After announcing its Google Certification last week, Proxama (LON:PROX) was topping the Most Followed list on trading social network Vox Markets this morning.
Shares shot up nearly 50% - a three-month high - as the possibility of a partnership with the world’s leading tech titan sunk in over the weekend. Naturally many took to Twitter to celebrate.
#Prox Lots of interest showing now.Great Technology.Must be the Google effect. pic.twitter.com/DVyr1Felg9
— John Clayton (@Romeo131340) 5 September 2016
And indeed some were quick to cash in:
#Prox All is looking great today.We have a cheque coming for $12m pic.twitter.com/ihgfTtpil4
— John Clayton (@Romeo131340) 5 September 2016
But others, expecting more to come, held back:
@cityal60 Still holding all my #PROX stock, it's madness even to think about selling with all news flow due. I expect sp to be within 3-5p!
— Market Master (@MarketMaster007) 5 September 2016
#PROX - With 3 bidders I'm expecting a cheque for much more than $12m, at least double that! https://t.co/0DVpk124qY
— Market Master (@MarketMaster007) 5 September 2016
CloudTag PLC (LON:CTAG) shares were up 32%. The fitness tracker remained in the spotlight after an announcement last week that the board is currently optimistic that sales targets agreed with Second Chance will be achieved.
88 Energy (LON:88E) shares were going the way of its new drilling plans (vertically downwards) having fallen 18% after they were announced this morning. It is scrapping previous lateral drilling plans for a vertical well, which is much cheaper. Obviously the cost-cutting has meant some shareholders have lost faith.
Shares in Sirius Petrolum PLC (LON:SRSP) shot up 25% this morning for no apparent reason. The last we had heard from the resources explorer was when it gained government approval for drilling at its Ororo drilling project in Nigeria.
So quiet was Sirius, that it led some on the bulletin boards to joke that investors had in fact confused it for the closely-named Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX), which has had its fair share of news flow recently.
But looking to social media, Twitter threw up some clues.
@Blowster85 this looks primed for a breakout today pal #SRSP
— leon hogan (@leonhogan11) 5 September 2016
@leonhogan11 I am expecting news very soooon so 1p
— Nicholas Stevens (@APathNotTaken) 5 September 2016
Trending this morning: The asthma wars
AstraZeneca today announced a next-generation asthma drug that would see it locking horns with fellow pharma giants over treatments already out there.
The drug, which comes in the form of an injection, is 15 years in the making. It has sailed through further late-stage clinical trials and could be available to patients by next year. Trials have shown a 51% reduction in asthma attacks in a year, with an improvement in lung function and quality of life in just four weeks.
It is part of a new wave of biological treatments for people with severe asthma, treating the disease itself, rather than just its symptoms like traditional inhalers.
But the drug pits AstraZeneca against similar treatments already on the market from GlaxoSmithKline, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Novartis.
Avoiding the recession
The Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed activity in UK services recorded the biggest month-on-month rise in the survey's history.
The survey comes as a resounding sigh of relief for the UK economy as many believe it suggests we will avoid a recession.
The index rose from 47.4 in July to 52.9 in August. A score above 50 indicates growth.
The score takes services back to pre-Brexit levels.
For analysts, the return to growth for the services industry - which accounts for around 80% of the UK economy – adds further confidence that manufacturing and construction was recovering after Brexit.
“Enough is enough” at Sports Direct
The pressure was mounting on Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley after fund manager Hermes called said “enough is enough” and called for change at the top.
Hermes Investment Management and other major City investors, including Legal and General Investments and Aviva, seem to have lost patience with Ashley and the ailing sporting goods store.
It’s a long time coming, most of us are already sick of the store and its allegedly Dickensian practices. MPs lost their cool earlier this year after Ashley repeatedly refused to appear before a tribunal to discuss the allegations of poor worker treatment. The papers have well and truly painted Ashley as a bumbling pantomime villain.
Just a few highlights from Sports Direct’s tumultuous year include a post-Christmas profit warning, the exposure of “workhouse-style” practices in its warehouse and various governance issues, such as the appointment of Ashley's daughter's twenty-something boyfriend as head of the company's property portfolio.
Kudos to city investors for lasting this long…