AstraZeneca reports strong first half, NatWest beats on interim profits

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 20 points lower on Friday, having closed up 0.21% on Thursday at 7,692.76.

Stocks to watch

AstraZeneca reported a strong first half on Friday, driven by successful launches and effective commercial execution. Excluding Covid-19 medicines, total revenue and product sales grew by 16% and 15%, respectively. The company also saw a 21% increase in core earnings per share, reaching $4.07, and maintained its interim dividend at 93 cents. AstraZeneca reaffirmed its full-year guidance for both total revenue and core earnings per share.

NatWest reported better-than-expected interim profits only days after it was rocked by the resignation of chief executive Alison Rose over the leaking of details of hard-right former political party leader Nigel Farage. The bank posted pre-tax profit of £3.6bn, up from £2.6bn a year earlier and better than the £3.3bn estimated by analysts. It also announced a £500m share buyback.

Newspaper round-up

That buying a property – any property – in the UK is increasingly the preserve of the rich will come as no surprise to low-income households. But official data shows that the middle classes are increasingly squeezed, with only the cheapest 10% of houses now affordable (no more than five times a household’s income according to the Office for National Statistics) to middle-income England. – Guardian

The Charity Commission has closed a preliminary investigation into concerns about governance at a charity set up by the UK’s richest person, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, which helped fund a £16m luxury clubhouse for an exclusive French Alps club where he and his daughter have skied for years. The UK charity watchdog announced on Thursday that it had closed its “regulatory compliance case” into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation after finding that “the charity’s activities further its purposes and that there is no further role for the regulator”. – Guardian

Women are 50pc more likely than men to lose their jobs in the artificial intelligence (AI) race, according to a new study that predicts millions more roles will be automated by 2030. McKinsey said around 12 million jobs will be replaced by AI in the US alone over the next seven years. The management consultancy said women will be more affected by companies replacing staff with chatbots because they are more likely to hold “lower-wage jobs”. – Telegraph

About 6,000 shops have closed across Britain over the past five years as vacancy rates reach “critical levels”, new data shows. Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said crippling business rates and the impact of the Covid lockdowns were a “key part of decisions to close stores and think twice about new openings”, while rising interest rates and inflationary pressures were also to blame. – The Times

Ford Motor Company upgraded its annual profit guidance last night after beating expectations on Wall Street as supply chain issues continue to ease. Earnings at the American automotive group more than doubled in the last quarter amid robust demand for its vehicles and strong pricing of trucks and vans. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks ended in negative territory on Thursday, snapping the Dow Jones Industrial Average's longest winning streak since 1987.

The index had recorded gains for 13 consecutive sessions, but the streak ended with a 0.67% drop, closing at 35,282.72.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 declined 0.64% to settle at 4,537.41, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.55% to end the day at 14,050.11.

Thursday’s downturn comes despite an array of economic reports that exceeded expectations earlier in the day.

On the currency front, the dollar was last 0.05% stronger on sterling at 78.19p, while it advanced 0.03% to stand at 91.12 euro cents.