Of course, knowing what you’re supposed to do is one thing but actually walking up to a stranger and starting a conversation, or even messaging someone out of the blue online, is another.

Taylor Crow who works in sales says she’s “fairly good” at networking as it was something she prioritised at university.

“I sent over 200 cold DMs on LinkedIn and reached out to people in the companies I wanted to work at while I was studying.”

She admits it was “so awkward” but it was something she had to do to land the job she wanted.

Her colleague Vicky Peterlin, 24, agrees. “It’s not about being good at networking but more about not being afraid to reach out to people.

“I had thoughts about how I’m not qualified to have these conversations but then you realise there are no rules and sending out emails and messages are free and easy.

“The worst that can happen is that they say no and that’s ok.”

Katherine Leopold, a tutor at Greenwich Business School, echoes this. She says the biggest hurdle is making the first move but if you don’t take the step you are “ruling yourself out”.

The number of applications that organisations are dealing with is “absolutely enormous” so try to meet employers in person and show them your total authentic story, she advises.

“Ensure you say to them, ‘I have this skill, I have this piece of knowledge, so I’m confident that your team is stronger with me in it.’”

For Natalie Fratto, putting on her dark green jumper from US microchip giant Nvidia is like wearing the kit from a favourite sports team.

On the front of the $178 (£132) woollen garment is a cartoonish image of the tech company’s boss Jensen Huang.

Fratto doesn’t work for Nvidia. Instead, she’s a fan of the company.

“I have a New Zealand All Blacks rugby jersey, and I think of my Jensen sweater in kind of the same way,” says New York-based Fratto, who runs a tech start-up.

She explains that it’s a representation of a team and ethos “that I am impressed by and root for”, and she proudly wears the jumper in videos she posts on social media., external

Nvidia certainly plays in the top league of global tech firms. Under Huang’s leadership, it has capitalised on the AI boom to become one of the world’s most valuable companies.

While it sells tens of millions of its chips per year, its clothing is far more exclusive. The lines, which also include t-shirts, hoodies and hats, are typically only available to buy from pop-up stalls at its conferences, and for very limited periods or “drops” via an online store and sell out very quickly.

And while it might seem odd that such a tech company is selling clothing, others are getting in on the act too – and also focusing on exclusivity.

OpenAI, the operator of ChatGPT, usually only offers its branded fashion to employees, but occasionally it goes on general sale for a few days via its website.

Meanwhile, Anthropic, the maker of the Claude chatbot, last year opened a temporary, pop-up coffee shop in Manhattan’s West Village. For just one week it gave away free baseball hats with the word “thinking” embroidered on the front.

Professor Hazel Clark, who teaches fashion at Parsons School of Design in New York, says that by limiting availability, tech firms have taken inspiration from the world of fashion. “It’s a very common strategy for brands to use. It elevates the desirability,” she says.

But why are such companies selling clothing in the first place? It is not as if they need the supplementary income streams.

Nvidia, OpenAI and Anthropic all declined to comment, but it appears to be about brand promotion and reputation management.

Take US software firm Palantir Technologies, which has faced criticism due to it work for the military and police, both in the US and overseas. Since launching its own clothing range last year, Palantir now calls itself a “lifestyle brand”.

Eliano Younes, Palantir’s head of strategic engagement, says: “A lifestyle brand isn’t defined by what you sell, it’s defined by what you stand for and whether people want to affiliate with it. I believe that the store’s success and the enthusiasm from our community proves this.”

Younes adds that “investors, customers, employees, and everyday people” in more than 60 countries have bought Palantir’s gear, which includes a cotton jacket.

Households feel the impact of a rising Bank rate through higher borrowing costs, but can benefit from more generous savings rates.

Given the global picture, and market expectations of a higher Bank rate, a host of major lenders have already increased the cost of new fixed-rate mortgages in recent days.

Andrew Montlake, chief executive of mortgage broker Coreco, said that the latest data showed that “the inflation dragon has not been fully slain”.

“If inflation proves sticky, lenders’ funding costs stay under pressure, which makes cheaper mortgages harder to deliver,” he said.

“We are already seeing lenders reprice upwards, so this will do little to calm things down. Borrowers should not panic, but anyone approaching the end of a fixed rate should start looking early, secure an option and keep reviewing it.”

The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate is at its highest since 11 May, at 5.77%, while the average five-year is at its highest since 8 November 2023, at 5.83%, according to financial information service Moneyfacts.

