Wednesday, 12 February 2025
The Mighty Headlines
· Economics: UK Chancellor meets UK bank leaders today
· Business: Chat GPT owner and Elon Musk in public dispute over sale
· Markets: European stock markets steady despite US tariffs
· Foreign Affairs: President Trump and King of Jordan discuss Gaza
· Security and intelligence: UK, US and Australia sanction ransomware syndicate
· Domestic politics: UK refuses to sign international AI agreement
The Mighty Stats
· FTSE = 8,777.39 (up 0.11 per cent)
· S&P 500 = 6,068.50 (up 0.034 per cent)
· Nasdaq = 19,643.86 (down 0.36 per cent)
· CAC40 = 8,028.90 (up 0.28 per cent)
· £1 = $1.24 / €1.20
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is meeting the leaders of the major UK banks today in a bid to increase economic growth. Senior executives from Barclays, Lloyds, NatWest and Nationwide are expected to attend. The latest UK GDP figures are published tomorrow and are expected to show a fall in growth of 0.1 per cent in Q4 2024.
Business: The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has refused Elon Musk's $97.4 billion offer to buy his company. Altman, whose group is behind Chat GPT, said Musk was a competitor and accused Musk of "trying to slow us down". Musk, who co-founded OpenAI with Altman as a non-profit, is accusing OpenAI of pursuing profit over benefiting humanity.
Markets: The European stock markets were little changed after the EU promised “firm and proportionate countermeasures” to the 25 per cent tariffs the US has imposed on steel and aluminium imports. The pan European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.23 per cent higher yesterday.
Foreign Affairs: In a meeting with the King of Jordan yesterday, President Trump reiterated his Gaza resettlement plan. King Abdullah of Jordan said yesterday that the Arab nations would come to Washington DC with a counteroffer before later posting on social media that the unified Arab position was to rebuild Gaza without displacing Palestinians.
Security and intelligence: The UK, US and Australia have sanctioned the Russia-based IT service provider Zservers. The trio state that Zservers supported the Lockbit ransomware syndicate. Lockbit has operated since 2019 and has taken more than $120 million from victims. It has been linked to attacks on Boeing, Royal Mail and the NHS.
Domestic politics: The UK has refused to sign an AI agreement put forward at this week's Global AI summit in Paris. The UK Government said that the deal did not provide enough clarity on governance or about the threat AI poses to national security. The US also refused to sign the agreement but China and India did sign it.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
· UK chairs Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting, Brussels
· US Senate votes on Tulsi Gubbard’s nomination as Director of National Intelligence
· Indian Prime Minister expected to visit the US
· Canadian Prime Minister meets European Commission President at EU-Canada summit
· Prime Minister’s Questions in UK Parliament
· Italy industrial production data (December)
· US CPI inflation data (January)
· Company results from: Heineken International, Kraft Heinz, SoftBank
Lookahead to tomorrow
· NATO Defence Ministers meeting, Brussels
· France hosts international conference on Syria
· Transport Questions in UK Parliament
· UK GDP data (Q4 2024)
· UK industrial production and manufacturing data (December)
· US unemployment data (weekly)
· US PPI inflation data (January)
· Company results from: Barclays, Nissan, Honda, Siemens, Sony
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Dry in England apart from the northeast. High of 7C and low of 2C in London. Light cloud but largely dry too in Belfast and Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, and others make it happen.” – Michael Jordan, basketball player
Mighty takeaway: Take action on your goals. Don’t just think about taking action.
That’s it for this morning. We’ll see you tomorrow.
Adios!
The Mighty Memo team