- Aixtron (AIXA TH) -1.9%
- ASML (ASME TH) -2.5%
- Hermes (HMI TH) -2.5%
- LVMH’s China Slump Threatens Hopes for Broader Luxury Recovery
- Nokia (NOA3 TH) -2.7%
- Nokia to Sell Enterprise Campus Edge Business to Aurelius (1)
- LVMH (MOH TH) -2.7%
- LVMH’s China Slump Threatens Hopes for Broader Luxury Recovery
- STMicro (SGM TH) -2.7%
- STMicroelectronics to Reappoint Chery as President & CEO
- Soitec (SOH1 TH) -2.9%
- Technoprobe (K8B TH) -3%
- ASM Intl (AVS TH) -3.1%
- BE Semiconductor (BSI TH) -3.1%
DAX:
- Symrise (SY1 TH) +1.2%
- NOTE: Givaudan 3Q Sales Beat Estimates
- Siemens Energy (ENR TH) -1.3%
- Infineon (IFX TH) -1.9%
MDAX:
- Elmos Semiconductor (ELG TH) -1.4%
- Aixtron (AIXA TH) -1.9%
- SUSS MicroTec (SMHN TH) -2.2%
- Siltronic (WAF TH) -2.6%
SDAX:
- Evotec (EVT TH) +1.4%
- PVA TePla (TPE TH) -1.8%
- PVA TePla Investor Raised Voting Rights to 3.47% on Oct. 6
- LPKF (LPK TH) -1.8%
IMF upgrades outlook for UK as AI drives growth spurt
The fund believes Britain is emerging as one of the winners of the tech boom
AI is driving a growth spurt in the UK, according to new IMF forecasts that show Britain’s outlook has improved more than almost any other major economy over the past six months.
In its latest World Economic Outlook, the fund said UK GDP was set to grow by 1.3 per cent in 2026 — an upgrade of 0.5 percentage points from its forecast in April, even though the energy shock unleashed by the Iran war has lasted longer than initially expected.
The fund believes the UK is emerging as one of the winners of the tech boom, with growth supported by AI-related investment and exports. The only other G7 economy whose outlook has improved as much since April is Germany, where exporters are also benefiting from the global AI build-out.
UK businesses are also proving better able to cope with energy and trade disruption than in the past. The IMF said that businesses around the world had diversified supply chains and become less reliant on oil or other inputs such as fertiliser.
The global outlook was “highly uneven across countries”, said Silvana Tenreyro, IMF chief economist, noting that despite geopolitical turmoil, “technology-related exports and investments give some countries a cushion”.
The fund’s upgrade to the UK’s outlook reflects recent data showing that GDP grew by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2026, building on an expansion of 0.6 per cent in the first quarter.
In recent years, the UK economy has repeatedly begun the year with a growth spurt that fizzled out as autumn and the uncertainties of the annual Budget approached. But economists are increasingly confident that this year’s data reflect genuine resilience rather than the typical seasonal pattern.
They note in particular that business investment has picked up sharply and is concentrated in areas related to AI — software, hardware, data centres and infrastructure — while output has grown strongly in areas such as programming, consultancy and professional services, which are well placed to advise on the AI rollout.
UK chancellor John Healey welcomed the IMF’s forecast, saying it showed Britain was showing “strong international resilience” in the face of the Middle East conflict and noting that the IMF also expected the UK to have the lowest deficit in the G7 by 2031.
But the fund’s upgrade will be of limited comfort to Healey as he prepares to deliver his first Budget, as the economy is about to be tested by a fresh burst of inflation from the energy shock.
“The [global] economy has been resilient, but that resilience is reaching its limits,” Tenreyro warned.
The fund expects UK GDP growth of 1.2 per cent in 2027, a slight downgrade from its April forecast, and well below the 1.6 per cent expansion the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility was expecting in March, when it last issued fiscal forecasts.
Jack Meaning, chief UK economist at Barclays, said at a pre-Budget event hosted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that if the recent pace of tech-related investment were to continue, it could make “a material contribution to UK growth in the coming years”. But he said that in practice, higher UK interest rates and inflation were likely to slow the pace of the AI boom.