Savers may be offered more generous returns, but the spending power of their savings could be eroded by the rising cost of living.

“It’s almost impossible to time things just right, so I would urge households to focus on what’s best for them now, in the medium term and in the longer term,” said Harriet Guevara, chief savings officer at Nottingham Building Society.

“For savers, regularly check that your savings are earning a competitive return and that you have the right balance between easy access and money you can afford to put away for longer.”

This article was written by

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It is the seventh outlet for the group and has created 50 jobs

A burger chain that has won multiple awards has opened a restaurant in Exeter, creating 50 jobs. The Beefy Boys’ new outlet is based in the former BrewDog bar at Guildhall Shopping Centre.

The new two-storey restaurant will sell the brand’s popular burgers as well as beer from craft brewers Powderkeg and non-alcoholic options from botanical drinks company Drinks Kitchen.

The restaurant has taken months to come to fruition, according to the company, which said internal works and “further investment” was needed at the shopping centre site.

Co-founder Anthony Murphy said: “Opening in Exeter has been something we’ve been looking forward to for a long time and seeing so many people come out to celebrate with us was incredible.

“The new restaurant has created almost 50 new local jobs and the team in Exeter are absolutely amazing. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received from other local businesses across the city.”

Exeter is the seventh restaurant for The Beefy Boys which was established by four friends – Mr Murphy, Daniel Mayo-Evans, Christian Williams and Lee Symonds – after entering a burger into Bristol’s Grillstock Festival competition “for a laugh” and winning.

The quartet opened their first eatery in Hereford more than a decade ago and also have restaurants in Shrewsbury, Cheltenham, Bath, Oxford and Nottingham. The Bath restaurant opened last year, taking over the historic site of the former Milsom Hotel and Loch Fyne restaurant.

Since launching, The Beefy Boys have gained national recognition at the World Food Championships and earned multiple accolades and a legion of BBQ fans. The company sells its own merchandise including mugs, bandanas and DIY boxes.

The founders have appeared on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen collaborated with Fortnum & Mason and have released two cookbooks – ‘The Beefy Boys: From Backyard BBQ to World-Class Burgers’, which reached number one on Amazon’s Book Best Seller chart, and ‘The Beefy Boys’ Great British BBQ’ which was published in May this year.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Advanced Micro Devices shares rose 4.15% to $525.10 in midmorning trading Wednesday, up $20.90, as semiconductor stocks bounced after a week of selling tied to fears that safety debates could slow artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending.

The stock had closed Tuesday at $504.20, up 2.19% from Monday’s $493.41 finish. Monday’s drop of 4.4% came with Intel, Nvidia and Broadcom as investors marked down AI hardware on comments about slowing frontier-model development. Wednesday’s bid put AMD back near its Sept. 9 close of $521.10 and within reach of the session high near $525.48. The 52-week range runs from $149.85 to $584.73. The shares are up more than 140% this year.

There was no AMD earnings release on Wednesday. Bank of America kept a buy rating on the company and other chip names in a note covered by CNBC on Tuesday. The tape moved with the group: Intel also jumped more than 4% on reports of SK hynix talks over U.S. capacity and on Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan’s comment that Intel can meet only about half of CPU demand.

AMD’s last official numbers remain the second quarter, reported Aug. 4. Revenue was $11.5 billion, up 50% from a year earlier. Non-GAAP gross margin was 56%. Non-GAAP earnings were $1.66 a share. GAAP earnings were $1.38. Data-center revenue more than doubled. Chair and Chief Executive Lisa Su called it “an excellent quarter, with record revenue and profitability as Data Center revenue more than doubled year-over-year.”

“We enter the second half with strong momentum as EPYC demand accelerates, Instinct deployments scale and Helios begins to ramp,” she said. “More broadly, AI is driving a significant expansion in demand for compute across all of our markets, and our leadership portfolio and growing customer visibility position us exceptionally well to capture this expanding opportunity and deliver substantial revenue and earnings growth in the years ahead.”

Guidance for the third quarter was revenue of about $13 billion, plus or minus $300 million, up about 41% year over year and about 13% sequentially, with non-GAAP gross margin near 56%. Management said server CPU revenue should grow more than 80% year over year in the second half of 2026. Instinct accelerator sales more than doubled on the MI350 series. Cash and short-term investments were $13.1 billion at quarter-end.

A separate multiyear deal with Meta commits AMD Instinct GPUs toward 6 gigawatts of deployments. AMD issued Meta a performance warrant for up to 160 million shares, with vesting tied to shipments starting at 1 gigawatt and to stock-price hurdles, the last at $600 a share. Su called the pact “another major milestone for AMD’s AI strategy.”

