Shares in FTSE 250 company slump 37% in early trading after Dubai-based Sidara cites geopolitical risk
The share price of the British oil services company John Wood Group has plunged by more than a third after a Dubai-based suitor pulled out of a purchase amid global market turmoil.
In a statement to the stock market on Monday the engineering company Sidara said it had pulled out of a bid for Wood “in light of rising geopolitical risks and financial market uncertainty”.
Continue reading...FTSE 100 on track for its lowest close since April and Japan’s Nikkei suffers biggest fall since crash of 1987
Shares on Wall Street and in London have fallen heavily amid a global stock market rout triggered by fears of a recession in the US.
The tech-focused Nasdaq index dropped by 6% as trading in New York opened on Monday, while the broader S&P 500 index fell by 4.2% in a sell-off triggered by weak US jobs data. The Dow Jones industrial average lost more than 1,100 points, a 2.8% decline.
Continue reading...Australian share market suffers worst two-day decline since start of pandemic as it tumbles 3.7% on Monday
Australia’s share market has suffered its worst day since the onset of the pandemic as fears of a US recession prompted investors to exit their positions, erasing more than $100bn in value from local stocks.
A sea of red overwhelmed the local market on Monday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down by 3.7% to 7,649 at the close.
Continue reading...Europe’s main indices all decline and Japanese equities suffer worst day since 2020 while gold hits fresh record
Stock markets in Europe, Asia and New York tumbled on Friday as fears of a US economic slump grew and technology shares were hit by underwhelming earnings.
Concerns that the US could be sliding towards a recession spurred a global sell-off, which accelerated after a poor employment report on Friday showed that the US jobs market was cooling fast, pushing up the unemployment rate.
Continue reading...Even as shares fall about 9%, chief financial officer says firm is seeing ‘more investment’ in AI than ‘even 90 days ago’
Chip designer Arm Holdings on Wednesday reported a stronger-than-expected 39% surge in quarterly revenue, and forecast fiscal second-quarter sales broadly in line with Wall Street estimates, yet its shares fell about 9% in extended trading.
For the current fiscal second quarter, Arm forecast revenue in a range between $780m and $830m, compared with an average analyst estimate of $804.1m, according to LSEG data.
Continue reading...Bank left with costs from Sir Trevor McDonald-fronted campaign after early election halted rollout
NatWest was forced to spend £24m on the former Conservative government’s aborted “Tell Sid”-style campaign featuring Sir Trevor McDonald, which would have resulted in a chunk of the bank’s state-owned shares being sold to the general public in a highly anticipated privatisation drive.
The price tag emerged when the bank released its second-quarter results and announced it was snapping up a number of mortgages from the smaller rival Metro Bank for £2.4bn.
Continue reading...Cable was business secretary from 2010-15 when the government privatised the Post Office
Cable has agreed with a description of Post Office management as “thugs in suits”, and had a goal of rebalancing the relationship between bosses and subpostmasters during his time in post.
He recounted a story about challenging 8 Post Office closures in his constituency, before he entered government, and being treated poorly by the organisation’s “middle management”.
Mr Bates has, I believe, described them as ‘thugs in suits’ and I recognise the description,” said Cable in his witness statement. “And [the Post Office] dealt with us in an arrogant way when we campaigned against closures.
In my first meeting with Paula Vennells [Post Office chief executive] I suggested this is what the Post Office should do,” he said. “We perhaps should have been more modest and had postmasters on the board, which would have achieved some of our aims, which I think has now happened.
Problems with Horizon barely came across my desk,” he said. “When they did it was usually in a very uncontroversial way and not drawn to my attention as an issue I should focus on. General reason is that the officials who were briefing me and ministers on the subject hadn’t seen it as a particular problem.
In hindsight, I should have been told at the outset what Horizon was,” he said. “That competent people … were suggesting there was a risk factor and I should have been told about Mr Bates and the justice group. I never heard his name until I’d been in the job five years. I wasn’t briefed on them.
Continue reading...Semiconductor and related tech shares hit hard by former US president’s calls for Taipei to pay for US protection
The stocks of some of the world’s largest chipmakers have fallen further after comments by Donald Trump that Taiwan, which is central to the global industry, should pay for its own defences against China.
Shares in semiconductor and related tech companies had already plunged on Wednesday after the former president’s comments, as well as a report that suggested Joe Biden’s administration was considering the strictest controls on the trade of chips to China.
Continue reading...Archegos Capital Management’s founder guilty of 10 of 11 criminal counts over investment firm that collapsed in 2021
Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, the Archegos Capital Management founder, was convicted of fraud and other charges by a jury in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. Prosecutors at a criminal trial had accused him of market manipulation ahead of the 2021 collapse of his $36bn private investment firm.
The jury, which began deliberations on Tuesday, found Hwang guilty on 10 of 11 criminal counts and Patrick Halligan, his Archegos deputy and co-defendant, guilty on all three counts he faced. Hwang and Halligan sat flanked by their lawyers as the verdict was read by a soft-spoken foreperson.
Continue reading...Live coverage of business, economics and markets after New Popular Front is largest party in second round of France’s election, with far-right third
The French election has meant that Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) will not be in power, but it has not settled what France’s new government will look like.
The New Popular Front (NFP), the hastily arranged coalition of left-wing parties, won the most seats, but it is far short of a parliamentary majority. The result will mean a lot of negotiation to agree on who will be the new prime minister – let alone on achieving anything meaningful in governing the country.
