Vodafone extends deal with Virgin Media O2, GSK restructures CureVac collaboration

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 50 points higher on Wednesday, having closed down 0.56% on Tuesday at 8,121.20.

Stocks to watch

Vodafone UK and Virgin Media O2 have agreed to extend and enhance their existing mobile network sharing agreement for more than a decade, forming a new company that will invest £11bn in the project. The agreement is subject to the planned merger of Vodafone and Three. If that deal goes through then Virgin Media O2 will buy spectrum “establishing three scaled mobile network operators each with better alignment of spectrum holding”, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday.

GSK and CureVac have restructured their collaboration into a new licensing agreement, granting GSK full rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialise mRNA vaccines for influenza and Covid-19 globally. CureVac will receive an upfront payment of €400m and up to €1.05 billion in milestone payments, along with tiered royalties, while retaining rights to certain infectious disease targets and the ability to develop mRNA vaccines independently. The agreement would enhance GSK's vaccine platform technologies, and allow both companies to focus on their respective mRNA development activities.

Newspaper round-up

Average private rents in Great Britain have climbed to record highs, prompting a call for the next government to prioritise measures to help create an extra 120,000 rental properties. Data shows that the typical advertised rent outside London reached a record £1,316 a calendar month in May, the property website Rightmove said. The figure for London was £2,652 a month – almost three times the £894 asked for in north-east England. – Guardian

Much has changed in Belfast since the 1930s. Yet through the second world war, decades of Troubles and the steep decline of heavy industry, the Short Brothers factory has continued to make planes and parts. Yet now a takeover by US planemaker Boeing of the factory’s owner, Spirit AeroSystems, has raised questions over its future. Workers and politicians fear a new ownership structure could lead to steep job cuts at one of Northern Ireland’s main manufacturers, which has about 3,500 employees. – Guardian

Dozens of airports across Europe are unprepared for new post-Brexit fingerprinting rules scheduled to be introduced in months, threatening chaos for British tourists unless the timeline is delayed. Senior industry figures have expressed alarm that many smaller airports across the EU have so far failed to install fingerprint technology that is set to be activated in October. Under the so-called European Entry/Exit System (EES), all British nationals travelling to the EU will have to have their biometric data taken upon crossing the border for the first time. – Telegraph

Marks & Spencer has faced shareholder questions over paying an annual dividend of only 3p, despite handing millions of pounds in bonuses to its bosses. At the retailers’ annual meeting on Tuesday, several investors told the board they were “really disappointed with the really low dividend payment” that it awarded — its first for four years — after delivering forecast-busting profits. Archie Norman, its chairman, said the dividend should have hopefully “put a nice little bit of a chink in people’s pockets”, but admitted that it was a modest return. – The Times

The founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund is to step down as chairman of its investment adviser as part of the $1.58 billion takeover of the London-listed music rights investment company by Blackstone. Merck Mercuriadis, 60, will depart Hipgnosis Song Management, the investment adviser, once Blackstone’s $1.31-per-share acquisition closes, bringing to an end an acrimonious period. – The Times

US close

Despite a mediocre start, US stock markets rallied into the afternoon with the S&P 500 finishing above the 5,500 mark for the first time and the S&P 500 notching its 22nd record close of the year.

Gains were helped by a 10% surge in the share price of Tesla along with positive comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on the economic outlook.

The Dow finished up 0.4% at 39,331.85, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 5,509.01 and the Nasdaq jumped 0.8% to 18,028.76.

Speaking at the European Central Banking Forum, Powell said the US central bank has made "quite a bit of progress" on inflation but reiterated that the Fed needed more confidence of things easing further before cutting interest rates.

While stopping short of giving a date for the first rate cut, Powell acknowledged that the jobs market was beginning to loosen. “You can see the labour market is cooling off, appropriately so, and we’re watching it very carefully,” he said.