FTSE 100 opened higher helped by a strong start from the oil majors BP and Shell as more brokers predicted crude prices are going to rise higher. Attention will focus on Rishi Sunak’s Budget later today but for now the index is up 38 at 7,515.
Sunak’s announcement comes just after UK inflation rose again to another recent record of 6.2%. How the chancellor juggles increasing household bills with the surge in prices will be the main focus of interest.
The chancellor is expected to reduce fuel tax and potentially raise the income level at which national insurance tax is due to help poorer families. Having already announced one support heating package economists don’t expect anything else.
US regulators have urged a federal judge to continue investigating Elon Musk’s Twitter posts, despite his allegations he is being harassed. Musk has not stuck to a 2018 consent order insisting Tesla’s lawyers approve tweets and public statements related to the world’s richest man’s company.
4D Pharma hit its primary efficacy target in a phase I/II trial of one of its lead assets in kidney cancer. MRx0518 was used in combination with KEYTRUDA, the Merck blockbuster, which is a part of a class of drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs).
88 Energy has completed drilling of the Merlin-2 well in Alaska after reaching its target depth of 7,334 feet. All three target reservoirs - Nanushuk 20 (N20), N19 and N18 - were penetrated with elevated gas readings while cutting samples revealed oil shows in all target intervals, said a statement.
Arecor Therapeutics said its proprietary insulin products, AT247 and AT278, have been granted a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patents will protect the novel formulations of the products.