FTSE 100 Live: Pound Hits Two Week Peak; Elon Musk ready to buy Twitter

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Elon Musk reverses with new takeover bid on Twitter at original price

Billionaire Elon Musk will recommit to his original offer to keep Twitter private, according to reports citing people familiar with the matter, in a dramatic turnaround for the world’s richest man.

Musk is tipped to go ahead with the original terms of his deal in which he would acquire shares for $54.20 each, valuing the company at $44 billion.

Twitter shares rose 12.67% on the news before the stock was halted from trading. News of the deal was previously reported by Bloomberg.

Twitter has sued billionaire Elon Musk for his abandoned takeover of the company in an attempt to force him to close the deal. The Tesla boss had said he was walking away from the deal over concerns about the number of fake and spam accounts on the Twitter platform.

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New York stock rebound enters second consecutive session

Wall Street’s S&P 500 posted stronger gains as it opened trading, led by some of the biggest names in the market, as easing government bond yields on both sides of the Atlantic helped to turn global markets’ moods rosy. to keep.

The broad New York stock index added nearly 80 points to 3755.06, up more than 2% in a broad rally that included all but three components. General Motors and Ford were each up nearly 7%. American Airlines won more than 6%. General Electric won more than 4%, as did Warner Brothers.

The three stocks that missed out on the rally were retailers Dollar General and Dollar Tree and transportation company CH Robinson.

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The Pound’s Tour at a Glance: Sterling Back Where It Was Before the Mini-Budget Sale

The pound’s recovery from the record lows it reached in the dizzying sell-off of UK assets following the government’s radical tax reforms has held up, keeping the pound near $1.14, its highest level in two weeks .

It came along with a rally for fund managers who helped the FTSE 100 bounce back above 7,000, while rising prices for UK government debt kept the returns investors demanded to lend to the UK under 4% over 10 years.

Market confidence returned after Legal & General released a reassuring trading update. It helped allay fears about the sector’s financial position after the fall in UK government debt prices prompted the Bank of England to step in to support gold prices and keep yields low.

Ten-year government bond yields from the benchmark fell further below 4% today, reaching 3.82%, after peaking above 4.5% at the peak of sales.

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Fund managers top FTSE 100 after L&G update reassures

Shares in pension funds and other money managers topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard today, after an unscheduled trading update from Legal & General allayed fears for the sector’s own finances

Equities were hit hard by the market turmoil that followed the government’s mini-budget, fearing that the fall in the price of UK government debt could undermine the financial position of pension funds.

They are major holders of gold-plated companies and often use the assets as collateral in schemes set up to meet obligations to policyholders, so the rapid falls in prices seen amid concerns over the UK’s public finances were for the Bank of England to intervene as a buyer of debt to support the market.

Legal and General said today that its annuity portfolio “has not encountered any problems meeting collateral demands and we are not forced sellers of government bonds or bonds” and that it can “withstand shocks as we have seen in recent days.”

Shares in L&G, which manages pension plans for 4.4 million people with assets worth more than £63 billion, rose 13p to 235p. Prudential rose 5% at 924p. Fellow fund manager Hargreaves Lansdown added 60p to 919p, the largest percentage increase on the FTSE 100 at 7%,

Overall, London’s main stock index rose 133 points to 7041.0, up nearly 2%.

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Pound hits two-week peak around $1.14 as dollar strength cools

Sterling continued to trade around $1.14 today, in an ongoing recovery from the historic lows reached during the British asset sell-off following the government’s mini-budget.

The pound rose 0.4% to $1.1364, putting it about 10 cents above its weak point against the dollar as the long-term gain of the US currency continued to slow. There was also relief at the government’s move to allay concerns over Britain’s public finances after plans to abolish the top tax rate were scrapped.

But there were warnings from City pundits that momentum for the pound was already looking stretched. Stephen Gallo, head of European currency strategy at the Bank of Montreal, said: “We think most of the ‘good news’ regarding the government’s reversal of unfunded fiscal easing is in the price.

“Our one to three month outlook is that the pound will trade at levels below $1.10, but not new lows.”

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CEOs expect recession and consider job cuts according to senior survey

A significant majority of senior executives at home and abroad expect a recession in the next 12 months and half of them are considering job cuts, according to KPMG’s latest CEO Outlook Survey.

