Wednesday 11 May 2026
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: Chinese exports grow by 14 per cent in April
Business and markets: AST shares grow by over 3,200 per cent in two years
Foreign Affairs: Putin suggests Schröder as Ukraine war mediator
Security and intelligence: Taiwan legislates for $25bn of defence spending
Domestic politics: Starmer to give key political speech today
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 10,233.07 (down 0.43%)
S&P 500 = 7,398.93 (down 0.84%)
Nasdaq = 26,247.08 (up 1.71%)
CAC40 = 612.14 (down 0.69%)
£1 = $1.36 / €1.16
In place of our usual opinion poll, we have included the final local election results in England from last week:
Labour (1,068 seats – down 1,496)
Conservative (801 seats – down 563)
Reform (1,453 seats – up 1,451)
Lib Dem (844 seats – up 155)
Green (587 seats – up 441)
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The Mighty Detail
Economics: Newly released data indicates that China’s exports increased by 14 per cent in April, compared with a year earlier. There are reports that China’s export customers may have been stockpiling goods, fearing higher prices in the future if the Iran war continues.
Business and markets: Shares in US satellite maker, AST SpaceMobile, have increased by over 3,220 per cent since May 2024. There are suggestions that AST is a meme stock – stocks which goes viral on social media – but some analysts point to the firm’s intrinsic potential developing technology which sends satellite signals to mobile phones.
Foreign Affairs: President Putin has suggested that he would prefer former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to be a mediator in Ukraine war peace talks. The office of Schröder, 82, has declined to comment on the matter but he is said to be a personal friend of Putin.
Putin separately suggested at the weekend that the Ukraine war is “coming to an end”.
Security and intelligence: Taiwan’s Opposition-controlled Parliament has approved a much-delayed package of defence spending totalling $25 billion. The Government had sought $40 billion.
The US has said that further delays to defence spending would be a “concession to the Chinese Communist Party”.
Domestic politics: The UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is to give a speech today setting out a new direction for the country. It follows local election losses for the Labour Party last week. Starmer had said at the weekend that the Government he led was a 10-year project of renewal.
Former Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, suggested yesterday that the Government should take more action to tackle inequality and that it was wrong to have blocked Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, from standing for Parliament in February.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
Prince of Wales marks Mental Health Awareness Week by opening suicide prevention centre in Birmingham
British Medical Association ballots senior doctors on strike action
UK Parliament still prorogued ahead of King’s Speech on Wednesday
Company results from: Barrick Gold, Compass Group
Lookahead to tomorrow
EU Defence Ministers’ meeting, Brussels, Belgium
US Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, and the FBI Director, Kash Patel, appear before US Congress
79th Cannes Film Festival Opens
Company results from: Panasonic, Vodafone, ThysennKrupp, Bayer, Imperial Brands, Olympus
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Light rain in the southeast of England from mid-morning. Largely dry elsewhere. High of 13C and low of 4C in London. Sunny spells in Belfast and Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“The world only exists in your eyes, your conception of it. You can make it as big or as small as you want to.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, author
Mighty takeaway: How can you change your perspective to improve your current situation?
That’s it for this Monday morning. Thank you for reading and we hope that you have a good start to the week.
Bye!
The Mighty Memo team
*To read the Mighty Memo manifesto and learn about why we do this visit: https://www.mightymemo.co.uk/why*