FTSE 100 was heading for a strong end to the week led by oil giant Shell after yesterday’s bumper earnings announcement.
The index added 41 at 7,570 in early trades.
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has warned the squeeze on household incomes won’t ease until 2023 at the earliest. People face a difficult period ahead, he said, after interest and heating bills both went up yesterday.
Lidl and Waitrose top the list for greenest supermarkets, with the latter performing well across all metrics. Ocado and M&S came up short for ESG initiatives as they languished towards the bottom.
Amazon announced its first price hike in the US in four years for its streaming platform Prime Video. It attributed the 17% rise to rising shipping and labour costs despite posting increased profits this week.
Manchester United is reportedly close to announcing a multi-year training kit sponsorship with Tezos, a proof-of-stake blockchain platform. The deal, rumoured to be more than US$27mln per year, will see the Tezos logo on the Premier League club’s training kit, according to The Athletic.
Among the small caps, Live Company said tickets for its K-Pop festival, taking place in Frankfurt on 14 May, have sold out. So far, five acts have been announced, with more expected to be confirmed later this month.
Alien Metals shares jumped after an update on its high-grade Hancock iron ore project in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. The junior reported high-grade results with an average grade of 62.2% iron.