Monday 24 March 2025
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: France’s credit outlook downgraded
Business: Gordon Ramsay’s TV company made over £60 million in 2024
Markets: Ticket reseller StubHub’s New York IPO could raise over $1 billion
Foreign Affairs: Turkey’s main opposition politician jailed amid protests
Security and intelligence: US calls UK approach to Ukraine “simplistic”
Domestic politics: UK Government to cut 10,000 civil service jobs
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 8,646.79 (down 0.63%)
S&P 500 = 5,667.56 (up 0.082%)
Nasdaq = 17,784.05 (up 0.52%)
CAC40 = 8,042.95 (down 0.53%)
£1 = $1.29 / €1.19
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Canada special update: Canada’s new Prime Minister, Mark Carney, has called a snap election for 28 April as he seeks to strengthen his Government’s mandate. Carney became Prime Minister earlier this month after Justin Trudeau resigned.
The Mighty Detail
Economics: Morningstar DBRS has issued a negative outlook on France’s creditworthiness. The ratings company said that it was concerned about France’s “large fiscal deficit and high public debt ratio”. France budget deficit stood at 6 per cent of GDP last year. The Government aims to reduce it to 5.4 per cent this year.
Business: Newly filed accounts show that Gordon Ramsay’s television production company, Humble Pie Productions, posted turnover of £60.6 million last year with a profit of £7.1 million. Ramsay’s restaurant business turned over £95.6 million, with a loss of £3.4 million.
Markets: StubHub, the online events ticketing platform, is set to be listed on the New York stock exchange. The move could raise more than $1 billion for the company. StubHub, known as Viagogo outside of the US, was launched in 2000 and bought by eBay for $310 million in 2007. It was bought back by its co-founder Erick Baker for $4 billion in 2020.
Foreign Affairs: The Mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem İmamoğlu, was jailed yesterday while he awaits trial on corruption charges. İmamoğlu is the main opposition figure to President Erdogan. Members of İmamoğlu’s party continued, however, with a Presidential primary yesterday to select him as their Presidential candidate.
Security and intelligence: US Government envoy Steve Witkoff, has said that the UK’s plan to support a ceasefire in Ukraine with international forces is “simplistic”. Witkoff also said “I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy”. Separately, the US National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, has suggested a three-stage approach to a ceasefire in Ukraine. It would cover energy infrastructure, stopping hostilities in the Black Sea and then dividing up territories.
Domestic politics: UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said that the UK Government plans to cut government operating costs by 15 per cent and reduce the number of civil servants by 10,000. The announcement comes ahead of the Chancellor’s Spring Statement on Wednesday.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
Bank of England delivers lecture on economic growth
Ukraine, US, Russia hold separate talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Impeachment verdict for South Korea’s Prime Minister Han Duk-soo
UK, US, Eurozone manufacturing growth data (March)
UK, US, Eurozone services growth data (March)
Lookahead to tomorrow
US intelligence chiefs discuss global threats at US Senate hearing
New German Parliament sits for the first time
UK, France, Italy, Germany, car registration data (February)
US new homes sales (February)
Japan CPI inflation data (yearly)
Company results from: Kingfisher, Smiths Group
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Bright sunshine in the northwest of England. Sunny intervals elsewhere. High of 15C and low of 4C in London. Bright sunshine in Belfast and Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” – Seneca, Ancient Roman philosopher
Mighty takeaway: Think carefully about how prioritise and spend your time. Are you spending your time on the right things?
That’s it for this morning. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you tomorrow. Do join us then.
Bye!
The Mighty Memo team