Friday, 14 February 2025
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: ECB issues warning on tariffs and competitiveness
Business: London named ‘unicorn’ capital in Europe for fintech
Markets: Barclays shares fall by over 5 per cent despite high revenue
Foreign Affairs: Trump says Ukraine will be involved in peace talks
Security and intelligence: Israel to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities by midyear
Domestic politics: UK Government receives China’s Foreign Minister
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 8,764.72 (down 0.49 per cent)
S&P 500 = 6,115.07 (up 1.04 per cent)
Nasdaq = 19,945.64 (up 1.5 per cent)
CAC40 = 8,164.11 (up 1.52 per cent)
£1 = $1.26 / €1.20
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: The European Central Bank has said that tariffs and a lack of EU competitiveness risk slowing Eurozone growth. In Q4 2024, the Eurozone grew by 0.1 per cent. The UK also grew by the same rate in Q4 2024.
Business: London has been named as Europe ‘unicorn’ capital for financial technology (fintech) companies. Unicorns are privately held startup businesses valued at over $1 billion. Revolut, the online bank, is the UK’s most valuable fintech unicorn. It is worth around $45 billion and has 18 million users.
Markets: Shares in Barclays fell by over 5 per cent yesterday. This is despite revenue from Barclays’ equity traders increasing by 40 per cent to £604 million in Q4 2024. Revenue from the bank’s retail division also increased by 46 per cent to £2.62 billion. Barclays left its forecast for the year unchanged, however, causing its share price to fall.
Foreign Affairs: President Trump has said that Ukraine would be involved in peace talks with Russia and that Russia should be re-admitted to the G7 to form the G8. This follows Trump’s call with President Putin on Wednesday and Trump’s suggestion of territorial concessions on behalf of Ukraine, which alarmed European leaders. A Russian Government spokesman said that the Kremlin was “impressed” by the US’s willingness to negotiate.
Security and intelligence: US Government intelligence reports suggest that Israel is to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities by the middle of the year. In response, Iran’s President Pezeshkian said that “if you strike a hundred of those [facilities], we will build a thousand other ones.”
Domestic politics: UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, received China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, in London yesterday. Discussions were held as part of the revived UK-China Strategic Dialogue forum last held in 2018. In a statement, Lammy said that it was important to use such channels for “robust and constructive discussion”.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
Munich Security Conference begins, Germany
Eurozone employment data (Q4 2024)
Eurozone GDP data (Q4 2024)
US retail sales data (January 2024)
Company results from: NatWest
Lookahead to the weekend
Saturday
African Union leaders’ summit, Ethiopia
Final of Qatar Women’s Tennis Open 2025
Sunday
BAFTA film and television awards
Final of Welsh Snooker Open, Llandudno
Nascar: Daytona 500, Florida, US
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Sunny spells in most of England but wet in the southwest. High of 5C and low of 1C in London. Rain in Belfast. Sunny spells in Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“Happiness is not something readymade. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama
Mighty takeaway: Nothing to add to this one.
That’s it for this morning and for this week. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you next week.
Adios!
The Mighty Memo team
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