It’s not you, it’s me
Macro & Overnight
Asian equities were weaker overnight.
US CPI on Wednesday is expected to show a further fall to 3.1%, but core inflation is stuck at c 5% Y/Y.
Last week’s US jobs data was weaker but still positive, and the consensus remains for at least one further Fed rate hike.
US bank reporting season is expected to show a record increase in reported loan losses. Banking crisis? What banking crisis?
Jeremy Hunt’s Mansion House speech comes laden with expectations about City reforms.
UK Company News
According to the Telegraph, BT is on bid alert from Deutsche Telekom.
EQT walked away from its bid for Alfa Financial Software on Friday, and its shares fell sharply.
EQT reportedly said the reason it walked away wasn’t to do with Alfa Financial Software. It’s me, not you. What changed since the bid was first announced on June 21st? Well, one thing that has changed is the UK bond yields, making the debt component of any offer more expensive.
Argentex updated that its H1 revenues would be £25m, a 28% increase. Its Alternative Transaction Banking product outperformed management expectations. It said it is two years into transitioning from a single-product, single-office operation to a multi-product, multi-office currency management and payments services business. The strategy to invest in technology, people and overseas expansion continues to deliver strong results.
Oxford Metrics announced its CEO transition. Note here.
Plus500 updated Q2 with revenue of $368.5m, comprising $346.2m in trading income and $22.3m in interest income. It remains highly confident about the Group’s performance for FY 2023 and anticipates that Plus500’s revenue and EBITDA for the current financial year will align with current market expectations.
Sopheon announced the acquisition of Prodex Systems, a specialist provider of innovation software and consulting based in Brisbane, Australia. See note here.
Prognosticator
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