Closing post
With the weekend fast approaching, it’s time to wrap up.
Economic pressures have pushed more UK firms into financial distress.
Restructuring specialist Begbies Traynor has reported that there were 632,756 UK businesses in ‘significant’ financial distress in the third quarter of this year – a 32% rise compared with a year earlier.
There’s also been a sharp year-on-year increase in individuals filing for insolvency.
Demand for safe-haven assets has pushed gold to a new alltime high, over $2.700 per ounce.
Over on Wall Street, shares in Netflix have jumped 10% after it beat estimates for subscriptions last night.
Netflix added around 5.1 million streaming subscribers in the third quarter of the year, over 1 million more than analysts expected.
Kate Leaman, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, says:
“For the third quarter of 2024, Netflix delivered solid quarterly results. The streaming giant slightly beat analyst expectations, while ad-tier membership shot up by 35 percent – a largely unexpected development. This shows that the company is really beginning to make progress in tapping into the ad-based market. Looking ahead, its expansion into Canada and beyond is also exciting and something to monitor.
“Overall, this quarter’s earnings are a good sign that Netflix is adapting and growing, especially in a competitive streaming landscape. It’ll be interesting to see how its ad-based model plays out globally in the coming months and years.”
Netflix shares are up 100% since they started cracking down on password sharing
— Morning Brew ☕️ (@MorningBrew) October 18, 2024
We lost pic.twitter.com/X1CngLdJJB
