Wednesday, 19 February 2025
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: Average pay rises in the UK
Business: Elon Musk unveils new AI chatbot
Markets: HSBC shares reach 20-year high
Foreign Affairs: US and Russia seek to restore relations
Security and intelligence: British couple arrested in Iran on spying charges
Domestic politics: UK to create new £20 billion defence fund
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 8,766.73 (down 0.015 per cent)
S&P 500 = 6,129.58 (up 0.24 per cent)
Nasdaq = 20,041.26 (up 0.072 per cent)
CAC40 = 8,206.56 (up 0.21 per cent)
£1 = $1.26 / €1.21
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: Average pay in the UK rose by 6 per cent in Q4 2024. Unemployment remains unchanged at 4.4 per cent. Both results are better than had been expected by analysts.
Business: Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, has released a new programme which it claims outperforms rivals such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek. xAI's "Grok 3" programme is said to have powerful reasoning capabilities. Last week Musk described Grok 3 as "scary smart".
Markets: Shares in HSBC rose to a 20-year high during trading yesterday in anticipation of its earnings results being announced today. The bank's shares reached 894.70, which is the highest level since 2001. Analysts are predicting that earnings will increase from £24.1 billion in 2023 to £25.2 billion in 2024.
Foreign Affairs: The US and Russia agreed yesterday to restore diplomatic missions in each other's countries. The two countries also agreed to create a high-level team to discuss peace in Ukraine and to explore closer economic relations. President Trump also questioned President Zelensky’s position yesterday and indicated that he would want new elections in Ukraine.
Security and intelligence: Two British citizens detained in Iran have now been charged with spying. Husband and wife Craig and Lindsay Foreman had been on an around-the-world motorcycle tour. Iranian authorities have previously been accused of detaining foreign nationals in return for concessions from foreign governments.
Domestic politics: The UK Defence Secretary has said that the UK faces a “new era of threats” and has announced a new defence investment budget worth £20 billion. A new National Armaments Director will oversee the budget.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
President Trump expected to attend Saudi Arabia investment summit in Florida
UK CPI inflation data (January)
US new home construction data (January)
Company results from: HSBC, Glencore, BAE, Rio Tinto, Carrefour
Lookahead to tomorrow
G20 Foreign Ministers meet in South Africa
Final pre-election debate with German Chancellor candidates
US unemployment data (weekly)
UK, Eurozone consumer confidence data (February)
Japan CPI inflation data (January)
Japan manufacturing and services growth data (February)
Company results from: Lloyds, Walmart, Renault, Anglo American, Airbus, Alibaba, Mercedez-Benz
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Sunny spells in the southeast and northeast of England. Light rain in the southwest and northwest. High of 10C and low of 7C in London. Light rain in Belfast. Sunny spells in Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“Perfectionism is a lost cause. Focus your energy on being the best you can be.” – Domonique Bertolucci
Mighty takeaway: It doesn’t always have to be perfect. Sometimes good enough is enough.
That’s it for this morning. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Adios!
The Mighty Memo team