Closing summary
Time to wrap up.
Stocks are rising on both sides of the Atlantic, hitting fresh record highs, despite the US government shutdown. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose to new peaks at the open.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose by 0.7% to an all-time high, led by gains in Germany and France, with the Dax up 1.5% and the CAC 1.4% ahead. The FTSE 100 index in London is unchanged, after closing at record high yesterday.
Thames Water may not fully comply with rules on pollution of England’s waterways for as long as 15 years, according to a new plan by creditors who are scrambling to avoid the utility being forced into government administration.
Tesco has warned of an intensifying price battle in the run-up to Christmas amid “pressure on household budgets” but upped its full-year profit expectations by £100m after it grabbed market share and drew in more shoppers by keeping a lid on inflation this summer.
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Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. Take care! – JK
Returning to our earlier story:
Tesco has warned of an intensifying price battle in the run-up to Christmas amid “pressure on household budgets” but upped its full-year profit expectations by £100m after it grabbed market share and drew in more shoppers by keeping a lid on inflation this summer.
The UK’s biggest retailer said it expected to make annual profits of up to £3.1bn, up from a previous maximum of £3bn, as it said efforts to cut the price of 6,500 items by an average 9% had “worked better” than it predicted. The company said its rate of inflation was “well behind” the latest headline rate for groceries of 4.9% set out by the analysts Worldpanel, formerly known as Kantar.
Referring to comments by Asda in March that it would invest “a pretty significant war chest” in cutting prices, Ken Murphy, the chief executive of Tesco, said:
Some of our competitors went pretty strong on their statement of intent at the start of the year and have acted on that. It doesn’t feel that rational. We have invested in price to maintain our momentum and we are anticipating the second half could be more intensive not less.