In the longer term, Meaning added, the benefits of AI would depend on how far its adoption led to lasting productivity gains. A rush of capital investment would boost the level of GDP initially, he noted, but only a step change in productivity would change the UK’s long-term rate of growth.
Biotech start-ups turn to reverse mergers to fast-track listings
Life sciences companies take advantage of the leftovers of a pandemic-era IPO frenzy to fast-track listings
The number of biotech companies going public through reverse mergers has risen almost sixfold this year, as promising start-ups take advantage of struggling groups on the Nasdaq to fast-track their stock market debuts.
Twenty-three biotechs have announced they are pursuing reverse mergers this year, according to investment bank William Blair — up from four last year. That surge has come despite a revival in biotech IPOs, which have also risen to 23 this year, from 12 in 2025.
In these deals, a private biotech can go public by merging with a listed company, usually one that has suffered a significant setback such as the failure of a main drug candidate, enabling it to bypass the traditional IPO process.
More biotechs have turned to this type of deal in the past year thanks to a ready supply of listed merger candidates following a pandemic-era jump in biotech IPOs and a growing number of sophisticated investors willing to finance them.
“Historically, going public through reverse mergers was viewed as a lesser option,” said Brian Rosenzweig, a capital markets partner at law firm Covington. “But much of that view has changed [as] the market for reverse mergers has become more sophisticated.”
Following a frothy market for life sciences listings during the pandemic, a number of listed biotechs have since suffered clinical setbacks, leaving them open to a tie-up. There were 51 biotech IPOs in 2020 and 70 in 2021 before the market dried up the following year, according to FactSet data.
Listed targets have included Cyclerion Therapeutics, which went public in 2019 but suffered a string of clinical setbacks, including the failure of its sickle cell treatment, and attempted unsuccessfully to pivot to new areas. The company last month completed a reverse merger with Korsana Biosciences, a biotech focused on neurodegenerative diseases.
Korsana, whose investors now own the majority of the merged group, raised $380mn in so-called pipe financing from groups including Fairmount and RTW Investments.
The growing involvement of sophisticated life sciences investors such as Fairmount has also helped reverse mergers shed their reputation as a last resort for weak companies to list.
“Most of the specialised, sophisticated investors who drive the books of demand for traditional IPOs are now the same group of investors driving [financing] for reverse mergers,” said Rosenzweig.
Those investors have helped to boost the sums raised in such deals. In July private biotech Caldera Therapeutics secured $278mn from investors including Bain Capital Life Sciences, Atlas Venture and Janus Henderson to merge with Synlogic. A month later Obsidian Therapeutics raised $350mn from Atlas and Janus Henderson among others to merge with Galera.
Lawyers and biotech executives said some companies were choosing reverse mergers even as the IPO market picked up, attracted by their relative speed and greater certainty over financing. Unlike a listing, where investor demand and pricing can be unpredictable, reverse mergers allow biotechs to agree valuations and secure financing upfront.
Rita Sobral, a partner at law firm Cooley who has advised biotechs on reverse mergers, said: “The moment you enter into the business combination agreement that has [financing] locked in, you have deal certainty.
“You are less dependent on an IPO window to be available. You focus on locking in the valuation, which is something you don’t have the benefit of doing via the IPO process upfront.”
Jonathan Violin, Korsana’s chief executive, told the FT that the company “realised it doesn’t matter what path you take . . . What matters is the strength of the company and the strength of the science and how well a company is capitalised.
“The old pejorative view of reverse mergers was a mistake,” he added. “The traditional IPO is a long process and there are all kinds of risks associated.”
The recovery in traditional biotech IPOs has also given promising companies a route to market following a years-long drought, however. Recent listings include Alamar Biosciences, whose shares have risen about 15 per cent since it went public in April.
One life sciences investor stressed that companies would continue to evaluate both reverse mergers and IPOs, cautioning that after a string of such deals, the number of attractive merger candidates — cash-rich companies with clean balance sheets and no ongoing litigation — was dwindling.