Chief Financial Officer Jean Hu has described a data-center total addressable market that AMD now puts above $2 trillion by 2030, with company growth targeted faster than that market and earnings “significantly more than $20” over the strategic horizon. Those figures are management targets, not consensus.

Lisa Su sold 95,000 shares on Sept. 10 under a Rule 10b5-1 plan adopted June 8, at weighted prices in the low $500s, and gifted 35,000 shares the same day. She still holds millions of shares directly and through family trusts. The Form 4 did not change Wednesday’s tape.

The debate that hit the group last week was whether calls to slow frontier AI would cut server orders. AMD’s published book still assumes Helios and MI450 ramps in the second half and a third quarter above $12.7 billion. Wednesday’s $525 print is a rebound from $493, not a new high. The high remains $584.73. Until the October earnings date, the stock is a high-beta claim on whether $13 billion lands and whether Instinct shipments keep doubling. Buyers on Wednesday decided the safety scare was not a demand cancel.

California officials responded Wednesday to reports that Paramount is preparing to ditch the state, though the company declined to comment, and no official announcement has been made.

Officials inside Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ office and California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office were told Paramount planned to announce Tuesday that it was leaving the state, sources told TMZ.

The announcement never came, and the outlet said it was unclear whether the company changed course or merely delayed the decision. Separately, Politico is reporting that Paramount is actively looking for office space in Nashville.

Paramount declined to comment when reached by FOX Business.

SKYDANCE INFORMS TRUMP’S FCC IT WILL ELIMINATE DEI AT PARAMOUNT, CREATE CBS NEWS OMBUDSMAN FOLLOWING MERGER

California officials responded after reports claimed Paramount is preparing to leave the state, though the company declined to comment and no official announcement has been made. (Noah Suave / Getty Images)

Bonta’s office told FOX Business it could not comment on Paramount’s plans but acknowledged that the company has repeatedly threatened to leave California.

“It’s no secret that Paramount has been making this threat, despite its alleged commitment to California and Hollywood,” Bonta’s office said in a statement. “What Paramount decides to do is Paramount’s choice alone.”

NEW PARAMOUNT CEO DAVID ELLISON ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO WORKERS

The attorney general’s office said it will continue enforcing the law while remaining open to good-faith negotiations.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading a multistate antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Paramount’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. (Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Bass’ office told FOX Business that the mayor remains focused on keeping entertainment jobs in the city.

PARAMOUNT-WARNER BROS DISCOVERY ANTITRUST TRIAL DATE SET; MERGER PUT ON PAUSE OVER LEGAL BATTLE

“Mayor Bass is focused on protecting and fighting for jobs in LA, including critical jobs in the entertainment industry that have been a vital part of Los Angeles’ economy,” her office said in a statement. “She’s been engaged on this issue and will continue to fight to make sure LA is home to Hollywood.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she is focused on keeping entertainment industry jobs in Los Angeles and ensuring the city remains home to Hollywood. (Mario Tama / Getty Images)

The uncertainty comes as Paramount CEO David Ellison battles Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general over the company’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

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The states sued in July to block the media megadeal, arguing it would reduce competition and give the combined company excessive market power in film distribution and basic cable programming.

Ellison has reportedly threatened to move Paramount to Texas, Tennessee or Georgia if the legal battle is not resolved by Oct. 1. Settlement talks are ongoing. The lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in March if a settlement is not reached.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Low taxes, light regulation, abundant energy, and a strong dollar, are the keys to economic prosperity. And prosperity is as American as apple pie. And though nothing is ever perfect, at the moment I would argue, the American economy is in a prosperous position, roughly a year after Mr. Trump and the Republicans passed their One, Big, Beautiful Bill.

The Atlanta Fed just raised its GDPNow estimate for the third quarter that ends September 30, to 5.1 percent. Real growth. Core GDP last quarter, by which I mean real domestic private sales, increased by over 4 percent.

As the Fed chairman, Kevin Warsh, pointed out in the Open Market Committee statement, the rate rise passed unanimously by a 12-0 vote, domestic spending is resilient — indeed today’s retail sales up 6 percent year-on-year, they also pointed out productivity growth is strong, and capital investment is robust. Unemployment is low.

