Among the companies with reports and trading updates today are Britvic, Marston’s, Ocado, ITM Power, Unite Group, Plus500 and Ferrexpo.
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Boeing accepts plea deal to avoid a criminal trial over deadly crashes
Boeing executives have accepted a $243.6million plea deal that would see the company avoid a criminal trial over two deadly 737 Max crashes.
Under the agreement, Boeing will plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge stemming from the fatal crashes in Indonesia in October 2018 and in Ethiopia less than five months later that killed a combined 346 people.
French parliamentary elections could rattle markets
Richard Carter, head of fixed interest research at Quilter Cheviot, comments on how the French parliamentary elections will affect markets:
We anticipate that the French election results will elicit a muted market reaction given that investors had largely anticipated the outcome where the Rassemblement National would not secure a majority.
However, there is a growing concern that the market’s current optimism may not fully account for the complexities introduced by the hung parliament. The political deadlock poses significant risks, particularly in light of France’s challenging fiscal position. Moreover, the policies of the far left will be viewed as very unfriendly by markets as well, so the hope is that some sort of moderate left coalition will emerge.
Two weeks ago, the European Commission’s placed France under an Excessive Deficit Procedure and with the parliament in disarray, the likelihood of passing necessary budget cuts diminishes, complicating France’s efforts to adhere to the EU’s stringent budgetary regulations and to steer its public debt towards a more sustainable trajectory.
Mortgage misery led voters to turn against Tories
Tory voters lost faith in the ability of Rishi Sunak’s party to manage the housing market ahead of the election, figures reveal.
A results breakdown shows the Conservatives haemorrhaging support to Labour and the Liberal Democrats in seats with the most mortgage holders.
Grant Thornton mulls private equity deal to drive growth
Grant Thornton is seeking a private equity investor to buy into the 100-year-old business.
The accountancy giant is exploring a potential deal by which the UK company’s audit arm would remain majority-owned by its 220 partners, the Sunday Times reported.
