Source: Sharecast
STOCK TO WATCH
Blackstone has emerged as the winner in the race to buy Warehouse REIT, after rival bidder Tritax Big Box REIT said it would not increase its offer for the commercial landlord. Warehouse REIT changed its endorsement in July after Blackstone confirmed it would allow shareholders to receive a dividend as part of its £489m bid. Tritax had offered a cash and stock deal worth around £485.2m, but said on Friday that it did not believe increasing the financial terms would be in the interests of its shareholders.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
Elon Musk's company, Tesla, should have its application to supply energy to UK homes blocked on national security grounds, Ed Davey has told ministers. The Liberal Democrat leader argued that giving the electric car manufacturer a foothold in the British energy market would be "a gravely concerning move considering Elon Musk's repeated interference in UK politics". – Guardian
The government has taken control of the UK's third-largest steelworks as ministers try to protect 1,450 jobs after Liberty Steel's operations in South Yorkshire were put into administration. The high court in London on Thursday ordered the winding up of Speciality Steel UK, which has plants in Rotherham and Stocksbridge, despite the company's request for more time to find new financial backers. – Guardian
Norway has made one of its biggest North Sea oil discoveries in a decade. It's a development that will heighten scrutiny of Ed Miliband's decision to end Britain's fossil fuel exploration in the area. Oil field operator Aker BP has uncovered a field that could yield the equivalent of 134m barrels of oil in an area thought to have already been fully explored. – Telegraph
JCB, Britain's biggest privately owned engineering company, has called on ministers to intervene after claiming that US tariffs on finished goods containing steel and aluminium will cost it "hundreds of millions of pounds". In a move that appeared to take the UK government by surprise, the Trump administration on Monday expanded the scope of its already flagged 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium components being exported to the United States from Britain to include all finished goods. – The Times
The American government has rejected claims by two whistleblowers that it failed to properly investigate allegations of sanctions violations by Standard Chartered in a case that has drawn the personal attention of President Trump. The FTSE 100 bank reached a $667m settlement with the United States in 2012 and paid $1.1bn to the American and British authorities in 2019 to settle allegations that it breached sanctions on Iran and other countries. – The Times
US CLOSE
US stocks posted moderate declines on Thursday as underwhelming results from economic bellwether Walmart hit sentiment, while traders also exercised caution ahead of a scheduled speech from Jerome Powell.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.34% at 44,785.50, while the S&P 500 shed 0.40% to 6,370.17, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.34% softer at 21,100.31.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com