From NI to tax cuts – what the chancellor of the exchequer could announce at his first fiscal event
London’s main markets tentatively rebounded on Thursday despite continued concerns over the economic outlook.
Traders are still prepared for major rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and Bank of England but saw concerns cool briefly following significant drops in the previous two sessions.
Broadly robust jobless claims and retail figures in the US helped to keep sentiment steady.
The FTSE 100 ended the day up 4.77 points, or 0.07%, at 7,282.07.
Joshua Mahoney, senior market analyst at IG, said trading benefited from a “relatively healthy” set of data points as investors prepare for rate hikes.
He said: “The sharp selling pressure seen at the beginning of the week has eased somewhat as traders await the next major move lower in anticipation of a potential 100-basis point hike from the Fed.”
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “It’s been a mixed and subdued session for markets in Europe today, with the FTSE 100 modestly outperforming due to some modest acquisition interest in the telecoms space, and outperformance from financials on the back of rising yields, with Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest all higher.”
Elsewhere in Europe, the German Dax declined 0.55% by the end of the session and the French Cac finished 1.04% lower.
Across the Atlantic, the major markets slipped back after Wednesday’s optimistic finish to trading after another fall in jobless claims.
Meanwhile, sterling slipped back despite an increase in 12-month inflation expectations.
The pound was down 0.18% against the dollar at 1.147 and was 0.09% lower against the euro at 1.148 at the close.
In company news, THG shares plunged after the online retail firm slashed its sales outlook for the current year as it said customers are feeling the pressure of rising living costs.
The company reported a drop in profit for the first half of the year, but worried investors even further with a major downgrade to its outlook for the year.
Shares slipped by 9p to 40p as a result, representing a roughly 95% fall since the firm floated almost two years ago.
Vodafone shares lifted after reports that private equity firms KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners are seeking to buy a stake in the Vantage Towers operation it spun off last year, and still holds an 82% stake in.
Vodafone was 2.12p higher at 109.24p while the Frankfurt-listed Vantage operation leapt by around 12% for the day.
Wickes has built significant gains after the DIY retailer and builders’ merchants said it was positive about consumer demand amid a surge in demand for home insulation. Shares finished 11p higher at 126.6p.
The price of oil took a step back once again over demand concerns, following warnings from the IEA that demand growth could slow to a halt in the fourth quarter of 2022.
Brent crude oil decreased by 3.58% to 90.73 US dollars (£79.07) per barrel when the London markets closed.
The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 were Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, up 36.2p at 843.6p, Pershing Square, up 90p at 2,860p, Admiral, up 64p at 2,262p, Lloyds, up 1.16p at 47.62p and Rolls-Royce, up 1.7p at 76.86p.
The biggest fallers in the index were Dechra, down 190p at 3,088p, Tesco, down 13.3p at 232p, Howden Joinery, down 30.6p at 569.4p, Severn Trent, down 141p at 2,645p, and Bunzl, down 146p at 2,751p.
Pensioners have been forced to wait as long as six months for their state pension, with many left out because of the system’s “ludicrous complexity”.
This week’s decision could pit governor Andrew Bailey against an expansionary PM and chancellor
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -Hungary has extended price caps on fuels and basic foodstuff by three months until the end of the year in a bid to shield households from soaring costs, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff told a briefing on Saturday. Budapest has sharply criticised the European Union for imposing sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, saying they have failed to weaken Moscow meaningfully while causing a surge in food and energy prices. Combined with falls in the forint to record lows, the price rises have sent Hungary's inflation to two-decade highs, forcing the National Bank of Hungary to hike its base rate sharply to 11.75%.
Knight Frank study predicts Prime Central London market will outperform rest of UK
Snaking through London, the queue to see Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ran for 4.4 miles on Thursday, stretching from Westminster to Tower Bridge and beyond.
Inflation, energy bills and staff shortages are causing businesses, many founded during pandemic, to fold in record numbers
On Black Wednesday anniversary, sterling hits 37-year low against dollar and 17-month low against euro
It came as the euro area’s annual inflation rate came in as expected at 9.1% in August, up from 8.9% in July. This is more than three times the rate in August 2021.
LONDON (Reuters) -Shell said on Friday it was "unaffected" by the German government's decision to place the PCK Schwedt oil refinery under a trusteeship, effectively taking control away from Russian majority owner Rosneft. It is unclear who will step in to replace Rosneft as operator of the 233,000 barrel per day refinery, which Shell has sought to sell out of. "Shell remains unaffected by this order as a 37.5% shareholder in PCK Schwedt and will continue to comply with its contractual obligations in accordance with its own shares," Shell said in an emailed statement.
Those who live and work in the low-tax areas envisaged by the Prime Minister could see their own contributions cut, it is understood.
Finland will seek compensation of up to 8 billion euros ($7.97 billion) if Germany nationalises gas importer Uniper, a Finnish cabinet minister said on Friday. Uniper, which is majority owned by Finnish utility Fortum, said on Wednesday the German government might take a controlling stake in the company as it sought further aid on top of a package agreed with Berlin in July. "It is absolutely clear that Finland will not allow Germany to nationalise Uniper without compensation," Minister of European Affairs and Ownership Steering, Tytti Tuppurainen, told the Finnish parliament.
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has laid bare a blueprint for how disinformation flourishes around major news events, with bad actors taking advantage to grab attention and sow confusion.
Falls against the dollar are prompted partly by concern about Liz Truss’s economic and energy policies
Discounter gains market share as shoppers seek better value amid cost of living crisis
The public queue to see the Queen lying in state spiked by over 2,220% in the 24 hours from Thursday to Friday, Google Trends said.
Major players in the aerospace insulation market are BASF SE, AVS Industries, 3M, Duracote Corporation, Boyd Corporation, DuPont, Esterline Technologies Corporation, Elmelin Ltd, Evonik Industries, Johns Manville, InsulTecno Group, Promat, Thermodyne, Triumph Group and Polymer Technologies Inc.New York, Sept. 16, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Aerospace Insulation Global Market Report 2022" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06319912/?utm_source=GNW T
Markets are pricing in a hike to 2.5%, while most economists think it will stop short of this at 2.25%.
OSLO (Reuters) -Softbank said on Friday it had agreed to sell its 15% stake in Norwegian e-learning group Kahoot to U.S. private equity group General Atlantic FT BV. Kahoot's share price surged 28% in early trade. General Atlantic in a separate statement confirmed the deal to buy 73.5 million Kahoot shares, but did not disclose the transaction price.
Major players in the point-of-care molecular diagnostics market are Abbott Laboratories, F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, BioMérieux SA, Danaher Corporation, Quidel Corporation, Qiagen Gmbh, Biocartis NV, Nova Biomedical, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dickinson and Company, Mesa Biotech Inc, OraSure Technologies Inc, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, Sysmex, Siemens Healthineers, Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals LLC, Alere Inc, Lucira Health Inc, Cue Health, OpGen Inc, Binx Health Inc, Molbio Diagnostics Pct Ltd, G
Russia's economy is not likely to return to pre-war levels before the end of this decade as the Ukraine war and stricter sanctions worsen long-standing economic deficiencies, Scope Ratings said in a report seen by Reuters on Friday. "The Russian government, helped by the Bank of Russia, has used windfall export revenues to mitigate the immediate domestic economic impact of the war in Ukraine and sanctions, but the longer-term outlook has worsened," said Scope analyst Levon Kameryan. About four times as much private capital - $64.2 billion - flowed out of Russia in the first quarter of 2022 alone compared with the same quarter last year, said the report.