Wednesday 4 February 2026
The Mighty Headlines
Economics: Bank of England interest rate set to stay at 3.75% tomorrow
Business and markets: Disney appoints new CEO, ending the “Iger” era
Foreign Affairs: Spain and Greece to impose social media ban for children
Security and intelligence: Nuclear treaty between US and Russia to expire
Domestic politics: MPs vote 458-104 to scrap two-child benefit cap
The Mighty Stats
FTSE = 10,314.59 (down 0.26%)
S&P 500 = 6,917.81 (down 0.84%)
Nasdaq = 23,255.19 (down 1.43%)
Stoxx 600 = 617.93 (up 0.1%)
£1 = $1.37 / €1.16
Lab / Con / Reform = 19 / 18 / 26 per cent (YouGov, 1-2 February)
*If you enjoy reading the Mighty Memo, please pass it on to your friends and family! Anyone can sign-up for free at www.mightymemo.co.uk. *
The Mighty Detail
Economics: The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates at 3.75 per cent tomorrow. The Bank faces contradictory economic data in the UK, with unemployment at 5.1 per cent (its highest level since 2021), but with inflation relatively high at 3.4 per cent and GDP rising by 0.3 per cent in November.
A summary of the Bank’s decision will be published tomorrow at 12.00pm here.
Business and markets: Disney has appointed Josh D’Amaro as its next CEO. D’Amaro is currently head of Disney’s themes parks – the company’s largest division with $36 billion in revenue.
D’Amaro replaces current CEO, Bob Iger, who first ran the company from 2005 to 2020. Iger famously returned as CEO in 2022, after the company struggled with themes parks and the profitability of its Disney+ streaming service.
Under Iger, Disney+ has gone from a $4 billion loss in 2022 to a $1.3 billion profit in 2025.
Foreign Affairs: Spain and Greece are the latest countries to announce a social media ban for children. Spain’s ban would apply to children under the age of 16, while the ban in Greece would apply to under-15s. Legislation in France banning social media for children passed the lower house last month and is now in the senate.
Security and intelligence: The last remaining nuclear weapons treaty between the United States and Russia expires tomorrow. The “New START” agreement was signed in 2010 and builds on decisions first taken by Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev in the 1980s. It limits Russia and the US to 1,550 nuclear warheads each.
Domestic politics: MPs voted 458 to 104 yesterday to end the two-child cap on certain benefits (child tax credit and Universal Credit). The Government says the cap, introduced by the then Conservative Government in 2017, was a “political exercise” with children as “pawns”.
The Conservative Party says that people on benefits should face the same financial choices as taxpayers when having children.
The Mighty Calendar
What’s happening today?
World Cancer Day
Ryan Routh sentenced in attempted assassination of President Trump
UK Home Secretary appears at Commons Home Affairs Committee
Eurozone CPI inflation data (January) – set to fall from 1.9% to 1.7%
Company results from: Google, Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Panasonic, Snap, UBS, Santander, Credit Agricole, New York Times, Uber, Scottish & Southern Energy, QUALCOMM
Lookahead to tomorrow
New START nuclear treaty between the US and Russia expires
Bank of England and European Central Bank interest rate decisions
Rugby Six Nations tournament begins – France vs Ireland
Company results from: Shell, Amazon, ConocoPhillips, Sony, Vodafone, ArcelorMittal, Compass Group, Nippon Steel, BNP Paribas, News Corp, Moller-Maersk
The Mighty Finale
🌤️Weather today
Largely dry in much of England but light rain and gusty wind in the southwest. High of 11C and low of 6C in London. Light rain in Belfast and Edinburgh.
✏️Life coaching quote of the day
“There is only one real misfortune: to forfeit one's own good opinion of oneself. Lose your complacency, once betray your own self-contempt, and the world will unhesitatingly endorse it.” – Thomas Mann, German writer
Mighty takeaway: Keep guard over your thoughts and approve of yourself – nobody will do it for you.
That’s it for this Wednesday morning. Thank you for reading and we’ll see you in a couple of days.
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*