Coats buys material planning firm ThreadSol, Stagecoach selling North American bus division

Stocks to watch

Industrial thread maker Coats said it had bought Asia-based material planning company ThreadSol for up to $12m in cash. ThreadSol's cloud-based digital applications help clothing and footwear companies minimise waste. “This complementary suite of software solutions for the apparel and footwear industries will enable brands, retailers and manufacturers to drive productivity gains, supply chain control and speed to market,” Coats said. The initial payment is $5m, with further payments of up to $7m to 2022.

Stagecoach has agreed to sell its North America bus and coach division to a US private equity firm for $271.4m. The FTSE 250 group said it would use the proceeds of the sale to pay down debt.

Greencoat UK Wind on Thursday said it was buying the Douglas West wind farm in Scotland from Blue Energy for £45m. Douglas West is located 7 miles south west of Lanark, Scotland and will have a total capacity of 45MW, and will be subsidy free. Construction is expected to start in 2019, with commencement of commercial operations targeted for July 2021.

AstraZeneca announced a slew of positive news from its drugs trials on Thursday, reporting that the Phase III OLYMPUS and ROCKIES trials for roxadustat each met their primary efficacy endpoints for the treatment of patients with anaemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD), that were either non-dialysis-dependent or dialysis-dependent, respectively. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant also said that its randomised, open-label, controlled, Phase III SOLO-3 trial of Lynparza (olaparib) tablets in 266 patients, conducted alongside Merck, saw positive results with relapsed ovarian cancer after two or more lines of treatment.

Newspaper round-up

Judges have dismissed Uber’s appeal against a landmark employment tribunal ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with access to the minimum wage and paid holidays. Master of the rolls, Sir Terence Etherton, along with Lord Justice Bean, backed an October 2016 employment tribunal ruling that could affect tens of thousands of workers in the gig economy. A third judge, Lord Justice Underhill, dissented, leading to a 2-1 majority decision. – Guardian

Cancelled trains, lengthy delays, cracked bridges and wildcat strikes by disgruntled employees – a trail of chaos in recent months has caused Deutsche Bahn (DB) to become the butt of jokes and withering complaints. Once the pride of the German state that owns it and the envy of much of the rest of the world, Germany’s national rail network is showing considerable signs of strain and decline amid accusations of chronic underinvestment in its infrastructure. – Guardian

MPs have urged UK competition authorities to investigate Facebook, after a report that millions of users' personal data and private messages had been shared with dozens of companies. The Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) committee called for Facebook to explain its policy on user data and accused it of providing "misleading responses" to Parliament. – Telegraph

Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, the world’s two richest people, have invested in a Google spin-off that aims to store electricity by heating molten salt. Malta, a Massachusetts-based company, has raised $26m (£21m) from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which counts the Amazon and Microsoft founders among its investors. – Telegraph

A survey of British suppliers has shown that 94 per cent believe that a merger between J Sainsbury and Asda will hurt their business. Some grocery suppliers even said they believed the merger presented more of a risk than a no-deal Brexit in a survey conducted by the Food and Drink Federation. The findings of the survey have formed part of the FDF’s submission to the Competition and Markets Authority, which is investigating whether the merger should go ahead. – The Times

A post-Brexit free trade agreement with the United States faces staunch opposition in Congress as Democrats threaten to reject it unless Britain lifts a ban on chlorinated chicken. Linda Sánchez, vice-chairwoman of the party’s caucus in the House of Representatives, said that she “would not hesitate to vote against” any deal which fails to address such concerns. – The Times

US close

US stocks recorded some heavy losses on Wednesday following the Federal Reserve's latest policy announcement.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.49% lower at 23,323.66, while the S&P 500 had lost 1.54% to 2,506.96 and the Nasdaq Composite traded 2.17% lower at 6,636.83.

Stocks turned lower after the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday defied Donald Trump and raised interest rates by 0.25% to a target range of 2.25%-2.5%, but lowered forecasts for future increases.

Estimates showed the Fed was looking at two rate increases in 2019 instead of three as previously expected. Officials now expect economic growth of 2.3% in 2019, down from the 2.5% they anticipated in September.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and fellow board members voted unanimously for the rise.

"Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in November indicates that the labour market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has been rising at a strong rate," the Fed said in a statement.

"Job gains have been strong, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate has remained low. Household spending has continued to grow strongly, while growth of business fixed investment has moderated from its rapid pace earlier in the year."