(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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The UK government will launch a last-ditch effort to persuade SoftBank to list its Arm unit in London, the Financial Times reported. The government is eyeing meeting with SoftBank executives when the period of mourning following the death Queen Elizabeth II concludes next week, the FT reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. New York is leading the race to be the home of the Arm initial public offering. However, a dual listing arrangement could also be picked, allowing Arm shares to be traded in London as well as New York. Arm, a former London listing, is a designer of processor chips used in most major smartphones.
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Pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca said its Evusheld Covid-19 antibody treatment has been recommended for marketing authorisation in the EU for adults with the virus at risk of progressing to severe disease. "AstraZeneca anticipates that the European Commission will shortly complete its review of the CHMP positive opinion to determine whether to grant marketing authorisation for treatment of COVID-19 in appropriate populations," it said. Evusheld was granted marketing authorisation in the EU for the prevention of Covid-19 earlier this year.
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Separately, AstraZeneca said Beyfortus, which is being developed with Sanofi, has also been recommended for marketing authorisation in the EU, for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants during their first RSV season. "If approved, Beyfortus would be the first and only single-dose passive immunisation for the broad infant population, including those born healthy, at term or preterm, or with specific health conditions," the company said.
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AstraZeneca also said its phase three trial of Danicopan met its primary endpoint in blood disorder paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria. "Danicopan plus Ultomiris or Soliris demonstrated superiority compared to placebo plus Ultomiris or Soliris for this specific patient population, with statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in haemoglobin levels, transfusion avoidance and FACIT Fatigue scores from baseline," AstraZeneca said.
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A Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi new drug therapy to treat moderate to severe eczema in young children has been shown to be "safe and highly effective" in clinical trials. In an international study, published in the journal The Lancet, dupilumab was shown to improve the severity of the skin condition within two weeks in patients aged six months to six years. The children and their parents also reported improved sleep and quality of life. Based on the findings, doctors believe the treatment may be approved for children under the age of six in the UK soon, after it was adopted in the US in June this year. Dupilumab is being jointly developed by Regeneron and Sanofi under a global collaboration agreement.
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Gilead Sciences said its Veklury Covid-19 drug received expanded backing from the World Health Organization. The WHO now recommends the drug be used to treat severe Covid-19. It had already recommended the drug be used with those with non-severe Covid that have the highest risk of hospitalisation due to the virus.
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MARKETS
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Stock markets looked to be ending a difficult week on a downbeat note, as positive economic data on Friday from China, the world's second largest economy, wasn't enough to counteract the concern raised by a hotter-then-hoped-for inflation reading from the largest, the US, back on Tuesday. Adding to market concerns was a warning from the World Bank that required monetary policy tightening could trigger a global recession.
Meanwhile, the pound fell to its lowest level against the dollar since 1985, after poor retail sales figures took some pressure off the Bank of England to hike interest rates more aggressively than it already is. "The prospect of lower near-term inflation takes some of the pressure off the Bank of England to move even more aggressively on Thursday [next week]," said ING. "We expect a second consecutive 50 basis point rate hike, although it's a close call between that and a 75bp move."
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CAC 40: down 1.5% at 6,065.81
DAX 40: down 1.7% at 12,738.87
FTSE 100: marginally higher, up 1.54 points at 7,283.61
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Hang Seng: closed down 0.9% at 18,761.69
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.1% at 27,567.65
S&P/ASX 200: closed down 1.5% at 6,739.10
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DJIA: called down 0.8%
S&P 500: called down 0.9%
Nasdaq Composite: called down 1.1%
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EUR: down at USD0.9971 (USD0.9996)
GBP: down at USD1.1378 (USD1.1494)
USD: down at JPY143.24 (JPY143.36)
Gold: down at USD1,661.73 per ounce (USD1,667.03)
Oil (Brent): up at USD90.94 a barrel (USD90.04)
(currency and commodities changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The threat of a global recession is growing as central banks rightly focus on bringing down soaring inflation rates, the World Bank warned, calling on governments to step in with policies to boost supply to ease the constraints behind rising prices. Inflation worldwide has been rising at the fastest pace in decades, due to supply constraints amid high demand as countries emerged from the pandemic, and exacerbated this year by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China. Major central banks have responded forcefully, raising borrowing costs to cool demand and douse red-hot inflation. But in a new paper, World Bank economists warned that the actions may not be enough to bring high prices under control, which would require more interest rate hikes.
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Chinese retail sales and industrial production both topped expectations in August, easing fears of a slowdown of the world's second-largest economy. Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed retail sales increased 5.4% annually in August, beating an FXStreet cited forecast of a 3.5% climb. Retail sales growth quickened from a 2.7% rise in July. Industrial output improved 4.2% year-on-year in August, topping a market forecast of 3.8% growth, according to FXStreet. Industrial production had risen 3.8% yearly in July.
