Thursday, 15 August 2024
Thursday, 15th August 2024 – www.mightymemo.co.uk
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: US inflation falls for fourth month
Business: AstraZeneca’s value tops £200 billion
Markets: Norwegian sovereign wealth fund posts $138 billion in profits
Foreign Affairs: Japan’s Prime Minister steps down
Security and intelligence: Ukraine continues Russian advance, Russia pauses peace talks
Domestic politics: Government talks employment reform with business and trade unions
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 8,290.69 (currently up 0.67 per cent)
S&P500 = 5,455.21 (up 0.38 per cent at Wednesday close)
Nasdaq = 17,192.60 (up 0.029 per cent at Wednesday close)
Nikkei = 36,726.64 (up 0.78 per cent at Thursday close)
CAC40 = 7,333.36 (up 0.79 per cent at Wednesday close)
£1 = $1.29 / €1. 17/ ¥189.13
The Mighty Detail
Economics: US inflation fell to 2.9 per cent in the year to July. This is down from 3 per cent in the year to June and is the lowest rate since March 2021. It is the fourth monthly fall in inflation. This may encourage the US Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.
Business: AstraZeneca’s stock market valuation reached £200 billion for the first time on Wednesday. The pharmaceutical company is already the largest company on the London stock exchange. AstraZeneca’s share price has increased by over 21 per cent this year.
Markets: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund posted profits of $138 billion in the first half of 2024. Tech stocks provided the fund with returns of nearly 30 per cent and the overall rate of return on investments was 8.6 per cent. The fund has a total value of $1.6 trillion.
Foreign Affairs: The Prime Minister of Japan has decided not to stand for re-election in September. Fumio Kishida was elected for a three-year term in September 2021. This follows accusations that factions within his Liberal Democratic Party have misused campaign funds.
Security and intelligence: The Ukrainian armed forces continue their advance into Russia. On day 9 of Ukraine’s advance, the Russian foreign ministry said peace negotiations have been put on pause. The Ukrainian foreign ministry has said the goal of the incursion is to prevent Russian missiles from being launched from Russia’s Kursk region into Ukraine.
Domestic politics: The Deputy Prime Minister and the Business Secretary met with business leaders and trade union leaders to discuss the Government’s plans on employment law reform. These plans include, among others, banning certain zero hours contracts and removing age bands from the minimum wage.
What’s happening today?
Public holiday in France, Italy, Spain and much of Europe (Assumption Day)
A-level results in England
UK Construction data (June)
UK GDP data (Q2 2024)
UK Trade data (June)
US Continuing jobless claims data (weekly)
US Initial jobless claims data (weekly)
US retail sales (July)
Lookahead to tomorrow
UK retail sales (July)
Switzerland industrial production data (Q2 2024)
Italy CPI inflation data (July)
US house building data (July)
Weather today
Sunny, dry and generally fine in London. High of 24°C and low of 18°C. Cooler, with heavy rain in Belfast. Cooler, with light rain in Edinburgh.
Life coaching quote of the day
“Worrying is negative goal setting.” – Zig Ziglar, writer and motivational speaker
Mighty takeaway: Worrying makes you focus on what you don’t want to happen. In most cases, your worries don’t even materialise so you’ve wasted your time. In the rare cases they do, you’ve spent additional time being unhappy when you could have done something better with your time.
That’s all for today. If you like what you read or don’t like it at all, let us know. And don’t forget to pass this newsletter on to someone who might find it useful.
Adios!
The Mighty Memo team
hello@mightymemo.co.uk