Good morning from London where the FTSE 100 continues to trend lower, reaching five-week lows now after a bruising seven days. The UK markets are reacting to some unexpectedly weak Chinese economic data that suggests the post-Covid recovery still isn’t quite the roaring tiger we might have expected.
Here in London it’s a relatively quiet morning on account of it being peak summer holiday season, but there are a few news stories for us to look at - defence giant BAE Systems PLC (LSE:BA.) has announced its buying Ball Corp’s aerospace division for $5.5 billion, through a mixture of new debt and existing cash. BAE’s share price is down in response to the news.
Big 4 accountant EY is making cuts to its UK consultancy arm, losing up to 150 people according to the FT.
An interesting case on the FTSE250 this morning with Caucasus-focused Bank of Georgia Group PLC (LSE:BGEO) announcing of a new share buyback and seeing its shares jump by double-digits in percentage terms to reach all time highs.
Elsewhere, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has faced scrutiny from University of East Anglia researchers over the chatbot’s alleged systemic left-wing bias.