Seven days in the Square Mile

Fears of an election shock hit the pound in successive sessions as polls indicated that the PM Theresa May’s lead over Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn had narrowed. CMC markets forecast that sterling, which has been hovering around the $1.28 mark, could sink to $1.20 or lower on a Corbyn win. The pound’s slide coincided with poor economic news, showing a fall in Q1 growth to 0.2%, a jump in public borrowing in April and inflation rocketing ahead of wage growth. UK stock markets sailed on untroubled, taking their lead from across the Atlantic where indices hit new record highs. Some £360m was wiped off the value of BA parent, International Airlines Group following prolonged travel chaos caused by an IT malfunction. CEO Willie Walsh said the BA chief, Álex Cruz, had his “absolute support”. The Greek debt saga continued: talks broke down over whether Greece had done enough to receive its latest s7.5bn bailout. The Irish government is to float Allied Irish Banks (AIB) in London and Dublin to dispose of its 25% stake in the lender. RBS reached a legal settlement in principle with a shareholder group which accused the bank of misleading them over a £12bn rights issue in 2008; a minority are reportedly still holding out. Tesco boss, Dave Lewis, is to be called as prosecution witness in the trial of three former executives accused of fraud. The competition watchdog opened an inquiry into Tesco’s proposed acquisition of Booker. KPMG dubbed Manchester United the most valuable football club in Europe – worth around s3bn.