BAE System’s shares storm on after court ruling

22

Across Europe, Germany’s Dax and the Cac 40 in France both closed 0.5 per cent higher.

On the currency markets, the pound was marginally lower against the US dollar at 1.288 and flat versus the euro 1.130.

The greenback continued to strengthen following betterthan-expected US non-farm payrolls data on Friday, which showed 222,000 new positions were created in June.

The oil price endured another choppy session, falling in early trading before swinging to a one per cent rise at $47.19 a barrel.

David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said traders have “less faith” in Opec’s ability to curb oil production and support prices despite pledging to tackle the global supply glut.

In UK stocks,

price crashed after it warned over its performance and said the board is to carry out a “comprehensive review” of the business, with the firm’s chief executive to step down. The construction and infrastructure giant downgraded its annual revenue guidance in a half-year trading update, with sales now expected to be between £4.8 billion and £5bn and its overall performance forecast to be “below management’s previous expectations”.

To compound matters, chief executive Richard Howson is to step down and be replaced by Keith Cochrane on an interim basis while a search is undertaken for a permanent boss.

Following a review carried out by KPMG, the FTSE 250 firm said it will book an £854 million provision linked to certain UK and overseas contracts. Nicholas Hyett, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Carillion looks like it’s trying to bail out a supertanker with a soup spoon.

“Despite the group’s best efforts, debt is continuing to climb, and at an increasing rate, while the construction business seems to be hitting one hurdle after another.

“Judging by this announcement, the board are prepared to do everything it takes in order to save the ship.”

Shares in the firm fell 39 per cent, or 75p to 117.1p.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 Index were up 68p to 3,225p; BAE Systems, up 12.5p to 630p; up 21p to 1,263.5p; and

up 17p to 1,068p. The biggest fallers were down 138p to 4,186.5p; down 73p to 3,693p; down 42p to 2,330p;

down and

5.5p to 339p. US STOCKS edged higher yesterday, led by gains in technology stocks as investors were optimistic ahead of earnings.

The S&P 500 technology index was up 0.8 per cent, followed by a 0.6 per cent gain in the materials index.

Technology is expected to have had among the strongest earnings growth for the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.

US companies have begun to release second-quarter earnings, with reports due this week from big banks, including

and S&P 500 earnings are forecast up 7.9 per cent in the second quarter compared with a year ago.

In a significant victory for the banking industry, the Federal Reserve late last month approved plans from the 34 largest U.S. banks to use extra capital for stock buybacks, dividends and other purposes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.82 points, or 0.03 per cent, to end at 21,408.52, the S&P 500 gained 2.25 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 2,427.43 and the Nasdaq Composite added 23.31 points, or 0.38 per cent, to 6,176.39.

shares fell below their IPO price of $17 for the first time, to hit a low of $16.95. The stock closed at $16.99, down 1.1 per cent. shares rose 1.8 per cent to $996.47, while fell 6.3 per cent to $54.23 on news Amazon was planning to roll out a Geek Squad competitor.