By the way, nonfinancial productivity — output per person — is rising over 3 percent annually for the past two years. And that is counterinflationary. Meanwhile, capital investment with 100 percent immediate expensing for machinery, equipment, some buildings, a big chunk of the data center — this is the seedcorn of the future economy rebuilding our infrastructure on the supplyside, and it can’t possibly be inflationary.

Rapid productivity is likewise counterinflationary. More people working, the same. The Census Bureau just showed real median household income reached an all-time high, Hispanic and black poverty hit an all-time low. Incomes for the bottom 25 percent reached their highest level ever.

So let me repeat an old supply-side saw, growth is not inflationary. Especially this kind of business-led growth. Manufacturing profits are soaring. Of course profits are the mothers milk of stocks and the lifeblood of the economy. And that can’t possibly be inflationary.

Now it is true that Mr. Warsh has inherited the 21 percent cumulative inflation rate from President Biden and the former Fed chairman, Jay Powell. That, and a temporary oil shock for Mr. Trump’s war against Iran to prevent them from ever getting nuclear weapons. A noble mission. So as Mr. Warsh said today, the inflation rate is still too high. And he is concerned that the underlying trend is not improving to his satisfaction.

He said: “The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long. This summer’s inflation readings do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved.” He added that, “based on the most recent” consumer price index and producer price index data, “the 12 month change in total” Personal Consumption Expenditures index “prices likely was around 3.6 percent in August.” Mr. Warsh added that core PCE and CPI are “running at about 3.2 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively. Too many categories are still posting increases above 3 percent on both a six and 12 month basis.”

So the Fed raised its Fed funds target range by a quarter of a percentage point, to the range of 3-3/4 percent to 4 percent. To some extent, we are seeing real interest rates normalizing to accommodate stronger economic growth. 

If Mr. Warsh is going to liquidate some excess balance sheet reserves, in order to strengthen the value of the dollar, that’s ok. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Regime change at the Warsh Fed should specify that growth does not cause inflation.

NEW YORK — User reports of Spotify problems spiked after 10:43 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, according to Downdetector, even as Spotify’s public status page listed all systems as operational and independent uptime checks continued to return HTTP 200.

The Downdetector post that circulated on social media showed 1,763 views and asked how the disruption was affecting listeners. Crowd-sourced maps typically light up when login fails, playlists stall or playback cuts out on phones, cars and smart speakers. Those dashboards measure complaint volume, not a company admission. StatusGator counted about 30 user-submitted reports in 24 hours and briefly flagged a possible incident around midday that it later marked resolved. Down For Everyone Or Just Me said it was not detecting a current outage and listed the last confirmed Spotify event as Tuesday, Sept. 15, lasting about 51 minutes, with another stretch of about 48 minutes in the same recent window.

Spotify’s status page recorded no incident on Sept. 16. Automated monitors that ping spotify.com and open.spotify.com through the day reported the sites up, with response times in the 170- to 400-millisecond range. IsDown, which watches the official status feed, said the service was working normally when it checked Wednesday morning. UptimeRobot showed no failed probes.

That split is common. A regional DNS glitch, a carrier path, an app cache or a single content-delivery node can generate a Downdetector wave while the homepage still answers. Users on Down For Everyone Or Just Me described the service as “slow” from the United States, Portugal, Germany, Singapore, Mexico and Australia through Wednesday. One StatusGator note from Indiana said playlists were not loading and most buttons were not working. Others cited random audio crashes and devices that would not play after a reinstall. Those are individual reports, not a root-cause statement.

Spotify has not posted an incident banner or a customer-support thread acknowledging a Wednesday outage. The company’s newsroom this month has promoted partnerships and concerts, not infrastructure. Without an official postmortem, the working description is a cluster of user complaints after 10:43 a.m. Eastern, overlapping a day when the website itself stayed reachable.

Listeners who hit a stall usually try the same steps: toggle airplane mode, switch from cellular to Wi-Fi, force-quit the app, clear the cache, or download tracks for offline play. If only one network fails, the problem is often local. If phones, laptops and cars all fail at once, the signal is closer to a platform issue. None of those steps confirms what broke on Wednesday.

Spotify remains the default soundtrack for commutes, gyms and offices. A 50-minute event, like Tuesday’s, is enough to trend. A morning spike of “slow” tickets that never becomes a red banner is the more typical case: enough friction to fill Downdetector, not enough to take the status page offline. Until Spotify publishes an incident, Wednesday is a user-report story — 10:43 a.m. Eastern, playlists that would not load for some, and a green light on the page that is supposed to say when the music stops.