BAE buys Ball Aerospace, Bank of Georgia profits jump
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 22 points lower on Thursday, having closed down 0.44% on Wednesday at 7,356.88.
Stocks to watch
BAE Systems on Thursday said it had bought Ball Corporation's aerospace business for $5.55bn in cash. Ball Aerospace makes spacecraft, mission payloads, optical systems, and antenna systems, serving the intelligence community, US Department of Defense, and civilian space agencies, BAE said in a statement.
Bank of Georgia on Thursday reported a 33.5% jump in half year profits, driven by a sharp rise in net interest income. The bank posted a GEL 688.8m (£207m) profit, adjusted for one-off income compared with GEL 516m a year ago. Net interest margin, a key measure of profitability and the difference between the rates on savings and loans, rose to 6.5% from 5.3%.
Newspaper round-up
New offshore wind farms will be strangled by government red tape, costing UK bill payers £1.5bn a year, an analysis has found. The latest government auction for new offshore wind farms, due to be completed in September, could result in few projects making it through Treasury rules, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), a non-profit organisation. - The Guardian
Britons will feel better off next year, Rishi Sunak has said as he pledged to tame inflation by maintaining “discipline” on public spending and tax. In an interview with The Times, the prime minister said that he “passionately believes” that he can bring down inflation and revive economic growth. He said that he was “really optimistic” about the future and “confident” that inflation would fall enough to ease the cost of living crisis next year. - The Times
Vladimir Putin is to meet with key finance officials as the Kremlin considers forcing companies to buy roubles with foreign earnings to prop up Russia’s falling currency. The Russian president will discuss proposals with the country’s finance ministry as it finalises the plans, which are expected to require businesses bringing in Western cash to sell it in exchange for the rouble. - The Telegraph
The Bank of England is poised to increase interest rates to 6% by the end of this year, despite inflation falling to its lowest level since February 2022, money markets believe. Investors are betting that borrowing costs are on course to hit their highest level since January 2001 as the central bank tries to control inflation. Higher interest rate expectations in the City have been triggered by underlying price pressures resisting tighter monetary policy. - The Times
US close
Wall Street faced a downturn on Wednesday as US stocks closed in the negative, with the biggest drops coming from the technology-centric Nasdaq Composite.
The Federal Reserve’s minutes from its July meeting were released late in the session, showing that a majority of senior officials now expected “upside inflation risks”.
By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.52% at 34,765.74 points, while the S&P 500 registered a dip of 0.76% to end the day at 4,404.33.
The Nasdaq Composite took the hardest hit, shrinking by 1.15% and finishing at 13,474.63.
On the foreign exchange front, the dollar was flat against sterling at 78.55p, while it slipped 0.01% against the euro to trade at 91.91 euro cents.