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Good morning.
Enterprise is booming for the world’s greatest defence firms. The sector’s order books are close to document highs after rising by greater than 10 per cent in simply two years due to the Ukraine warfare and rising geopolitical battle elsewhere.
An evaluation by the Monetary Occasions of 15 defence teams, together with the biggest US contractors, Britain’s BAE Programs and South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace, discovered that on the finish of 2022 — the most recent for which full-year information is obtainable — their mixed order backlogs have been $777.6bn, up from $701.2bn two years earlier.
Momentum continued into 2023. Within the first six months of this 12 months mixed backlogs at these firms stood at $764bn. Read our full analysis, which also details investors’ sustained interest in the sector.
Associated reads:
Bid for lunch with the FT’s Martin Wolf, Gideon Rachman or our editor, Roula Khalaf, with all proceeds going to the FT’s Financial Literacy and Inclusion Campaign charity. Bid now or discover out who else is on the menu at ft.com/appeal.
5 extra high tales
1. Dealmaking sank under $3tn for the primary time in a decade in 2023, with about $2.9tn value of transactions struck globally this 12 months, down 17 per cent from 2022. It was the primary time since 2008-09 that the worth of offers introduced fell greater than 10 per cent for 2 consecutive years, stated the London Inventory Trade Group, which produced the information. Here’s why mergers and acquisitions are going through a lull.
2. Internet international funding in China-listed shares this 12 months has dropped 87 per cent, with offshore traders promoting greater than $28bn value of shares previously 5 months amid mounting doubts about Beijing’s willingness to take severe motion to spice up flagging development. Read the full story.
3. Unique: Greater demand for LinkedIn from advertisers leaving Elon Musk’s X is driving up advert costs on the platform, with annual promoting revenues on the Microsoft-owned group rising to just about $4bn in 2023, up 10.1 per cent 12 months on 12 months. Here’s more on what one ad agency called “LinkedIn season”.
4. Apple is resuming gross sales within the US of its Watch Collection 9 and Extremely 2 after an appeals courtroom halted a ban handed down by the Worldwide Commerce Fee. The corporate had final week pulled the most recent fashions of its smartwatch from its on-line and bodily shops within the US, anticipating the commerce tribunal’s ban taking impact. Here’s the latest from Apple’s ongoing patent battle.
5. Jacques Delors, one of many primary architects of right this moment’s EU, has died on the age of 98. The previous president of the European Fee was some of the consequential figures in postwar Europe, presiding over the creation of the one market and laying the groundwork for financial and financial union. Learn more about his life and impact here.
We’re additionally studying . . .
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Netflix’s rivals: US leisure giants reminiscent of Disney and Paramount are dealing with strain to shrink and slash prices after losing more than $5bn this 12 months from their streaming providers.
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Submit Workplace: A public inquiry has shone a harsh gentle on how legal professionals for the UK establishment used contentious and aggressive legal tactics in opposition to sub-postmasters.
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Morgan Stanley: Incoming chief govt Ted Decide is about to inherit a financial institution in good condition however facing far greater challenges than it did a 12 months in the past.
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Central banks: The world’s high rate-setters are rethinking their approach to forecasting after their high-profile failures to identify the latest inflationary outburst.
For extra on rate-setters’ battle in opposition to inflation, premium subscribers can sign up for our Central Banks e-newsletter by Chris Giles, or improve your subscription here.
Probably the most-read Opinion items of 2023
With China commonly dominating world headlines this 12 months, it could come as no shock that two of the highest three most-read FT commentaries of 2023 have been concerning the nation.
Helen Thomas’s warning that Beijing’s dominance within the electrical automobile market was leaving Europe within the mud resonated with readers, and got here because the EU tried to protect its personal carmakers with an anti-subsidy probe into Chinese language producers. Final month, Ruchir Sharma took a special tone, provocatively declaring: “It’s a post-China world now.” His piece arguing that China’s rise was reversing got here in third and attracted a whole lot of feedback.
The primary runner-up was a few decidedly totally different subject: flight attendant uniforms. HTSI editor Jo Ellison’s views on the no-nonsense, sensible redesign by a Savile Row tailor for the UK’s nationwide provider have been humorously summed up by the next headline: “No sex please, we’re British Airways.”
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Extra contributions from Sarah Ebner and Emily Goldberg