“A lot of things went public during the pandemic that probably shouldn’t have,” he said. “Most of the clean shells are taken. But if you’re a high-quality biotech, the traditional IPO is still open.”
How BT’s TalkTalk swoop left broadband rivals fuming
Rescue deal will boost BT’s market leadership at a time when regulators are trying to encourage competition
Five years ago, UK communications watchdog Ofcom established a clear goal: end BT’s dominance of the country’s broadband market.
Its regulatory overhaul aimed to generate “sustainable competition” by making it financially viable for dozens of “altnets” to build rival fibre broadband networks to BT’s Openreach. The move worked: over £31bn was raised by BT’s competitors, which now cover almost 20mn homes with full-fibre broadband.
Yet last week the minister overseeing Ofcom invoked powers giving her the ability to approve a deal that will cement BT’s market leadership.
With TalkTalk on the verge of collapse, BT swooped in to acquire its smaller rival’s operations via a pre-pack administration that will see it pick up a business serving 2.5mn customers, shorn of its roughly £1.5bn debts.
Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, invoked an emergency protocol enabling her to override antitrust concerns on the basis that disruption to TalkTalk’s services posed a “genuine risk to life and public services — including to hospitals, schools and emergency care”.
The move was met with fury from BT’s biggest competitor: it came just three days after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said it was minded to block a separate attempt to consolidate the intensely competitive broadband market.
The watchdog warned that the proposed acquisition of the UK’s fourth-largest wholesale provider Netomnia by Nexfibre, a broadband operator backed by Virgin Media O2’s shareholders, could substantially reduce competition in the wholesale market.
“We find ourselves in a perverse situation where the logical acquisition of a sub-scale “altnet” . . . is potentially halted, yet a deal by the dominant incumbent to buy one of its biggest competitors . . . may get waved through without a sniff of serious scrutiny,” said Virgin Media O2 chief executive Lutz Schüler.
A Netomnia-Nexfibre combination would create an 8mn-home fibre network. BT’s Openreach serves nearly 25mn homes.
The decisions from Nandy and the CMA have sparked debate over the rule book for mergers and what the exit route is for the dozens of investors who have backed BT’s sub-scale rivals — many of which are now facing a cash crunch.
The cost of building out networks has left the lossmaking “altnets” saddled with over £9bn in net debt, according to calculations by Enders Analysis. Some providers, such as London’s G.Network, have fallen into administration, while lenders to others have been forced to write down the value of their debts.
The CMA’s signal that it may block Nexfibre’s attempt to buy Netomnia — the sort of consolidation that many investors had been banking on — has sent shivers through the sector. The move raises questions over whether the watchdog’s stance will ultimately delay rivals from creating the sort of competition for Openreach that Ofcom set out to achieve.
“The UK needs some bigger scaled competitors to Openreach and it needs additional investment to expand fibre [networks] . . . the CMA decision makes those two necessary outcomes much more challenging to achieve,” said one UK broadband boss.
Deutsche Bank analyst Robert Grindle said the two decisions were “materially at odds with each other” and that allowing the BT-TalkTalk deal runs “counter to the policy to develop sustainable UK fixed-line competition, which has so far led to substantial investment in fibre to the benefit of consumers [and] businesses.”
However, others believe the two potential takeovers are fundamentally different. That is partly because the TalkTalk takeover affects the retail market, whereas the Netomnia deal largely impacts on wholesale — the part of the market that was the original target of Ofcom’s regulatory overhaul in 2021.
“The crucial difference between these deals is that TalkTalk is a proven failed-firm situation, with it having been publicly for sale for at least the past four years but with no credible buyer,” said Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis.
In the case of Netomnia, Egan added, the CMA found that smaller player CityFibre would be a credible alternative buyer for the company.
An Ofcom spokesperson said they “disagreed that the events of the past few days” had undermined its approach to network competition, adding that its regulation had “supercharged competition and investment” in the industry.
“These are two very different transactions, being carried out in materially different circumstances,” they added.