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The eurozone's annual inflation rate was confirmed at a fresh high of 9.1% in August, though monthly consumer price growth was upwardly revised. According to Eurostat, the single currency bloc's yearly inflation rate accelerated to 9.1% in August from 8.9% in July. The figure was in line with an earlier estimate. The yearly inflation rate has jumped for four months in-a-row. It stood at 3.0% in August 2021. Excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, core annual inflation hotted up to 4.3% in August, from 4.0% in July. Monthly consumer price growth was upwardly revised. Prices grew 0.6% on a monthly basis, according to the latest Eurostat estimate, up from a previous 0.5% reading.
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UK retail sales slumped in August amid cost-of-living pressures on consumers, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales fell 1.6% month-on-month, far worse than the forecast 0.5% decline, according to FXStreet-cited consensus. This reversed a 0.4% rise in July. The ONS said August's data continued "a downward trend since summer 2021 following the lifting of restrictions on hospitality; in recent months, rising prices and cost of living are also affecting sales volumes." All main sectors - food, non-food, non-store retailing and food - fell over the month, something which has not happened since July 2021, when all Covid restrictions on hospitality were lifted. Annually, UK retail sales slumped 5.4% in August, deepening July's 3.2% decline.
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Berlin said it has taken control of the German operations of Russia firm Rosneft, which runs several refineries, to secure energy supplies which have been disrupted after Moscow invaded Ukraine. Rosneft's German subsidiaries, which account for about 12% of oil refining capacity in the country, were placed under trusteeship of the Federal Network Agency, the economy ministry said in a statement.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping met for their first face-to-face talks since the start of the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday, hailing their strategic ties in defiance of the West. Sitting across from each other at two long rounded tables and flanked by aides, the two leaders met on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in ex-Soviet Uzbekistan. The meeting was part of Xi's first trip abroad since the early days of the pandemic. For Putin, it was a chance to show Russia has not been fully isolated despite Western efforts. "China is willing to make efforts with Russia to assume the role of great powers, and play a guiding role to inject stability and positive energy into a world rocked by social turmoil," Xi told Putin at the talks.
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A Russian pipeline to China will replace the Nord Stream 2 gas link to Europe, abandoned amid the Ukraine conflict, Moscow's Energy Minister Alexander Novak. Asked in an interview with Russian television channel Rossiya-1 if Russia would replace the European Nord Stream 2 with the Asian Force Siberia 2, Novak said: "Yes." Earlier in the day, the minister, on the sidelines of a visit to Uzbekistan, said Russia and China would soon sign agreements on the delivery of "50 billion cubic metres of gas" per year via the future Force 2 pipeline in Siberia. This volume will almost represent the maximum capacity of Nord Stream 1 – 55 billion cubic metres in total – which has been shut down since September 2.
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The White House approved a new package of up to USD600 million in additional military aid for Ukraine, as Washington moves to support Kyiv's counteroffensive against Russia's invasion force. The aid consists of equipment and services, as well as training, the executive branch said in a statement. The Department of Defense specified in a later statement that the package will include 37,000 artillery rounds, of which 1,000 will be precision-guided, and four counter-artillery radars, among other weapons and equipment. More ammunition will also be provided for the Himars rocket system, the Pentagon said, without specifying if that would include the long range missiles known as ATACMS that Kyiv has requested for months.
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The US will cross a "red line" if it provides Ukraine with missiles of longer range than it has to date and become a party to the conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says. "If Washington takes a decision on delivering missiles of greater range to Kiev, it will cross a red line," Zakharova said. "In a case like that, we will be forced to react correspondingly," she added, making reference to defence by "all possible means." Moscow has placed its nuclear forces on higher alert and warned repeatedly of the current conflict expanding into a World War III, while Ukraine has called for missiles with a range of 300 kilometres, noting that it could use them to strike a recently built bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula to Russia over the Kerch Strait.
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The US slapped sanctions on a long list of Russian officials and companies, ramping up pressure over the invasion of Ukraine and hoping to hobble any attempt to rebuild its heavily damaged defence sector. Top officials overseeing Russian securities markets operations, a neo-Nazi fighter group, Russian and pro-Russian officials in occupied parts of Ukraine, and a children's rights official who allegedly directs the removal of Ukrainian children to Russia were all named to the US sanctions blacklist. The GRU intelligence agency and a top economic advisor to President Vladimir Putin, Maxim Oreshkin, were placed on sanctions lists. In a parallel action, US sanctions were targeted at Russian space, computing and technology firms, in an effort to cripple Russia's technology development and stifle its ability to refurbish and modernize its military after broad losses in Ukraine.
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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