The move will allow Smiths to focus on flow and heat management through its remaining businesses of John Crane and Flex-Tek. Chief executive Roland Carter said the plans addressed

The Federal Reserve is set to keep US interest rates in the range of 4.25%-45% later today. XTB research director Kathleen Brooks said: “US interest rate expectations have been remarkably stable even though other central banks have seen bets on interest rate cuts increase in recent months.

Halfords has bolstered profit guidance after it returned to sales growth over the Christmas quarter and recent trading benefited from the cold weather. Strong demand for promotions in cycling contributed to retail like-for-like sales growth of 13.

Stock futures are mixed Thursday morning as investors react to a barrage of earnings reports from major companies and important economic indicators.

A gloomy survey of UK consumer confidence today revealed people are thinking more about saving money as they prepare for “dark days ahead”. GfK’s long-running consumer barometer fell five points to minus 22, with all five measures that make up the headline score lower in the month.

Associated British Foods today cut its Primark sales growth forecast after the chain’s UK operation endured a difficult end to 2024. UK sales in the 16 weeks to 4 January declined 4%, with the like-for-like figure down 6.

FTSE 100-listed Smiths Group is to be broken up after the conglomerate announced plans for the separation of its Interconnect and Detection businesses. The move will allow Smiths to focus on flow and heat management through its remaining businesses of John Crane and Flex-Tek.

(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 traded close to new all-time highs around midday on Friday, led by an 11% jump in Smiths Group, ahead of key US inflation data. The blue-chip index is on track to post a gain of around 6.2% for January, its biggest monthly gain since November 2022.

BT Group today said the roll out of full fibre broadband passed more than one million premises for the fourth consecutive quarter. The Openreach division has now reached 17 million premises - more than half the UK - and is on track to reach 25 million by December 2026.

The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) is one of the largest and most liquid U.S. equity ETFs available to investors.

World shares were mostly lower on Monday after U.S. stocks edged back from their all-time high, with many Asian markets closed for holidays. In early European trading,

World shares have advanced after U.S. stocks rose to a record and the Bank of Japan raised its key lending rate