A government spokesperson said that Nandy’s intervention “will ensure wider risks to the public are considered alongside competition, which is being assessed by the CMA”.
Ofcom has so far declined to share its definition of “sustainable competition”. But its chair, Sir Ian Cheshire, recently hinted at what this could be, telling the FT in July he envisaged the UK ending up with “three big [broadband] networks”.
But after this month’s regulatory interventions, some are questioning whether this goal is ultimately feasible.
“The presence of three competing networks in every postcode area feels more like a pipe dream than reality,” said Matt Howett, founder of Assembly Research.
After Hours Summary: SNDX -16.3%, BMEA +6.6%, NVTS +4.7%, INCY -3.9%, FORM +2.3%, CYTK -1.5%, SVRA +1.2%
After Hours Gainers:
Companies trading higher in after hours in reaction to news:BMEA +6.6% (Will release Phase I GLP-131 results for oral GLP-1 receptor agonist BMF-650 on Oct. 13.), NVTS +4.7% (Developed a 24 kW 800V-to-12V AI power board with NVIDIA for its MGX ecosystem.), FORM +2.3% (Entered a semiconductor test collaboration with Teradyne, which agreed to invest $300 million in common stock.), SVRA +1.2% (Will present new IMPALA analysis and long-term Phase 3 molgramostim efficacy and safety data at CHEST 2026.)
After Hours Losers:
Companies trading lower in after hours in reaction to news:SNDX -16.3% (Phase 2 axatilimab trial in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis missed its primary endpoint, prompting termination of IPF development.), INCY -3.9% (Partner Syndax’s Phase 2 axatilimab IPF trial missed its primary endpoint, ending further development in the indication.), CYTK -1.5% (Reported sub-50% LVEF in 10.5% of aficamten patients versus 0.8% on placebo in ACACIA-HCM.)
Meta Says New AI Model Is State-of-the-Art, Will Make Muse Agent Smarter
The new model, called Muse Wonder, arrives as global downloads of the company’s personal-assistant agent have slowed
- Meta Platforms released a new artificial intelligence model called Muse Wonder on Monday.
- The new model will soon power Meta’s Muse personal-assistant agent for subscribers of both the $20 and $100 monthly tiers.
Meta Platforms META 3.92%increase; green up pointing triangle released a new artificial intelligence model Monday that it says vaults the company to the AI frontier, a goal it established last year when it created Meta Superintelligence Labs.
One important test of the model, called Muse Wonder, will be how much it can improve retention and accelerate adoption of Muse, the company’s new personal-assistant agent introduced last month.
Muse has amassed nearly nine million global downloads since its release. But downloads have started to slow and its retention lags that of ChatGPT after 14 days, Sensor Tower data shows.
“Some people have a pretty clear sense of what they want to use the product for or how it can improve their lives,” Alexandr Wang, Meta’s AI chief, said in an interview. “Other folks who maybe are less familiar with AI or agents may not understand that, and for them, I think it’s more of a hurdle to get on board.”
The new model, which Meta says performs better than OpenAI’s Astra and Anthropic’s Fable on several tests, will soon power Muse for subscribers of both the $20 a month and $100 a month tiers. It includes better memory, better focus to help users tackle challenging goals, and more expertise in the health, finance and legal fields, according to Meta.
“We think it is competitive as a frontier model with the very best models that are out there,” Wang said. “But in addition to that, it also is specifically the very best model for personal and professional agents and will be the best model to power an experience like Muse.”
Meta overhauled its AI efforts in spring 2025 after the disappointing launch of its then-latest model, Llama 4. Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg hired Wang from Scale AI to lead the effort at newly created Meta Superintelligence Labs with a vision of providing so-called “personal superintelligence” to its billions of users.
That goal has emerged in the form of Muse, which Zuckerberg said at a conference last month is the “centerpiece” of what the company is building.
OpenAI released Dots, a competing AI agent, at its annual developer conference nearly two weeks ago. Google offers an agent called Gemini Spark and startup Instinct has also launched its own buzzy agent that has emerged as the main competitor to Muse so far.
