Europe's Airbus sharply raised its forecasts for full-year deliveries and earnings after reporting better-than-expected half-year results on Thursday. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Airbus would beat its previous target and deliver more than 600 jets this year after negotiating compromise deals with airlines. Led by commercial aerospace and helicopter divisions, Airbus swung to an operating profit of 2.009 billion euros in the second quarter, compared with a loss of 1.23 billion a year earlier, as revenues rose 70% to 14.177 billion euros.

Tokyo's athletics programme will see the inaugural 400 metre mixed relay event kick off on Friday, where teams of two men and two women will compete for Olympic gold against each other offering fans unpredictable and intriguing match-ups. The United States will be the favourites for Saturday's final, assuming there are no baton blunders in Friday's heats, having claimed the 2019 World Championships in Doha. Jamaica are also expected to feature prominently.

Hassani Dotson scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time to give Minnesota United a 2-2 tie with with Los Angeles FC on Wednesday night. Dotson slipped a shot from the top of the penalty area inside the post. Carlos Vela scored for the fourth consecutive game to give LAFC (6-5-5) a 1-0 lead in the 40th minute.

A rebound in growth stocks over the last month is doing little to bolster the performance of Cathie Wood's ARK Innovation ETF, which has lagged this year after outperforming all other U.S. equity funds in 2020. The $22.4 billion ARKK fund is down 7.1% for July so far, putting it in the bottom 96th percentile rank among the 605 mid-cap growth funds tracked by Morningstar. At the same time, the S&P 500, with its heavy weighting in big technology-focused stocks, is up 2.4%, helped by a 5.8% gain in Apple Inc and a nearly 12% gain in Google parent Alphabet Inc. The fund is down 2.5% this year, compared with a 17.1% gain for the S&P.

Solvay on Thursday raised its free cash flow and core profit guidance for the full year as the Belgian chemicals group beat second-quarter earnings expectations. Chief Executive Officer Ilham Kadri told Reuters in an interview sales for batteries in hybrid and electric vehicles were extremely strong, growing 82% in the second quarter compared with the same period last year. "Since quarter four last year we've seen a fabulous growth ... We see really good demand for EV continuing from quarter four and on," Kadri said.

Canadian pipeline operator TC Energy Corp could spend billions of dollars on its plans to lower emissions by switching to renewable energy to run its huge network of U.S. and Canadian oil and gas pipelines. Calgary-based TC Energy, which ships oil and gas through nearly 100,000 kilometres (62,140 miles) of pipelines, one of the biggest networks in North America, has been encouraged by a better-than-expected response to a request in April for information on wind power for projects in the United States. "We started just with our liquids pipeline and it gives us really a lot of confidence that we'll be able to pivot quickly to our natural gas pipeline business both in the U.S. and in Canada," Corey Hessen, TC Energy's president of power and storage, told Reuters.