FT employment correspondent Sarah O'Connor tweets:

Image source, Berkeley

Interesting news from Berkeley Group, which says it has stopped construction on a £20m project in Barnes, southwest London. The company did not say why it stopped working last month on the scheme, where homes were expected to sell for up to £5m. 

While it's not unusual for builders to hold off starting developments until market conditions are optimal, it is rare for projects to be stopped mid-build, says Clyde Lewis, analyst at brokerage Peel Hunt.

Basements and ground floors had already been built at the Barnes site. "The London market has got a bit tougher post-Brexit. The value end of London is still selling OK, but more expensive stuff is selling slow," Mr Lewis says.

Berkeley shares have fallen 25% since the start of the year and are down 0.4% today.

Image source, Getty Images

Online fashion retailer Asos may be forking out just over £20m to settle a trademark dispute with two firms in Germany and Switzerland. but its shares are up almost 4% to £47.44 today. That brings the rise over the past 12 months to a stonking 60% and the company is now worth almost £4bn.

The settlement, with cycle wear manufacturer Assos of Switzerland and German menswear retailer Anson's Herrenhaus, follows several court cases and trademark registry actions around the world. 

Asos said the payout will secure a "comprehensive co-existence for all parties". 

In July, the retailer shrugged off Brexit fears as it upped its full-year sales outlook after cheering "strong" trading.  

Image source, Getty Images

Oil prices look set to end the week on a positive note after four days of falls.

Brent crude is up 2% to $46.40 a barrel after weaker than expected job creation in the US last month send the dollar down, meaning some commodities - such as oil - are a bit cheaper. 

US oil is also up 1.8% to $43.93 a barrel.

Prices were further supported by comments from Russian president Vladimir Putin, who said an output freeze would be the right decision. Opec oil producers will meet later this month to discuss whether to limit supplies.

However, Brent remains below the $47.18 at the beginning of the week as the US market grapples with a huge stockpile of crude.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Technology writer Rhiannon Williams tells the The World at One how surprising the Samsung recall is given that the smartphone in question will sell for about £700 in the UK.

Image source, Getty Images

US economists are forecasting that the US Federal Reserve probably won't lift interest rates this month following the weaker than expected new job numbers but it is not set in stone by any means.

Kevin Logan, chief US economist at HSBC in New York, said: "At the margin it dissuades the Fed from moving in September. It's not a clincher. If they feel they want to go for other reasons they can. But this jobs report is not a compelling reason."

Heidi Learner, chief economist at Savills Studley, said: "I don't think it shifts the thinking, I do think it could be 50-50 ... there wasn't enough weakness in the report to derail the Fed, but similarly it would not be a mistake now if they waited until December rather than September."

While Craig Bishop, lead strategist for US fixed income at RBC Wealth Management, said: "I think it continues to point to a solid employment picture in the US, but it wasn't that big blowout number that in our opinion would've been needed to cause the Fed to tilt toward a September rate hike."

Some very unimpressed people at the Dail's decision to appeal the EU's tax ruling against Apple. Ireland's parliament is being recalled on Wednesday to pass a motion to appeal.

Image source, Getty Images

As well as the strong performance for the FTSE 100 today, sterling has hit a one-month high of $1.3325. 

The pound has performed reasonably well in the past few weeks, holding above a 30-year low of $1.2798 struck on 8 July, helped by better-than-expected data that has dampened concerns about a sharp decline in economic activity following the Brexit vote. 

Image source, Getty Images

Europe's Competition Commissioner shows no sign of backing down over Apple's Irish €13bn tax bill - and has other companies in her sights.

Margrethe Vestager tells Reuters companies that send profits to Irish-registered subsidiaries in tax havens such as Bermuda could be breaching EU law: "Taxes have been paid nowhere due to the Irish tax code."

The commission has been looking at 1,000 instances of tax arrangements since 2013 when it was first alerted to Apple's tax payments at a US senate hearing. 

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Aslef, the train drivers' union, says the company that owns Southern trains should "prop up" the loss-making parts of the business. 

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Ireland's coalition government will hold an independent review of the country's corporate tax system after it agreed to join Apple in appealing against the European Commission's tax demand.

The review will assess "what tax multinationals do pay and what they should pay", said junior minister John Halligan of the Independent Alliance, a group of five MPs whose initial misgivings delayed an appeal. 

