Good morning from London where the FTSE 100 is up to fresh three week highs, pushed higher by some strong gains from insures and mining companies. Most of this morning’s big stories are from outside the world of equities though, and the biggest of all is that higher than expected inflation data in the US means further interest rate increases are now more likely, and increase the danger of stagflation.
Here in the UK, Microsoft has received long-sought-after backing by regulators for its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to the regulator, the rejigged deal will see some of Activision’s gaming rights sold off to French firm Ubisoft in a bid to preserve competition in the market.
Looking at a few stocks now and shares in wealth manager St James’s Place are down around 10% this morning after confirming its assessing changes to its fee structure – the move has been forced on them by the introduction of the UK’s new consumer duty rules.
Asset manager Ashmore is also down after reporting a $4.2bln reduction in assets under management in its latest quarter.
And finally in small caps, Avon Protection PLC (LSE:AVON) marked a positive start to the day as the defence supplier pointed to strong half-year trading on solid demand for military helmets. That’s all for now, have a great weekend