Good morning. Today we're talking about Thames Water’s major backing, Apple’s new record and crypto’s resurgence.

Big Stories

Thames Water’s crucial backing

Crisis hit Thames Water received the support of its second biggest shareholder for more funding as it fights for survival. The UK's largest water company is struggling to manage its £14bn debt pile and needs an additional £10bn to upgrade its creaking infrastructure. The Universities Superannuation Scheme - a £90bn pension fund that invests on behalf of UK university lecturers - owns 20% of Thames Water and is the first investor to pledge more cash to support the company. Other water firms are also facing similar pressures due to higher interest payments on their debts and rising costs including higher energy and chemical prices.

Apple breaks record

Apple ended last Friday with a $3tn market value becoming the first publicly traded company to reach the milestone. The tech giant's shares closed at $193.97, up 2.3% for the day. Apple hit the $3tn mark briefly last year until Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent global stock markets tumbling and the firm struggled with lower sales after an outbreak of Covid-19 shut down one of its key factories in China. Apple's share price has more than doubled in the past five years, and it is now worth more than the next four most valuable companies combined. Last month the iPhone maker faced a lukewarm reception as it unveiled its first major product in more than a decade, a virtual reality headset called the Vision Pro.

Crypto resurgence

Bitcoin hit its highest price in a year signalling that the crypto sector may have turned a corner. After reaching close to $70,000 per coin in 2021, Bitcoin crashed in 2022 to as low as $16,000 as rising interest rates saw investors lose interest in more speculative assets. But this year the world’s largest cryptocurrency has jumped over 80% to $31,000 as investors become hopeful that the Federal Reserve may ease up on interest rate hikes. Also investor interests in the sector has been rekindled after the world's biggest asset manager, Blackrock, sought regulators’ approval to launch a bitcoin exchange-traded. If approved it would become easier to invest in crypto and add much longed-for credibility to the sector.

Elsewhere...

Changing chairs: Tesco has appointed a new chairman after the supermarket's former boss stepped down following allegations over his behaviour.

Pay expectations: PwC has told UK staff to expect a ‘small’ pay rise and bonus this year as it deals with challenging market conditions.

Restricting access: Twitter has applied temporary daily reading limits to address "extreme levels" of data scraping and system manipulation, Elon Musk has said.

Rail disruption: ​​​​​​​Disruption to rail journeys are expected across the country this week as train drivers refuse to work overtime for six days.

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