Rio Tinto inks lithium partnership, Mulberry rejects Frasers Group offer

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 35 points higher on Tuesday, having closed down 1.01% on Monday at 8,236.95.

Stocks to watch

British-Australian metals and mining titan Rio Tinto has announced a lithium supply chain commercial partnership with UK-based, lithium refinery developer Green Lithium. Green Lithium is a mineral processing company with plans to build and operate a large-scale lithium refinery in Teesside, providing lithium chemicals to the UK and EU markets. Rio Tinto said in a statement that the signed memorandum of understanding with Green Lithium will build an end-to-end value chain “that provides security of supply to safeguard the UK’s and EU’s automotive and battery manufacturing industries”.

Expensive handbag maker Mulberry has rejected an £83m takeover offer from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group saying it failed to recognise the company’s “substantial future potential value”. Frasers, which already holds a 37% stake in Mulberry, on Monday offered a 130p a share in cash in response to an emergency £10.75m placing of shares in the luxury group late on Friday to support its balance sheet after slumping to a £34m full-year loss.

Endeavour Mining announced the appointment of Sonia Scarselli as its new executive vice-president of exploration on Tuesday, effective December, succeeding Jono Lawrence. The FTSE 100 company said Scarselli, formerly of BHP, would oversee its exploration programme, which aimed to discover 12 million to 17 million ounces of measured and indicated resources by 2025, with 10 million ounces already achieved at a cost below $25 per ounce. Her appointment would bring the executive committee's female representation to 30%.

Newspaper round-up

Unions fear some restaurants and other businesses may slip through the net of new legislation over the fair distribution of tips and service charges that comes into force in Great Britain on Tuesday. The government said the long-planned changes would mean workers would be in line for about £200m that may otherwise have been retained by employers. Under the new rules 100% of tips – by cash or card – and any service charge levied on customers must be passed on to staff working in restaurants, cafes, hotels, hairdressers or taxi firms. – Guardian

Online retailer eBay has scrapped fees for private sellers across almost all of its categories as it attempts to keep fast-growing rivals such as Depop and Vinted at arm’s length. The move means eBay’s UK sellers no longer have to pay transaction fees, except for cars, motorcycles and other vehicles. In April this year, eBay removed fees for private sellers of pre-owned clothes, and the company said it was “now evolving the experience even further”. – Guardian

Families with children will still be worse off than pensioners even after Rachel Reeves’s raid on winter fuel payments, a Left-leaning think tank has claimed. The Resolution Foundation has warned that working-age families are more likely than older people to struggle with their energy bills in the coming months, notwithstanding the Chancellor’s decision to scrap the £300 payment for millions of pensioners. – Telegraph

Confidence among business leaders has drained away in advance of the autumn budget as they weigh up the prospect of higher taxes and stricter employment regulations. The Institute of Directors’ economic confidence index, which measures business leaders’ optimism about the economic climate, registered a decline from -12 in August to -38 in September. The index also recorded a slide in directors’ investment intentions, which have steadily fallen over the summer, from 36 in July to 23 in August, down to -6 in September. – The Times

Anna Anthony is to become the first female boss of a big four professional services firm in the UK after she was selected to take over as the new managing partner of EY. Anthony will start in her new role, leading EY’s business in the UK and Ireland, on January 1. She will succeed Hywel Ball, who is stepping down after being managing partner since 2020. – The Times

US close

US stocks registered mild gains on Monday after a late rally following comments from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who indicated that interest-rate cuts would continue – albeit by a reduced amount – in the coming months.

After swinging between gains and losses for most of the session, Wall Street's three main indices pushed into positive territory in the final hour of trade, with the Dow and S&P 500 both setting new closing highs, breaking records set just last week.

The Dow inched 0.04% higher to 42,330.15, while the S&P 500 rose 0.42% to 5,762.48. The Nasdaq also gained 0.38% to 18,189.17.

Speaking at a conference in Nashville, Powell said the economy was in "solid shape" and "we intend to use our tools to keep it there".

Following a 50-basis point (bp) cut to interest rates two weeks ago, Powell said that two further 25bp cuts would be likely this year, if the economy performs as expected.