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tock market sentiment has taken a hammering after Fitch removed its top-notch rating on US debt.
The agency’s downgrade to AA+ in the wake of Washington’s latest debt ceiling standoff cast a cloud over Asia shares as well as the FTSE 100 index, which shed 140 points at one point, and is still down by 1.5%.
Shares in BAE Systems and Taylor Wimpey weathered the storm after posting well-received half-year figures.
Live updates
UK to adopt global sustainability rules to crack down on greenwashing
The Government has announced it will adopt internationally-approved sustainability standards to help crack down on corporate greenwashing and bolster London as a global financial centre.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Department for Business and Trade said the UK’s disclosure standards will set out rules on how companies share their sustainability-related risks and opportunities.
It said the rules will be based on those published last month by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) – a group set up at Cop27 to set global rules on climate reporting.
Read more here
Holidaymakers ‘spend nearly £100 more per day than they would at home’
Holidaymakers spend nearly £100 per day more typically while they are away than they would at home, a survey indicates.
On average, people spend £95.40 more per day, in addition to travel to and from and accommodation at their destination, while they are away, compared with their spending at home, Starling Bank found.
This equates to around £688 more spent over the course of a holiday lasting one week.
Read more here
US market snapshot
Take a look at our US market snapshot as shares fall on the back of Fitch downgrading the country’s credit rating.
Grant Shapps convenes summit with energy giants in Downing Street
The UK’s energy industry leaders will gather in Downing Street on Wednesday to discuss economic growth and energy security with Grant Shapps.
The Energy Security Secretary will meet companies including EDF, SSE, Shell and BP, which collectively have multibillion-pound plans to invest in low and zero-carbon projects.
Mr Shapps will highlight the Government’s decision to invest in home-grown energy sources, including renewables, nuclear power and backing North Sea oil and gas, and the steps it has taken to ensure critical energy infrastructure is protected from disruptive protests.
Read more here
BAE Systems breaks records as governments beef up defence spending
The impact of the war in Ukraine on global geopolitics has led to a record level of orders at BAE Systems, with governments beefing up spending on defence from nuclear submarines to tanks and fighter jets.
Shares in the London-listed multinational topped the FTSE 100 after it revealed a £66.2 billion order book alongside a sharp rise in profits and a fresh £1.5 billion payout for investors.
BAE’s chief executive, Charles Woodburn, told the Standard that the “very tragic circumstances” of the Ukraine war had drawn attention to the importance of defence companies.
Read more here
Wall Street futures lower
Wall Street stock futures are down, though by less than London stocks, after credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the US.
Dow Jones futures are down by 0.4% to 35,624.00, while S&P 500 futures are down 0.6% to 4,575.75. Futures in the tech-led Nasdaq index are down 0.8%, to 15,690.25.
The biggest losers include Elon Muskj’s Tesla and Peter Thiel’s Palantir.
Times are tough, but the doomsters’ predictions have been wrong so far
Two pieces of news to report this morning, which don’t bode too well.
Overnight, US credit rating giant Fitch downgraded the value of US debt, just a notch from AAA to AA+. This doesn’t mean the US has any chance of going bust — since it controls and prints the dollar, if it needs more of them, more shall appear.
And in any case, the track record of rating agencies is not great. Where were they before the 2008 financial crash? Such warnings might have been helpful. They were in bed with investment banks insisting everything was hunky dory.
Read more here
FTSE 100 rallies but still down by almost 1%
The FTSE 100 was down by as many as 140 points earlier this morning, but has rallied slightly. However, it is still down by close to 1% for the day.
Taylor Wimpey and oil supermajors Shell and BP bucked the trend as the biggest risers of the day. Smurfit Kappa is the biggest faller.
Good news to come on inflation?
Economist Simon French notes that construction material prices are now falling, which could lead to good news for prices down the line.
The data could be an important point for the Bank of England to consider as it mulls whether to raise interest rates by a quarter or half-point tomorrow.
Helpful optics to tomorrow’s MPC decision over UK interest rates. Construction material prices released today are essentially flat (& have been for 12 months) and nudging down in June data (-2.9% YoY). Supply chain healing, falling energy costs & rebalancing of demand all playing… pic.twitter.com/npeLgttG1z
— Simon French (@shjfrench) August 2, 2023
Asda to display live fuel prices online after Government pressure
Asda is to display daily fuel prices live online for the first time after pressure from the Government and the UK competition watchdog on supermarkets.
The Leeds-based chain claimed it will be the first supermarket to publish all local fuel prices online.
It said prices for each filling station will be available alongside other key information on the Asda Store Locator pages on its website.
Read more here
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