The French parliament is more divided than ever, made up mainly of three blocs (Left – 182 seats, Centre – 168 seats, Extreme Right – 143 seats) and a number of smaller ones. As we predicted before the elections, no bloc can claim an absolute majority.
Minority government
French political parties “are not used to making concessions in order to create a programme around a coalition with other parties”, and the NFP’s most prominent figure, Jean-Luc Mélenchon demanded its entire programme be implemented. “If political parties maintain such positions, a long period of instability will ensue,” said Ledent.
Learning to cooperate
“Excluding the 80 MPs from the far left and the 145 from the far right, there are over 350 MPs left to form a broad coalition ready to reform France, taking into account the diversity of opinions. In other European countries, including Germany, such a configuration would be quite natural and would result in a government with a clear majority.
Continue reading...Agustín Carstens says world economy on course for ‘smooth landing’ after inflation but political turmoil poses risk
Rising government debt levels could disturb global financial markets, the head of the body that advises central banks said on Sunday before France’s high-stakes parliamentary elections.
Agustín Carstens, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), said the world economy was on course for a “smooth landing” from the inflation crisis, but he warned that policymakers, especially politicians, needed to be careful.
Continue reading...Campaigners allege Uyghur people used as forced labour at some of fast-fashion retailer’s cotton suppliers in China
A human rights group has urged Britain’s financial regulator to block the Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein’s planned blockbuster flotation on the London Stock Exchange.
Stop Uyghur Genocide, a UK-based human rights charity that alleges minority Uyghur people are being used as forced labour at some of Shein’s cotton suppliers in China’s north-western Xinjiang region, has begun a legal campaign against the planned stock market listing.
Continue reading...Proposed tourist attraction hopes to bring 2m visitors a year to abandoned wartime network
London Tunnels, which aims to convert an abandoned underground network into a tourist attraction, has ditched plans to float in the capital, instead opting to list in Amsterdam.
The company aims to make the Kingsway exchange tunnels, a network of 8,000 sq metres under Holborn in central London, into a new attraction that will bring in 2 million visitors a year.
Continue reading...Groups issue call to next government amid criticism of online fashion retailer’s labour practices and accusations of copying
Workers rights campaigners have called for the UK’s next government to oppose the online fashion business Shein joining the FTSE, arguing that a London listing would be “yet another betrayal to working people everywhere and the planet”.
Alena Ivanova, campaigns lead at Labour Behind the Label, said it had heard the news of senior British politicians courting Shein’s £50bn listing “with dismay” given what she claimed was a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical concerns.
Continue reading...Roughly $390m worth of GameStop shares had changed hands before 6am ET, following Keith Gill’s first Reddit post in three years
GameStop shares surged more than 70% premarket on Monday after “Roaring Kitty” Keith Gill, the stocks influencer behind the 2021 retail trading frenzy, returned to Reddit with a post showing a $116m bet on the embattled videogame retailer.
Roughly $390m worth of GameStop shares had changed hands by 5:53am ET, more than the $343m in Wall Street favorite Nvidia, according to LSEG data.
Continue reading...Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock finishes day down 5.3% on Wall Street, as ex-president’s stake falls from $6bn to $5.6bn
Donald Trump’s paper fortune dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars on Friday as shares in his media firm came under pressure in the wake of his conviction in his New York hush-money trial.
Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock finished the day down 5.3% on Wall Street, denting the value of the former president’s vast stake in the business.
Continue reading...Strong quarterly results and hope of interest rate cuts drive DJIA to new alltime high
A group of business leaders have warned Rishi Sunak that the government’s migration policies risk weakening the UK university sector, the Financial Times reports, undermining a key reason for companies to invest in the country.
The FT explains:
In a letter to Rishi Sunak, bosses at groups including miners Anglo American and Rio Tinto and industrial conglomerate Siemens, said they were “deeply concerned” by widening funding gaps and declining international student applications that were “a result of government policy”.
They said this risked “undermining the positive impact that international students have on our skills base, future workforce, and international influence”, as well as reducing the funding available for research and industry collaboration.
Continue reading...Sources say Singapore-based online fashion retailer founded in China prefers a float in New York but faces tougher scrutiny than expected
The fast-fashion company Shein is stepping up preparations for a London listing after its attempt to float in New York faced regulatory hurdles and pushback from US lawmakers, sources have told Reuters.
The online clothing retailer plans to update China’s securities regulator on the change of the initial public offering (IPO) venue and file with the London Stock Exchange (LSE) as soon as this month, said one source.
Continue reading...Short, shallow recession is over, as UK economy grows faster than forecast in January-March quarter, by 0.6%, fastest quarterly growth in over two years
Labour’s shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has posted that it’s ‘time for change’.
Following this morning’s GDP report, Reeves says:
From no growth to low growth - is that really the scale of the Conservatives’ ambitions?
Food prices are still high, families are paying more on their monthly mortgage bills and working people are worse off.
Construction remains the one area of weakness, particularly in the commercial sector. That’s no surprise.
Real estate is particularly exposed to the effect of higher interest rates, and the upheaval of the pandemic is still rocking the office and retail sector - with increased home working and online shopping permanently changing demand. That’s not a trend that’s unique to the UK.
Continue reading...Aberdeen-based firm listed on FTSE 250 knocked back unsolicited approach from Dubai-based Sidara
The British oil services company John Wood Group has rejected a £1.4bn takeover offer from a Dubai-based rival, Sidara, which “fundamentally undervalued” the company.
Aberdeen-based Wood is the latest British company on the London Stock Exchange to face takeover speculation amid deepening concerns that UK-listed stocks are undervalued compared with other markets.
Continue reading...