Source: Sharecast
STOCKS TO WATCH
Auto distributor Inchcape said it had agreed to buy a Volvo business in Peru and Costa Rica, and a Jaguar Land Rover business in Peru, both from Automotores Gildemeister, for an undisclosed sum. The businesses being acquired generated revenues of £48.7m in FY25 and will include three aligned retail locations in Peru and two in Costa Rica.
Electricity provider SSE said it expects half‑year adjusted earnings per share to come to around 64p to 68p, flagging a lower level of seasonality as regulated networks made up a growing share of profits. SSE also reaffirmed adjusted earnings per share guidance of 168p to 193p for 2026/27 and 225p to 250p for 2029/30, noting that expectations remained subject to weather, market conditions and plant availability through the key winter months.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
An internal watchdog said the Federal Reserve mismanaged costs associated with a $2.4bn renovation of its Washington DC headquarters, but noted that no criminal violations occurred, according to a report released on Wednesday. For over a year, Donald Trump has centered his attacks against the Fed and former chair Jerome Powell around the renovations, including a months-long Department of Justice criminal investigation that was dropped in April. – Guardian
New oil and gas projects are a "no-brainer" that pose "no contradiction" to the net zero agenda, according to the head of EDF Energy. Simone Rossi has joined a string of renewables leaders in making the case for more North Sea production as the government prepares to decide on two projects there. He said ministers should give the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields the green light, while accelerating support for heat pumps and electric vehicles. – Guardian
Investors have branded France "the new sick man of Europe", selling off government bonds as the country's debt crisis deepens. The French government is preparing to present its draft budget on Thursday, but ministers have already signalled that the deficit will widen and borrowing will hit a fresh record next year. Sebastien Lecornu, the prime minister, is hoping to cut €54bn of public spending. He faces stiff opposition, however, from politicians jockeying to replace Emmanuel Macron at a presidential election in April 2027. – Telegraph
The Netherlands has dumped plans to tax unrealised gains on shares, bonds and cryptocurrency after warnings it could prompt an investor exodus. Rob Jetten, the prime minister, a liberal who took office in February, will instead introduce a more conventional capital gains tax on actual profits at a rate of 36%. The switch will cost the government €15bn over the next eight years. But Mr Jetten hopes to claw that back by cutting the tax-free allowance for capital gains, bringing more small-time investors into the net. – Telegraph
America's largest maker of memory chips forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street's estimates on Wednesday night as the artificial intelligence boom continued to boost demand for its products. Micron Technology, which supplies memory technology to AI chipmakers such as Nvidia, has been a big beneficiary of the huge investment in AI data centres in the United States. – The Times
One of Britain's most promising artificial intelligence start-ups has more than doubled its valuation to $22bn after a share sale ― landing it among the most valuable AI labs in the world. ElevenLabs was founded in 2022 by Mati Staniszewski, a former Palantir employee, and Piotr Dabkowski, a machine learning engineer at Google. It is renowned in the industry for its voice generation technology, which enables users to turn text into "ultra-realistic" human-like speech, as well as design sound effects or compose music in "any genre". – The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Wednesday as traders digested a heavy slate of economic data, led by a firmer August PCE inflation print and further signs of cooling activity across housing, trade and inventories.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.86% at 50,906.05, while the S&P 500 saw out the session 0.25% softer at 7,651.54 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.24% stronger at 26,861.06.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com