Anglo American holds copper and iron ore guidance, SSE operates as expected in Q1

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 45 points higher on Thursday, having closed on 0.28% on Thursday at 8,187.46.

Stocks to watch

Anglo American on Thursday held annual copper and iron ore production guidance after a second-quarter update. Copper production fell 6% year on year to 195,700 tonnes, driven by an 8% decrease in Chile's production, while iron ore was flat at 15.6 million tonnes.

SSE reported a first-quarter operational performance in line with expectations on Thursday, with renewable output up 60% year-on-year due to improved weather conditions and increased capacity. The FTSE 100 company said in a trading statement that it was progressing on its £20.5bn ‘NZAP Plus’ investment plan, achieving milestones on several key energy infrastructure projects, including the Viking and Yellow River onshore wind farms and the Dogger Bank A offshore wind farm. It was also planning to develop a 2GW offshore wind site in the Netherlands, potentially operational by the decade's end.

Private equity and infrastructure investment group 3i said it had an “encouraging start” to the new financial year, with net asset value (NAV) rising 4% over the first quarter. NAV per share totalled 2,167p by 30 June, up from 2,085p on 31 March, despite a negative FX translation impact of £113m or 12p per share. The company’s biggest portfolio company, Action, the Benelux-focused non-food discount retailer, put in a strong performance with net sales and EBITDA up 20% and 23% over the first six months of 2024.

Newspaper round-up

The co-founders of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firm have announced their support for Donald Trump’s bid for re-election, and plan to make substantial donations to back him further. Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen, the heads of Andreessen Horowitz, commonly known as A16Z, revealed their plans in a sprawling 90-minute podcast, in which they argued that the future of “American innovation” required a Trump victory. – Guardian

Talks between the train drivers’ union Aslef and the Department for Transport (DfT) will take place next week as the new Labour government seeks a swift resolution to the long-running national pay dispute. Aslef’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, said he believed fresh talks “can and will get a deal”, more than two years on from the start of a series of strikes by drivers that have halted train services around the country. – Guardian

More than 250,000 young people risk missing out on jobs if an overhaul of the minimum wage by Angela Rayner backfires, experts have warned. A radical change to workers rights championed by the Deputy Prime Minister and set out in the King’s Speech includes plans to remove “discriminatory age bands” that mean a lower wage is paid to younger people. – Telegraph

London-listed companies are back in favour with investors ahead of their European rivals, according to one of the world’s biggest fund managers. The latest edition of Bank of America’s European fund manager survey included the views of 242 fund managers with a combined $632 billion of assets under management. It was carried out between July 5 and 11. – The Times

Microsoft has concluded diversity is “no longer business critical” and has laid off staff working on inclusion initiatives, a former employee has claimed. The technology company has disbanded a team working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies because of “changing business needs”, according to the former Microsoft team leader. - The Times

US close

US stocks finished in mixed fashion on Wednesday with the Dow setting another record high but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq sinking sharply, with the latter experiencing its worst one-day sell-off in well over a year.

Concerns about government intervention in the semiconductor market tanked chip stocks, causing the Nasdaq to sink 2.77% to 17,996.92 – its first time below the 18,000 level in two weeks and the worst daily performance since December 2022.

Weakness in the tech sector was also weighing on the S&P 500, which fell 1.39% to 5,588.27 as it pulled back after setting its 38th record close of the year the previous session.

The Dow, however, gained another 0.59% to finish at another all-time closing high of 41,198.08 – its third record in a row.

On the macro front, US mortgage applications surged 3.9% week-on-week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, erasing the prior two week's declines and marking the sharpest increase in a month.

Applications to refinance a mortgage soared 15%, offsetting a 3% drop in applications to purchase a home.