Market Buzz
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Retail sales, Google, Warren Buffett
The late arrival of warm summer weather drove a recovery in retail sales last month, industry data shows, despite continuing signs of consumers holding back on big ticket purchases amid the cost of living crisis. Figures from the British Retail Consortium showed that UK total retail sales increased by 0. 5% year on year in July, a recovery from the washout month of June when colder weather deterred shoppers from spending on the high street. – Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Manufacturing, defences, financial services jobs
Imported food coming into the UK through Brexit border posts is being sent back to Europe to be tested due to a lack of laboratory capacity in Britain, food bodies have said. The SPS Certification Working Group, which represents 30 trade bodies covering £100bn worth of the UK’s food supply, has written to the government warning that members are being advised that some samples of imported foods are being sent to countries such as Germany to be tested before they can be released at the border.
Sunday newspaper round-up: TalkTalk, Apple, Andrew Bailey
Contacts between TalkTalk and Macquarie aimed at a £450m investment by the latter in its wholesale unit, known as PlatformX, have run into a wall. The news comes as TalkTalk races to refinance its £1bn debt pile in August, which is comprised of a £330m revolving credit facility maturing in November and a £685m loan falling due in February. TalkTalk was set to be seeking a £1. 5bn valuation and Sky News reported that Macquarie wanted a 40% stake in PlatformX.
Friday newspaper round-up: Morrisons, JLR, Intel
Morrisons is testing out raising the temperature of its freezers by 3C in the first move by a UK supermarket to depart from a long-held industry standard, in order to save energy and money. The Bradford-based chain said it would increase the temperature on appliances in 10 of its stores to -15C from -18C, the industry standard set almost 100 years ago and left unchanged. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Meta, Mohsin Issa, Arm Holdings
Meta’s shares rose in after-hours trading on Wednesday off the back of a strong earnings report that comes as the company is spending heavily on AI tools. The company’s stock price grew around 5% following the report, which revealed the company outperformed analysts’ expectations for its second quarter. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, reported $39. 07bn in revenue and $5. 16 earnings per share. Both results outpaced market predictions of around $38bn in revenue and $4.