.

The company was on the verge of collapse in March as customers refused contracts following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The UK was poised to put him in special administration if necessary, but Germany stepped in, temporarily taking control of parent company Gazprom Germania.

5 things to start your day

1) Windfall tax ‘would hit your pension pot’, says minister – Cabinet splits deepen over energy company tax as four in ten face winter of fuel poverty

2) Britain is becoming a less attractive place to do business, conservative-leaning think tank says – Business leaders last week accused Boris Johnson of squandering the post-Brexit opportunity to cut red tape and taxes

3) The pay gap between FTSE bosses and the rest of the workforce is narrowing after Covid put a cap on executive pay – Average pay ratio between bosses and workers widens, says High Pay Center

4) Government launches £40m competition to revive self-driving buses and delivery vans – Self-driving vehicles could be worth £42bn to the UK economy

5) Farmers fear supermarkets will switch to eggs from Poland – Retailers accused of seeking cheaper foreign products

What happened overnight

Asian stocks traded mixed as investors assess the impact of China’s Covid policies on the growth and outlook of the world’s largest economies. The dollar and treasury bills retreated.

Stocks rose slightly in Japan, but a decline in Chinese tech stocks and a virus outbreak in Beijing weighed on an MSCI gauge of stocks in the region.

Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 futures jumped about 1% after the S&P 500 fell for a seventh consecutive week in a period of weakness not seen since 2001.

coming today

Business : Great Yellow Group, Kainos Group (annual results); Pershing Square (temporary workers); Kingfisher (commercial statement)

Economy: World Economic Forum, Davos (EU), Rightmove housing price index (UK), Chicago Fed National Activity Index (WE)