Smiths to sell artificial life business, Vodafone to launch 4G in Cameroon

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open eight points lower on Friday, having closed up 1.12% to 6,911.40 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

FTSE 100 engineering company Smiths Group is to sell its artificial life business to Endurance Lift Solutions, which provides artificial lift platform to the oil and gas industry, for $39.5m, in order to use the proceeds to reinvest in growth opportunities. The deal, anticipated to close by the end of the year, is subject to regulatory approval with its management team also expected to transfer to Endurance Lift.

Vodafone and 4G-LTE telecommunications operator Afrimax Group have announced a new non-equity partner market agreement for Cameroon. The companies will launch LTE data services under the 'Vodafone Cameroon' brand initially in Cameroon's two biggest cities, Douala and Yaoundé. Vodafone Partner Markets Chief Executive Diego Massidda said: "The next stage in our agreement with Afrimax for sub-Saharan Africa brings Cameroon to the Vodafone Partner Market family. I am delighted that consumers and businesses in Cameroon will now experience Vodafone's high-speed data services."

Indivior updated the market on the Federal Trade Commission investigation and class action litigation being filed against it on Friday. On 29 July, the FTSE 250 company indicated that the FTC was seeking court action over the drug Suboxone, having investigated whether Indivior and its predecessor, Reckitt Benckiser US, had filed a citizen petition with the Food and Drug Administration and negotiated with competing manufacturers to maintain its monopoly. It now faced a much larger opponent, with 35 US states and the District of Columbia filing a civil complaint alleging violations of state and federal antitrust and consumer protection laws on Thursday.

Newspaper round-up

Mark Carney has urged the government to take decisive action to lift the UK’s moribund economy as he said that the central bank could do little to improve Britain’s long-term prospects. Politicians need to make the running now by taking bold decisions on public spending and economic reforms, the governor of the Bank of England signalled last night in Berlin in a speech on climate change. - The Times

Theresa May alone will decide the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU, Downing Street has said after Boris Johnson began setting out a strategy for Brexit. Speaking in the United States, the Foreign Secretary on Thursday said that the UK will begin formal Brexit talks “early next year” and leave the EU by 2019. - The Daily Telegraph

The prospect of a trade war between the United States and the European Union grew closer last night after the World Trade Organisation confirmed that $22bn of state support for Airbus, including some from the UK, was illegal. The ruling means that under WTO rules the US government can seek damages in the form of retaliatory tariffs against EU imports of goods or services to the tune of $10 billion a year. - The Times

US close

US stocks ended Thursday’s session higher as the Federal Reserve’s decision to stand pat on interest rates continued to provide a boost to investor sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.54% to 18,392.46 points, the S&P 500 grew 0.65% to 2,177.18 points and the Nasdaq rose 0.84% to 5,339.52 points.

Oil prices also gained after official data on Wednesday showed a surprise drop in US crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.6% to $46.10 per barrel and Brent rose 1.4% to $47.53 per barrel at 2200 BST.

The Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday decided to keep interest rates unchanged at between 0.25% and 0.50% and cut the number of rate increases they expect this year from one to two.

The Fed was split in its decision to leave interest rates unchanged with three members dissenting in favour of an immediate 25 basis point hike.

The FOMC also signalled that the case for a hike later this year has strengthened, saying inflation was on track to reach the 2% target and near-term risks were “balanced”.

Goldman Sachs said its US economics team assigns a cumulative 65% probability to a rate hike by the 14 December FOMC meeting, which is roughly the same as implied by fed fund futures.