Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Drugmaker Astrazeneca said on Tuesday that "strong growth momentum" had continued in H1, with "excellent R&D pipeline delivery" in the year-to-date. Astrazeneca said total revenues were up 9% in the six months ended 30 June at $28.04bn, with growth reported across all major geographic regions, while gross profits grew 10% to $23.33bn.
Barclays Bank reported a 23% rise in H1 profits on Tuesday and launched a £1.0bn share buyback as its Tesco Bank acquisition boosted income. Barclays said pre-tax profits came in at £5.2bn, while group income rose 12% to £14.0bn.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Tin mining is poised for a comeback in Cornwall after the UK government invested almost £29.0m to reopen the county's last tin mine, creating more than 1,000 jobs in the region. The South Crofty tin mine, near the Cornish village of Pool, closed in 1998, and in the years since, as tin prices have soared, attempts to reopen it have been unsuccessful. – Guardian
The UK online payments company Wise is to move its main stock market listing to the US after shareholders approved the move. Investors in Wise, one of the biggest financial technology businesses in the UK with a market value of about £11.0bn, voted on Monday in favour of a dual listing in the US in an attempt to attract more investors and boost its value. – Guardian
The billionaire founder of easyJet has been defeated in a long-running copyright legal battle against a charity-fundraising site. Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the tycoon behind easyGroup, last year filed a lawsuit against Easyfundraising, accusing the Staffordshire-based company of copyright infringement. A High Court judge ruled in favour of the fundraising platform, but Sir Stelios mounted an appeal, arguing there were a "number of contradictions" in the judgment. – Telegraph
Millions of workers in their 50s face losing up to £18,000 if the Government accelerates a rise in the state pension age, a leading wealth manager has warned. Rathbones, which manages the savings of older people, said introducing a state retirement age of 68 earlier than planned threatened to hit people aged 51 the hardest, while people aged 52 and 53 would also lose out. – Telegraph
A "house-swapping" trend has emerged in the upper echelons of the London property market. Wealthy non-doms who are making the move to Dubai or Abu Dhabi are selling their multimillion-pound homes to Emiratis wanting a UK base. In the first six months of 2025, £694.0m of "super-prime" flats and houses — those valued at £15.0m and above — sold in London, according to data from Beauchamp Estates, the high-end estate agent, and LonRes, the property data provider. – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Monday after Donald Trump revealed that the US and EU had struck a trade agreement.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.14% at 44,837.56, while the S&P 500 ticked up 0.02% to 6,389.77 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.33% firmer at 21,178.58.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com