FirstFT: Tesla income slip as Elon Musk delays ‘robotaxi’ launch

Good morning. Is the tide lastly turning for London’s ailing inventory market? We now have new information that would shed some gentle, in addition to updates on Kamala Harris’s marketing campaign.

However first, we start with the newest firm outcomes as earnings season will get into full swing, beginning with Tesla. Earnings on the electric-vehicle maker missed estimates, slumping 45 per cent within the second quarter because it confronted slower gross sales, hovering prices from worker lay-offs and ever-greater investments in its synthetic intelligence infrastructure.

Chief govt Elon Musk additionally used yesterday’s earnings announcement to formally postpone the deliberate launch of Tesla’s first self-driving “robotaxis”. Shares fell greater than 8 per cent in after-hours buying and selling.

Alphabet’s outcomes had been rosier. Google’s dad or mum firm reported that revenues jumped 14 per cent within the second quarter, with double-digit progress in promoting suggesting that AI chatbots reminiscent of OpenAI’s ChatGPT had but to make a dent in queries on its dominant search engine.

And right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on at this time:

• Financial information: S&P International releases a UK flash buying managers’ index.

• Joe Biden: The US president will ship a nationwide deal with from the Oval Workplace this night on his choice to desert his bid for re-election.

• Netanyahu within the US: The Israeli prime minister will deal with Congress forward of conferences with Biden tomorrow and Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property on Friday.

• Outcomes: Reckitt is below stress to revisit a sale of its vitamin enterprise because the conglomerate stories half-year earnings. Banco Santander, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Financial institution, easyJet and IBM additionally report.

5 extra prime tales

1. Massive traders are positioning themselves for “a turning of the tide” for London’s unloved inventory market, hoping that an bettering financial system, decrease rates of interest and political stability will enhance low cost British shares. BlackRock and Allianz have joined British fund homes reminiscent of Ruffer and Rathbones in elevating publicity to UK-listed shares in latest months. Learn the complete story.

2. Emmanuel Macron has stated he is not going to identify a brand new authorities till after the Olympic Video games to keep away from creating “disorder”. The French president stated it was vital that the present caretaker authorities and ministers stayed in place since they’d been instrumental in planning the occasion. Right here’s extra on Macron’s “Olympic political truce”.

3. Unique: Three swing-state Democrats are actually the frontrunners to change into Kamala Harris’s operating mate: Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, Arizona senator Mark Kelly and governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina. Massive Democratic donors near the vice-president stated the lads had been being vetted by Barack Obama’s former attorney-general. Right here’s what we all know in regards to the contenders.

• Path to victory: Pollsters anticipate a bump in Harris’s approval rankings within the brief time period, however will that enthusiasm maintain over her three-month dash to defeat Donald Trump?

• Harris’s legitimacy: Democrats worry a contest for his or her celebration’s nomination may trigger “chaos”, however deference to established candidates has price them prior to now, writes Janan Ganesh.

4. European Fee president Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer are planning to satisfy inside weeks to drive a “reset” in post-Brexit EU-UK relations. The leaders are engaged on a late August or early September assembly, officers stated. Right here’s what might be on the agenda.

5. Unique: Wegovy prescriptions by Britain’s public well being service have been held again by an absence of weight-loss clinics, a Monetary Instances evaluation of NHS England information exhibits. The favored drug was prescribed simply 3,300 occasions since September, far beneath the 13,500 sufferers the UK’s healthcare spending watchdog expects will obtain the drug in its first 12 months of use. Clara Murray and Ian Johnston have extra particulars.

The Massive Learn

The world’s oceans have absorbed 90 per cent of extra warmth and a few quarter of human-caused carbon dioxide emitted throughout the industrial period. Prior to now 15 months, international sea floor temperatures have reached and stayed at report ranges, fuelling heatwaves and melting sea ice. As scientists examine whether or not the world’s seas will cool once more, there are worries that our oceans could also be reaching their limits within the very important function they play in defending the planet in opposition to the worst extremes of local weather change.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Personal fairness: Our newest visible story explores how the sector’s sprawling net of debt has entangled banks and will pose a menace to the worldwide financial system.

• Rupert Murdoch: Was the 93-year-old media mogul’s uncommon go to to attend the Republican conference an indication of his waning affect?

• Venezuelan politics: With an election looming, even Hugo Chávez’s hometown has had sufficient of his revolution and is turning in opposition to his successor, Nicolás Maduro.

• Diamonds: The marketplace for tough diamonds for jewelry is struggling certainly one of its worst downturns, however some forecast a restoration as costs of factory-made stones have fallen too far.

Chart of the day

The variety of undesirable Paris Olympics tickets out there for resale has hit greater than 1 / 4 of one million, simply days earlier than Friday’s opening ceremony. Poor demand has elevated issues that many athletes will compete in opposition to a backdrop of empty seats.

Take a break from the information

Relating to bespoke menswear, one may consider London’s Savile Row or Italy — however not Paris. The town’s household ateliers are broadening their attraction to youthful shoppers with extra reasonably priced options, reminiscent of made-to-measure choices.

Extra contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm and David Hindley