Well that's all from us today, thanks for following along. Be sure to join us again next week where we will be bringing you all the latest market moves and news of what's happening across the global economy.

Here's a brief taster of what's to come:

• Meta (META) – Reports second-quarter results on Wednesday 31 July

• Apple (AAPL) — Reports third-quarter results on Thursday 1 August

• Amazon (AMZN) — Reports second-quarter results on Thursday 1 August

• Bank of England’s interest rate decision – Thursday 1 August

Read more here: Stocks to watch next week

Greg Wilensky, head of US fixed income and portfolio manager at Janus Henderson believes the latest US PCE data solidifies expectations for coming interest-rate cuts.

Here's what my colleagues from Yahoo Finance from across the pond are saying about Wall Street:

The Bank of England’s next decision on interest rates sits on a “knife-edge”, experts have said, as borrowers wait to see if costs will be cut for the first time since the pandemic.

Economists are split over whether the Bank’s policymakers will decide it is the right time to reduce rates on Thursday.

The UK’s base rate has been held at 5.25% since August last year as part of the central bank’s task to put a lid on unruly inflation.

But with inflation hitting the Bank’s 2% target level for the past two months, hopes have been raised that rates can start to be reduced, easing the pressure on borrowers.

If so, it would mark the first time that UK rates have been cut since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.

James Smith, developed market economist for ING, said it will be a “close call” but he expects a majority of policymakers to vote in favour of a 0.25 percentage point rate cut on Thursday.

The pound is currently 0.1% up against the US dollar as traders reduce bets on the Bank of England cutting interest rates next month.

Sterling was up to $1.287 on the day after falling by 0.4% on Thursday from $1.29 to $1.286.

Traders had ramped up bets on policymakers cutting rates in August to as high as 56% after data indicated the Fed would likely cut rates in September.

However, money markets now put chances of a summer rate cut at 44%, while the odds of a reduction in borrowing costs by September stands at 86%.

The next decision on UK interest rates will announced on 1 August.

Pierre Veyret, technical analyst at ActivTrades, said:

Drax shares surged as much as 13.5% in London on Friday as the biomass power station business lifted City guidance alongside a 23% rise in half-year earnings to £515m. It also announced a £300m buy back of shares starting in the next quarter.

The company, which is the UK’s largest source of renewable energy, reported profits of £463m in the six months to the end of June, up from £338m in the same period last year.

Will Gardiner, chief executive of Drax, said: "Drax has delivered a strong operational performance, playing an important role supporting the UK energy system with dispatchable, renewable power, keeping the lights on for millions of homes and businesses."

The company, whose North Yorkshire site generates enough renewable electricity a year to power the equivalent of over eight million homes, said it looked forward to working with ministers on delivering the government’s 2030 net zero ambitions.

As well as the biomass Drax power station, the group operates the Cruachan hydro site and is developing opportunities around bioenergy with carbon capture and storage.

The world’s greatest multi-sports competition is finally upon us. Over the next 16 days, 10,500 athletes will participate in the biggest sporting event ever held in France.

To celebrate the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games, we’ve picked a selection of properties in Olympic host cities past, present and future. From historic houses to shiny new apartments, everyone’s a winner – and they're all looking for a new owner.

Read the full article here

The market turbulence, which saw major US stock indices experience their worst day in over 18 months on Wednesday, is creating a unique buying opportunity for savvy investors, particularly in the technology and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors.

It comes as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite tumbled by 2.3% and 3.6%, respectively, with the decline driven by some of the most influential tech stocks.

Nigel Green, the CEO of deVere Group, said:

Rightmove (RMV.L) reported a 7% rise in half-year revenues to £192.1m, leading to a 2% increase in operating profit to £131.6m.

For the full year, it expects revenue growth of between 7% and 9%, with membership growth of up to 2% across estate agency and new home and full-year average revenue per advertiser growth of £78-85.

Chief executive Johan Svanstrom said: “Our performance came against the backdrop of the sustained challenging mortgage rate environment.

“The period saw a pick-up in existing-homes listings and transactions, a continued yet softening imbalance of demand and supply for rentals, and a tentative outlook for new homes development volumes.

“With the election now concluded, the property market looks forward to potential interest rate reductions which will further stimulate activity.”

The property platform added that it was prepared for a surge in housing deals amid falling mortgage rates.

It is hoped that the Bank of England will unveil its first rate cut in four years as soon as next week, leading to further mortgage rates drops and rising house market activity.

The probability of an interest rate cut stands next week at 48% versus 52% for a rate hold, according to figures from LSEG based on analyst forecasts.

Charlie Huggins, Manager at Wealth Club, said:

Eurostar services to and from Paris have been disrupted due to widespread acts of vandalism to France’s high-speed rail network. It comes just hours before the Paris Olympics are due to begin.

All high speed trains to and from the French capital are being diverted via the classic line today, extending the journey time by about 90 minutes, the company said. Several trains have been cancelled.

A spokesperson for SNCF, the French rail operator, said:

UK households are always looking for ways to make their money go further amid the cost of living crisis and savings accounts can help.

After years of low rates, high-yield savings accounts are having a moment as the Bank of England has kept interest rates at a 16-year high of 5.25%. While homeowners face higher mortgages, there is a silver lining in higher borrowing costs and consumers can now find UK savings accounts offering higher than inflation rates.

The UK rate of inflation came in at 2% in May for the first time in nearly three years, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). It was unchanged in June.

Savers should shop around to find the best deals and check what rate they are on – as they could still be sitting on a product that does not beat inflation.

Read the full article here

NatWest's (NWG.L) first-half pretax operating profit fell by 16% to £3bn, as the lender revealed it has acquired a raft of mortgages from Metro Bank for £2.4bn.

The bank reported earnings results showing pre-tax profits dropped 16% to £3bn for the six months to June 30. Despite the fall, the result was better than the £2.6bn most analysts had expected.

It came as the bank suffered a 2.4% drop in net interest income, which is a key measure of profitability for lenders, and accounts for the difference between what is charged for loans and what is paid out to savers.

NatWest also announced it had agreed to buy around £2.5bn worth of residential mortgages from Metro Bank for £2.4bn in cash, which will see it add around 10,000 borrowers to the group. It follows the lender’s deal last month to buy the retail banking assets of Sainsbury’s, the supermarket group.

In a sign of its confidence in its performance for the rest of the year, NatWest lifted its 2024 forecast for return on tangible equity to above 14%, from the 12% expected previously.

The lender now expects full-year income to come to £14bn, a notable bump from previous forecasts of between £13bn and £13.5bn.

The RAC has written to the new energy secretary to try and get action taken on the fuel issue [see post below], following the findings of the third monitoring report by the CMA.

Simon Williams, head of policy at the RAC, said:

Drivers are still paying too much for their fuel, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday, with increases in retailers’ fuel margins costing consumers £1.6bn last year.

The watchdog said retail margins are “significantly” above historic levels. Increases in fuel margins cost drivers more than £1.6bn in 2023 alone, with supermarkets’ fuel margins roughly double what they were in 2019.

CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said:

Profits plunged at carmaker Mercedes as it suffered a sharp drop in electric vehicle sales.

Underlying adjusted earnings fell 28% to €2.8bn (£2.3bn) in the second quarter as it reported that battery electric car sales fell by a quarter compared to the same period last year.

It sold 45,843 battery electric cars during the three months to June.

Electric vehicle sales were down 17% over the first half of the year to 93,364.

It said:

The group also slightly lowered its carmaking margin outlook to 10% to 11%, down from between 11% to 12%.

Stocks were mixed in Asia overnight as markets rebounded somewhat from the heavy sell-off on Thursday.

The Nikkei (^N225) slipped 0.5% on the day in Japan, after sinking 3.3% the day before.

It came as Tokyo’s core consumer price index rose 2.2% in July, rising for the third straight month to its highest level in four months, adding to expectations that the Bank of Japan may raise its near-zero benchmark interest rate at a policy meeting next week.

The Hang Seng (^HSI) was 0.05% higher in Hong Kong while the Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was 0.1% up by the end of the session.

The gains followed a split on Wall Street, where general stocks and other formerly downtrodden areas of the market rose while superstar Big Tech stocks gave back more of their stellar gains.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 0.5% to close at 5,399.22, following its slide from the day before, which was its worst since 2022.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) managed to eke out a 0.2% gain, while the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) sank 0.9%. Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 of smaller companies climbed 1.3%.

In the bond market, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds dropped to 4.24% from 4.28% late on Wednesday.

Good morning, and welcome back to our markets live blog. Here's what's on the agenda for today:

• 7am: Trading updates: Babcock, Rightmove, Drax, Segro,

• 9am: Italy business and consumer confidence, July

• 9.45am: Allan Leighton, former chair of Royal Mail and Post Office, to give evidence at the Horizon IT public inquiry

• 1pm: USA Core PCE Price Index (June), PCE Price Index (June)

• 3pm: University of Michigan Confidence (Final) (US)