Albertsons Wants $8 Billion From Kroger After Failed Merger
With a trial looming, the supermarket owner says its rival tanked their tie-up
- Albertsons is seeking at least $8 billion from Kroger in a Delaware lawsuit following their failed grocery merger.
- Albertsons accuses Kroger of making “lowball” divestiture offers to regulators.
- A bench trial in the Delaware Chancery Court is scheduled to begin on Oct. 19 and is expected to last about two weeks.
Supermarket chain Albertsons ACI 1.19%increase; green up pointing triangle wants its top rival Kroger KR 0.97%increase; green up pointing triangle to pay it at least $8 billion after their grocery megadeal imploded two years ago.
Albertsons is accusing Kroger leaders of making “lowball offers” to federal regulators to largely keep the most-profitable stores in the combined company, and hive off the weaker-performing ones, according to a court filing unsealed Monday.
The filing is part of Albertsons’ lawsuit against Kroger in Delaware Chancery Court following the companies’ failed deal. A bench trial is slated to begin Oct. 19 and the proceeding is expected to last about two weeks.
Albertsons said it is owed lost merger premiums and interest. The amount it is seeking includes a $600 million breakup fee that Kroger previously agreed to pay but didn’t after the deal was dropped.
Kroger representatives didn’t immediately comment.
The trial reflects the journey that Kroger and Albertsons have taken from industry rivals to potential merger partners to competitors again over the span over the last four years.
Since the deal fell apart, both companies have struggled. Grocers are reeling from rising costs, while cash-strapped shoppers cut back on their habits and flock to rival discount stores. The pain is acute at Albertsons: Its shares are down about 30% over the past 12 months, bringing its market value to around $6 billion.
Kroger in 2022 agreed to buy Albertsons for $20 billion, uniting the No. 1 and No. 2 U.S. supermarket chains by store count. The combined company would have nearly 5,000 stores under Kroger banners including Fred Meyer, Roundy’s and Mariano’s with the owner of Safeway, Vons and Jewel-Osco.
The goal was to create a bigger grocery competitor to megaretailers such as Walmart and Amazon and discount grocers like Aldi, which have the scale and buying power to undercut supermarket shelf prices.
To ease concerns about the deal, the companies offered to sell hundreds of stores to grocery distributor C&S Wholesale Grocers. The Federal Trade Commission sued in 2024 to block the deal, claiming that reduced competition would raise grocery prices.
A Portland federal court judge later blocked the deal on antitrust grounds. The day after the ruling, Albertsons sued its former deal partner, alleging Kroger didn’t do enough to secure regulatory approval. Kroger has called Albertsons’ claims baseless and said that the company isn’t owed the breakup fee.
Kroger and Albertsons each spent about $1 billion on deal-related costs, including lawyer and consulting fees.
In the court filing Monday, Albertsons said Kroger leadership gave priority to keeping stores that would help it hit specific financial targets once it completed its deal to acquire Albertsons’ more than 2,000 stores. It pointed to a $400 million bonus pool that then-Chief Executive Rodney McMullen established for executives based on profit targets after the deal closed.
During the heat of their federal antitrust trial in 2024, Albertsons’ then-CEO Vivek Sankaran called his counterpart at Kroger with a last-ditch request to help ease regulators’ concerns, according to the filing.
Sankaran offered to lower the deal price by $800 million, but asked McMullen to divest more stores from the combined company. McMullen snubbed the offer and never formally discussed it with the Kroger board, the filing said.
McMullen and Sankaran didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Kroger should be held accountable for the harm it caused our shareholders, associates, and customers—and we look forward to proving our case in court,” Albertsons said in a statement.
Sankaran retired last year and Albertsons succeeded him with current CEO Susan Morris. McMullen left Kroger in March 2025 after an undisclosed ethics violation.
Kroger meanwhile has brought in a new CEO, Walmart veteran Greg Foran. The company is hiring executives from Foran’s former employer and moving quickly to implement many of its tactics, such as offering low prices, cutting costs and negotiating more aggressively with suppliers.