Friday 31 July 2026
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: Bank of England keeps rates at 3.75 per cent
Business and markets: Shell doubles earnings to $9.8bn in Q2 2026
Foreign Affairs: Hungary and Romania power down nuclear plants
Security and intelligence: UN to hold talks to resolve Cyprus division
Domestic politics: Greater Manchester Mayoral results to be announced today
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 10,897.27 (down 0.1%)
S&P 500 = 7,437.63 (up 1.66%)
Nasdaq = 25,122.18 (up 2.78%)
Stoxx 600 = 649.95 (up 0.77%)
£1 = $1.35 / €1.17
Lab / Con / Reform = 23 / 19 / 23 per cent (Find Out Now, 29 July)
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: The Bank of England opted yesterday to keep interest rates the same at 3.75 per cent. The Monetary Policy Committee, which votes on rates, saw 6 members vote in favour of keeping rates the same and 3 members vote for a 0.25 percentage point increase.
Bank of England Governor, Andrew Bailey, indicated that there was “little evidence” that the energy shock from the Iran war was leading to higher inflation but that it was still “too early to take much comfort in that”.
Business and markets: Shell more than doubled its earnings in Q2 2026 to $9.84 billion compared to the same time last year. Although there has been disruption from the Iran War, the oil company has benefited significantly from its oil trading and refining operations. Its earnings from these activities alone reached $2.52 billion – an increase of over 700 per cent from the same time last year.
Foreign Affairs: Hungary and Romania have both decided to power down their nuclear reactors due to low water levels in the River Danube. They use water from the river to cool their reactors. Hungary’s Paks nuclear power plant supplies nearly half of the country’s electricity.
Earlier this week, Hungarian authorities stated that the gauge water level of the Danube stood at 23cm.
Security and intelligence: The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said that he intends to hold discussions aimed at resolving the division of Cyprus and at stabilising the region. All the powers involved (the Greek Cypriot Republic, Turkish Northern Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, and the UK) have all agreed to talks.
There have been six talks since 2017 with no results.
Domestic politics: The result from the Greater Manchester mayoral by-election is to be announced today at 2.00pm at the earliest. The area is the UK’s second-largest urban agglomeration and is home to over 3 million people (of whom 2.1 million are eligible to vote).
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
Delta Aquarid meteor shower (further information for UK residents here)
President Trump hosts Cabinet meeting at Camp David
Bank of Japan interest rate decision
Company results from: ExxonMobil, Chevron, EDF, Taylor Wimpey, IAG, NatWest Group, Sony, ITV, Colgate-Palmolive, Rightmove
Lookahead to tomorrow
Saturday
Bonneville Speed Week begins (land speed racing), Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah
Women’s Tour de France begins
Sunday
Meeting of OPEC+ members
Commonwealth Games (final day)
Qatar Goodwood Festival (horseracing)
Women’s Open 2026 (golf), Royal Lytham and St Annes Golf Club, England
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Sunny spells in the north of England. Bright sunshine in the south. High of 25C and low of 14C in London. Thundery showers in Belfast. Light rain in Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.” – Winston Churchill
Mighty takeaway: You may be working hard, but are you working effectively? Are you doing what is actually required to achieve your goals?
That’s it for this Friday morning. We hope that you have a lovely weekend.
Bye!
The Mighty Memo team
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