The terms of reference for the review will be decided in the coming days, the Independent Alliance members said.  

Image source, Getty Images

More on that move by Marks & Spencer to boost wages. It says customer assistants will receive £8.50 an hour - and £9.65 in London - from next April. That is well above the Living Wage of £7.20 and the voluntary rate of £8.25 (£9.40 in the capital).

However, the chain will axe extra payments for Sunday working and bring in one standard payment for bank holidays. 

Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, who handed in a 90,000-name petition to the company on Thursday, criticised the announcement, saying staff will earn no more money in three years' time than they do today.

Campaigners had warned that thousands of staff would lose more than £1,000 a year under planned changes to pay. M&S said it had listened to views and suggestions and made a number of changes to its original proposals.

Image source, Getty Images

US employment growth slowed more than expected in August after two consecutive months of robust rises, which could rule out an interest rate increase from the Federal Reserve this month. 

Non-farm payrolls rose by 151,000 jobs last month after an upwardly revised 275,000 increase in July, with hiring in manufacturing and construction sectors declining, the Labor Department said.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9% as more people entered the labor market. 

Economists had forecast an increase of 180,000 last month.

Joe Lynam
Business correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Sources in the Irish government say they want to put a "strongly worded" motion to the Dail (Parliament) when it is recalled on Wednesday in support of the Apple appeal.

This has the advantage of getting much wider political support – especially from Fianna Fail, which is propping up the minority Fine Gael administration and is the party that signed the deal with Apple way back in 1991.

Let's get a quick update on the FTSE 100 now and it's trading more than 1% higher at 6,816 points.

The biggest fallers are all construction companies, following the release of figures indicating the industry was showing signs of recovery in August, but was still contracting slightly.

Persimmon is down 2.2%, Taylor Wimpey 1.9% lower, Berkeley Group is off 1.8% and Barratt Developments is 1.72% lower.

Carnival, the cruise ship operator, was the only company to suffer a bigger fall after being downgraded by Morgan Stanley to "underweight". The stock is off 3.9%.

Ireland's coalition government will appeal against a €13bn back tax demand that the European Commission has slapped on Apple after independent members of the cabinet gave their backing.

A government spokesman said: "A motion will come before the Dail [parliament] on Wednesday seeking an endorsement of that decision."  

Image source, PA

Back to Southern trains for a moment. Its owner, Go-Ahead, doesn't just run trains - it is also the biggest bus operator in London and has a regional bus business as well. 

Unlike Southern passengers, it seems those customers are very satisfied with the service they are getting.

"We've had a record year of profits from our bus division, achieving our £100m target as planned. Our regional bus business has sector leading margins and an industry leading customer satisfaction score of 89%," says chief executive David Brown.

And if you happen to travel on one of Go-Ahead's other rail companies then it seems you are pretty happy too. According to the company's statement, it had customer satisfaction levels at London Midland of 86%.

Cold comfort for travellers on Southern, no doubt. 

Shares in Go-Ahead have done just that today too, by the way, up 6.6% at £21.30. However, they are still a fifth lower over the course of the year.

Image source, Associated Press

Samsung is one of Korea's biggest and best-known companies - or chaebols as they are known. 

The decision to suspend sales of the Galaxy Note 7 has caused concern on the streets of Seoul about the wider impact on the country's reputation. 

"Because of the incident, South Korean products will get a bad reputation. I had thought of getting a Galaxy Note 7 when it first came out, but seeing all the bad things that happened, I don't think I'm getting the phone anymore," says Park Sung-Hwan.

Han Sang-Woo is less worried: "The battery issue may make people doubt Samsung's technical skills, but if the company responds immediately and solves the technical problem, the national image of Korea will not be hurt too much, plus, the effect will only be short-term." 

But Oh Kee-Seok disagrees, saying South Korea's "image will be tarnished globally as Samsung Galaxy is a world famous brand".  

The recall of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7s is a blow for the Korean company. At a press conference in Seoul, the head of its smartphone business, Koh Dong-jin, says it will take a hit from the recall - but that it has to put safety first.

Technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones is at the IFA technology shindig in Berlin and finds Samsung investigating innovative way to stop the Galaxy Note 7 catching fire...