Good morning from London where some positive comments from the Bank of England on UK financial sector resilience has helped the FTSE 100 up to week-highs so far. According to the central bank, Britain's eight largest banks are resilient would be able to cope if things took a turn for the worse. Shares in the likes of Lloyds, HSBC and Standard Chartered were lifted as a result of the news.
Elsewhere, Wetherspoon’s shares are up as the pub chain reiterated full-year guidance and reported sales above its 2022 and pre-pandemic fourth-quarter figures.
Royal Mail can finally put a damaging long-running pay dispute behind it, after workers overwhelmingly backed a new offer from the company.
Renault and Chinese carmaker Geely also provided some positive news on Wednesday morning, as they announced their new joint venture would be headquartered in the UK.
And in small caps, Tharisa shares jumped after the miner reported growing cash over the last quarter thanks to higher chrome prices.