Entertainment One denies speculation Gordon is leaving; Aviva to cut 1,800 jobs
London open
The FTSE 100 was called to open four points higher at 7,224.
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Entertainment One denied speculation that Mark Gordon was leaving his role as president and chief content officer.
The independent producer said “Gordon continues to be a part of the eOne team both now and into the future”.
Media reports said Gordon was in talks to leave over creative differences with senior managers of the company.
Aviva said it was planning to cut around 1,800 jobs as it looks to reduce expenses by £300m a year by 2022.
In an investor update, the insurer said this was the "first step" in making the group "simpler, more competitive and more commercial".
Newspaper round-up
Ford is planning to close its Bridgend engine plant, with the likely loss of about 1,700 jobs, in the latest blow to the embattled British car industry. The company is meeting workers’ representatives at the south Wales plant on Thursday. A source with knowledge of the process said the plant would shut down. – Guardian
Meg Whitman, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, was happy to “throw her predecessor under the bus” blaming him for the disastrous $11.1bn (£8.73bn) acquisition of British tech company Autonomy, the high court heard on Wednesday. Whitman was testifying in the $5bn civil fraud trial of Mike Lynch, the Autonomy founder, and former Autonomy chief financial officer Sushovan Hussain. HP successor companies allege that Lynch and Hussain fraudulently inflated the value of Autonomy ahead of the deal, which was announced in August 2011. - Guardian
ITV has settled a long-running legal battle with the husband and wife duo behind the cancelled reality TV hit Duck Dynasty, who it had accused of fraud and "stunning greed". Scott and Deirdre Gurney sold a majority stake in their Los Angeles-based company, Gurney Productions, for $40m in 2012. ITV had alleged that they then fraudulently inflated profits to ensure the British broadcaster paid top dollar for their remaining 38.5pc stake “while attempting to suck the financial life out of the company” and treating it as their "personal ATM". – Telegraph
Britain is walking into exactly the same traps that eventually cost the European Union a lucrative trade deal with the United States. Donald Trump’s declaration that the NHS would be on the negotiating table in UK-US talks, and fears over chlorinated chicken imports, have dominated the headlines in Britain. – Telegraph
US close
Stocks closed higher on Wednesday, extending the rally they initiated in the previous session as investors remained hopeful the Fed will lower interest rates before the end of the year.
The Dow Jones Industrials closed 0.82% higher at 25,539.37, while the S&P 500 was also up 0.82% at 2,826.14 as the Nasdaq saw out the session 0.64% firmer at 7,575.48.