The global accounting firm found that 80% of CEOs believe the economic contraction will come within that time, a prospect that is already impacting headcount. About 40% of leaders contacted in the UK and abroad have already stopped hiring and about 50% are considering job cuts in the next six months.

Jon Holt, Chief Executive of KPMG in the UK, said: “Business leaders are forecasting and preparing for an impending recession. Many now face difficult choices to help their businesses cope with the volatile conditions they face.”

The picture of the longer-term economic outlook turned more optimistic and improved from the latest survey, a sign that business is getting a clearer picture of a path through the downturn. More than 70% of global CEOs were more confident in the three-year outlook, compared to 60% in the February survey. In the UK, 80% felt more confident for the same period.

KPMG spoke to more than 1,300 CEOs running some of the world’s largest companies in July and August this year, including 150 in the UK.

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Pivot talk boosts markets, FTSE 250 up over 2%

London’s FTSE 100 index is back above the 7000 mark amid a rally for global markets.

Improved risk appetite followed Monday’s advances for Wall Street stocks in hopes that central banks could soon shift to more moderate interest rates.

The S&P 500 index rose 2.6% in its best performance since late July, following a sharp drop in Federal Reserve interest rate expectations after weaker-than-expected manufacturing activity data.

The pivotal talk gained momentum during trade in Asia as Australia’s central bank delivered a lower-than-expected 0.25% rate hike.

Japan’s Nikkei index rose nearly 3% and the FTSE 100 index offset some of the heavy losses of the past two weeks by rising 1.5% or 103.80 points to 7012.56.

The next big test of sentiment is likely to come with Friday’s report on the US job market, as well as the start of Wall Street’s quarterly earnings season.

For now, investors in London have been happy to boost stock trading to multi-year lows. These include food technology company Ocado, which plummeted more than two-thirds this year, but is up 6% or 27.1 pence today to 492.74p.

Fashion retailer Next, which started above 8000p in 2022, also improved 217.3p to 5053p and Premier Inn owner Whitbread cheered from 112p to 2430p.

Hargreaves Lansdown led the top flight, aided by Jefferies analysts, who removed their “underperform” recommendation and raised their financials target price to 930p. Shares rose 60.8 pence to 920.4 pence.

The FTSE 250 index, which is down more than 25% this year, improved by more than 2% or 402.88 points to 17,687.76. Consumer-focused stocks were lifted by today’s reassuring update from Greggs, with the likes of Currys and JD Wetherspoon up more than 7%.

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FTSE 100 rallies, L&G and Greggs higher after updates

The FTSE 100 index is up 1.2% or 81.47 points to 6990.23, fueled by hopes of a pivot in the Federal Reserve’s interest rate approach.

The risers board included Legal & General, which gained 4% or 8.4p to 230.3p after the financial services group released a reassuring trading update. L&G said: “Volatility has increased significantly in H2, but this has a limited economic impact on our business.”

Leisure stocks were also higher, with British Airways owner IAG and Premier Inn chain Whitbread rising 4%. Shares in Hargreaves Lansdown boast the biggest gains in the FTSE 100, rising 5% or 44.2p to 903.8p after Jefferies raised his price target to 930p.

The FTSE 250 index gained 1.3% or 233.89 points to 17,518.77, led by Greggs after the bakery chain was stuck on earnings guidance. Shares were up 5% or 89p at 1812p.

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Wall Street recovers from hopes of rate hike

Wall Street’s best session since late July means European markets are off to a positive start, with the IG Index forecasting the FTSE 100 index to open 0.7% higher at 6958.

The US performance came after weaker-than-expected manufacturing activity data raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of rate hikes.

The S&P 500 was up 2.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 2.3%, while US futures also point to further progress later in the day. The next big test for sentiment is likely to come with Friday’s monthly nonfarm payroll report.

Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, said: “After dropping more than 9% in September and extending its decline to nearly 25% from Friday’s close, we think the S&P 500 appeared oversold.

“In addition, some of last week’s selling pressure may have been caused by the end-quarter rebalancing, which has now ended.”

Asian markets followed Wall Street’s lead as Japan’s Nikkei rose more than 2.5%.

Brent oil, meanwhile, remains just below $90 a barrel after rising 4% yesterday on the expectation that OPEC will cut planned production tomorrow at its meeting.