Source: Sharecast
Stocks to watch
GSK announced positive results on Friday from a phase three trial evaluating ‘Nucala’, or mepolizumab, in adults with COPD. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the trial showed a statistically significant reduction in the annualised rate of moderate-to-severe exacerbations when Nucala was added to inhaled maintenance therapy in patients with type two inflammation. Safety was consistent with the known profile of Nucala, and further analysis was ongoing, with full results to be presented later.
Darktrace announced on Friday that chief executive Poppy Gustafsson is stepping down, with chief operating officer Jill Popelka appointed as her successor, effective immediately. Popelka, who joined the FTSE 100 cybersecurity specialist in January and became COO in June, would also join the company's board of directors. Darktrace said she has over two decades of leadership experience with global technology firms including Accenture, Snap and SAP SuccessFactors.
Newspaper round-up
The consultancy PwC has told its employees it is going to begin tracking their working locations to ensure that all workers spend “a minimum of three days a week” in the office or at client sites. In a memo sent to its 26,000 UK employees, the big four accounting firm announced that it will start monitoring how often employees work from home in the same way it monitors how many chargeable hours they work. – Guardian
The UK needs £1tn of fresh investment over the next decade if the government is to hit its economic growth targets, a City task force has said. The Capital Markets of Tomorrow report, led by the City veteran and former boss of Legal & General Sir Nigel Wilson, said that in order to achieve at least 3% annual growth, the UK would have to attract around £100bn of investment per year, divided between key sectors. – Guardian
One of the UK’s biggest housing developers is seeking to build tens of thousands of homes on green belt land as part of Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to revolutionise planning reforms. Vistry Group said the majority of the 75,000 plots in its so-called strategic land bank are on green belt sites, making it “uniquely positioned” to help deliver on Labour’s manifesto pledge to build 1.5m homes over the next five years. – Telegraph
British pension funds are among the worst in developed economies for backing their home stock market, according to research that will fuel the debate about reform of UK retirement pots to boost the London Stock Exchange. Only 4.4 per cent of assets in UK pension funds are invested in British equities, down from an estimated 6.1 per cent last year, analysis by New Financial, a think tank, has found. The proportion stood at more than 50 per cent 25 years ago. – The Times
New wind farms due to be built towards the end of this decade will add only £5 to household energy bills and will reduce volatility in prices, a leading forecaster has predicted. A record number of renewable energy projects were secured in the latest annual auction round this week, when 131 won government contracts to deliver clean energy. – The Times
US close
Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Thursday as market participants thumbed over a number of data points in an effort to gain more insight into the current state of the US economy.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.54% at 40,755.75, while the S&P 500 lost 0.30% to 5,053.41 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.25% firmer at 17,127.66.
The Dow closed 219.22 points lower on Thursday, more than reversing modest gains recorded in the previous session.
Jobs data was in focus throughout the session on Thursday, with ADP revealing that private sector employment in the US rose much less than expected in August, increasing by 99,000 from July, versus expectations for a 145,000 jump.
Meanwhile, July's gain was downwardly revised to 111,000 from 122,000.
The data also showed that year-over-year pay gains were flat, remaining at 4.8% for job-stayers and 7.3% for job-changers.
