Cyber sanctions, Liverpool’s lost tunnels and the jet-setter’s jacket

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

The White House is preparing to slap sanctions on Chinese companies connected to the cyber theft of US intellectual property.

US officials said the sanctions would probably be unveiled next week, just weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping makes his first state visit to America. (FT)

In the news

China’s ‘Guam Express’ Beijing shocked military experts on Thursday with the unveiling of not only the DF-21D “carrier killer” missile but also an even more advanced warhead. The DF-26 anti-ship missile has a range of up to 4,000km, meaning it could target US vessels as far away as Guam. (FT)

Draghi the dove European Central Bank president Mario Draghi buoyed markets on Thursday as he opened the door for further quantitative easing should the global market tremors and the emerging market slowdown threaten the eurozone’s recovery. (FT)

Hungary’s migrant camps The drama of Budapest’s Keleti station entered a new phase on Thursday as hundreds of exhausted migrants boarded trains they mistakenly believed were bound for Germany, only to realise they were on their way to a migrant processing camp in rural Hungary. There was a tense confrontation as several Syrian passengers resisted, with some throwing themselves and their children down on to the train tracks. (FT)

Kentucky clerk jailed Kim Davis, a county clerk who refused to issue marriage licences to gay couples, was found in contempt of court on Thursday and jailed. While plaintiffs had asked the court to slap Ms Davis with fines, a judge found that supporters would probably be able to raisemoney on her behalf. (WaPo)

Trade contraction fuels fears Concerns over a slowdown in global trade are likely to be exacerbated with the release of new figures from the US, which show the country’s trade with the rest of the world contracted in the first seven months of this year. According to the data, the value of US trade in goods and services with the rest of the world fell more than $83bn to $2.94tn. (FT)

It’s a big day for

US jobs Economists project that employers added 220,000 jobs in August, roughly in line with the 215,000 created in July, as the Federal Reserve debates tightening monetary policy. The report is also expected to show a dip in the unemployment rate to 5.2 per cent from 5.3 per cent. (fastFT)

Food for thought

The lost tunnels of Liverpool A vast network of 200-year-old tunnels lies beneath streets of Liverpool – and no one knows why they are there. (BBC)

Learning from history China’s leaders should pay close attention to the lessons of Japan’s 1980s bubble. “Tokyo’s story is sobering. It shows that not only do interventions carry a financial cost (since they rarely work for long), but that they can be a lasting drag on investor psychology,” says the FT’s Gillian Tett. (FT)

Sony rewired The 70-year-old Japanese tech group is moving into some surprising new businesses, including property, drones and endoscopes. But some doubt the ventures can set the company on a path to sustainable growth. (FT)

A jacket for jet-setters A travel jacket designed to make flights more comfortable with features including an inflatable neck pillow and eye mask has attracted a record $9m on crowdfunding website Kickstarter. The 15-feature BauBax jacket was conceived as a means of solving the dilemma of long-distance travelling while packing plenty of electronic equipment. (The Guardian)

Smartwatch makers dial back the clock In an effort to attract more consumers and improve sales in wearables, Apple’s rivals in the smartwatch market are taking cues from more traditional watches. Samsung’s latest smartwatch has a traditional round face and a winding mechanism. (FT)

Video of the day

Ready for payrolls As markets braced for Friday’s US unemployment data, the old certainty that a strong number would ensure a rate rise from the Fed has dwindled. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with FirstFT. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: A man types on a computer keyboard. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel.