Stock market news from ShareCast

Stock market reports

• Europe close: Stocks finish lower as profit-taking kicks in
  Fri 31 July 2026 16:52
  (Sharecast News) - European stocks gave up earlier gains to finish slightly lower on Friday, as investors took profits with markets close to all-time highs.
• London close: FTSE dips as investors take profits; NatWest rallies
  Fri 31 July 2026 14:55
  (Sharecast News) - London stocks gave up earlier gains to end a little lower on Friday, with investors likely taking some profits after the top-flight index hit another fresh intraday high.
• US open: Stocks trade lower as Big Tech earnings remain in focus
  Fri 31 July 2026 14:20
  (Sharecast News) - Major indices were in the red early on Friday following another batch of Big Tech earnings overnight.
• Europe midday: Shares hit record intra-day high on Wall St, Asia rally
  Fri 31 July 2026 11:40
  (Sharecast News) - European shares hit a record intra-day high ⁠on ⁠Friday on the back of a rebound on Wall Street and Asia overnight.
• London midday: FTSE stays up as NatWest rallies on results
  Fri 31 July 2026 10:52
  (Sharecast News) - London stocks were still firmer by midday on Friday following strong gains in the US and Asia, with sentiment boosted by well-received earnings from Microsoft and NatWest powering ahead on the back of results.

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Press round-up

• Friday newspaper round-up: Anthropic, JLR, Apple
  Fri 31 July 2026 07:26
  (Sharecast News) - Anthropic ⁠said on Thursday its AI Claude model hacked ⁠systems of ⁠three organizations during testing, days after rival OpenAI ⁠revealed a rogue agent had gone on a days-long ⁠hacking spree at AI firm Hugging ‌Face. Claude
• Thursday newspaper round-up: Carmakers, worklessness, Macfarlanes
  Thu 30 July 2026 07:22
  (Sharecast News) - Carmakers are delaying final decisions to invest in UK factories until electric car sales rules are relaxed, according to the head of the British car industry's lobby group. The chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and

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Company news

• ITV on track for FY guidance, announces £100m share buyback
  Fri 31 July 2026 15:18
  (Sharecast News) - Broadcaster ITV said on Friday that it was on track to meet full-year guidance as it said its performance in the first half was in line with expectations, and announced a £100m share buyback.
• IMI reiterates full-year guidance after strong first-half growth
  Fri 31 July 2026 15:13
  (Sharecast News) - IMI reiterated its full-year guidance on Friday after reporting higher first-half revenue, profits and margins, supported by demand across its automation and life technology businesses.
• Intertek H1 profits, revenue rise ahead of EQT takeover
  Fri 31 July 2026 14:06
  (Sharecast News) - Intertek posted a rise in first-half profit and revenue on Friday ahead of its planned £9.4bn takeover by Swedish private equity firm EQT.
• Apple tops Q3 forecasts, but shares sink on weak Q4 guidance
  Fri 31 July 2026 13:59
  (Sharecast News) - Shares in Apple dropped sharply after the opening bell on Friday after the iPhone maker beat forecasts with its third-quarter results but disappointed investors with guidance for the current quarter.
• Puma's Q2 sales slump but H2 improvement expected
  Fri 31 July 2026 12:41
  (Sharecast News) - Sales at Puma dropped by nearly a tenth in the second quarter, which it blamed on softer consumer demand in key regions and last year's turnaround plan, though the sportswear group said it expects trends to improve in the second half.

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Directors' dealings

• Director dealings: PCA of Morgan Sindall director makes share purchase
  Fri 31 July 2026 14:17
  (Sharecast News) - Morgan Sindall revealed on Friday that Rachel Robson, a person closely associated with non-executive director Mark Robson, had acquired 11,500 ordinary shares in the FTSE 250-listed construction firm.
• Director dealings: Rockwood Strategic non-executive director snaps up shares
  Thu 30 July 2026 14:13
  (Sharecast News) - Rockwood Strategic revealed on Thursday that non-executive director Sangita Shah had acquired 31,443 ordinary shares in the London-listed investment trust.

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Sector review

• Sector movers: Santa Rally gets off to early start, analysts say
  Wed 11 December 2024 18:41
  (Sharecast News) - This year's Santa Rally appeared to get off to an early start according to some analysts in the City.
• Sector movers: Precious metals miners dip ahead of Fed decision
  Wed 18 September 2024 20:55
  (Sharecast News) - Stocks fell in the middle of the week with investors opting to sit on their hands ahead of the US central bank's interest rate decision scheduled for later.

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Aim and small cap news

AIM bulletins

• Sovereign Metals reports pre-tax NPV of $2.2bn for Kasiya
  Thu 30 July 2026 17:03
  (Sharecast News) - Sovereign Metals said on Thursday that its Kasiya critical minerals project in Malawi delivered a pre-tax NPV of $2.2bn in its definitive feasibility study, based on $727m of capital expenditure to first production.
• Fintel reports strong first-half performance
  Thu 30 July 2026 17:00
  (Sharecast News) - Fintel reported a strong first-half performance on Thursday, with organic adjusted EBITDA rising 11.2% to £11.8m as improved efficiency and growth across its core software, data and distribution activities supported margins.
• Gooch & Housego flags Q4-weighted trading
  Thu 30 July 2026 12:54
  (Sharecast News) - Gooch & Housego said on Thursday that its expectations for the financial year ending 30 September remained unchanged, although trading was expected to be more heavily weighted towards the fourth quarter than previously anticipated.
• Chapel Down hails progress across all channels as H1 revenue rises
  Wed 29 July 2026 13:03
  (Sharecast News) - English winemaker Chapel Down reported a rise in first-half sales on Wednesday as it expressed confidence in meeting market expectations for the full year.
• Tristel launches paid tier of digital compliance platform
  Mon 27 July 2026 16:32
  (Sharecast News) - Tristel announced the launch of 3T Pro on Monday, the first paid tier of its digital compliance platform, as part of plans to build recurring digital revenues alongside its infection prevention products.

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Small cap bulletins

• Wise to reapply for US trust-bank charter after OCC rejection
  Fri 24 July 2026 09:11
  (Sharecast News) - Fintech group Wise said on Friday that the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency had denied its application for a national trust bank charter, noting the decision relates to issues in its original submission more than a year ago.
• PensionBee reaches £8bn AUA milestone
  Mon 27 April 2026 09:05
  (Sharecast News) - Online retirement savings provider PensionBee Group announced on Monday that assets under administration had hit approximately £8bn.

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