Inmarsat pens deal with Austrian Airlines, SIG like-for-like sales head south

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open six points lower on Friday, after closing down 1.21% at 6,827.98 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

Global mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat announced on Friday it will provide its new ‘GX for Aviation’ in-flight broadband solution to Austrian Airlines' continental aircraft fleet under a “landmark” new contract.The FTSE 250 company said more than 30 Austrian Airlines aircraft from the Airbus A320 family will be equipped with GX for Aviation, which its board said is the world's first in-flight connectivity solution with reliable high-speed global coverage provided through a single operator.It said the new service will allow the airline's passengers to browse the internet, stream videos, check social media and more, with service levels on par with broadband connectivity available on the ground.

SIG’s third quarter revenue rose, but like-for-like sales fell as the building products distributor was affected by a slowing activity around the EU referendum, while its chief executive announced he was stepping down.For the quarter ended 31 October, revenues increased 10.6% compared to last year, as the FTSE 250 company benefited 8.9% from foreign exchange rates and 3.9% from acquisitions, which offset a fall of 1.4% due to fewer working days.

Royal Dutch Shell planned to continue investing heavily in Brazil over the next five years, with the aim of doubling its deep-water production by the early 2020s. In remarks to The Wall Street Journal, the firm´s executive vice president for deep-water, Wael Sawan, said Shell would investo $10bn more, on top of the $30bn already deployed in South America´s largest economy.

Newspaper round-up

Protesters took to the streets across US cities on Thursday for a second day of demonstrations against president-elect Donald Trump, who responded by blaming the unrest on “professional protesters” egged on by media. Fresh from his first White House meeting with President Barack Obama, Mr Trump tweeted on Thursday night: “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!” – Financial Times

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder and chief executive, has shot down allegations that fake news spread on the social network influenced the US presidential election. Fake news stories were a “very small volume” of posts and there were hoaxes on both sides in the election, Mr Zuckerberg said in his first public appearance since Tuesday’s vote. – Financial Times

Global banking businesses will face nightmarish decisions if the UK loses its access to euro-clearing trading as part of the Brexit negotiations, the Japanese ambassador to the UK has warned. Koji Tsuruoaka said that Japanese companies would be among those affected as he emphasised the seriousness of what is at stake as the UK prepares for Brexit. Some EU countries are determined to stop the UK retaining its euro-clearing rights post-Brexit, so the business would be transferred to Frankfurt and Paris. – Guardian

The Pensions Regulator is seeking millions of pounds from Dominic Chappell and Retail Acquisitions in relation to the £571m deficit in the BHS pension scheme. Sources close to the situation say warning notices sent by the regulator to Chappell and his company show it wants to receive “multiples of £1m”. – Guardian

The Arab Spring cost $614 billion in lost growth to Arab countries, a new UN survey has found. The report, the first of its kind by a major economic body, estimates that conflicts in the region between 2011 and 2015 led to a net loss of $613.8 billion in economic activity, equivalent to 6% of the region's GDP. – Telegraph

Major lenders told Sir Paul Tucker, the former deputy governor of the Bank of England, as early as mid-2007 that they were not submitting accurate Libors, it is alleged in legal documents that form part of a claim by a care home operator over an allegedly mis-sold interest rate hedging product. A senior banker at Lloyds Banking Group is said to have told fellow executives that he attended a meeting hosted by Sir Paul, then executive director of the Bank responsible for markets, at which top City managers stated that “Libors do not reflect where we can borrow decent size”. – The Times

Rio Tinto reported itself to the Serious Fraud Office over a $10.5 million “consultancy payment” after it was confronted by a news website, despite having been aware of the issue for more than two months. The FTSE 100 miner announced on Tuesday night that it had informed British and American authorities after emails emerged regarding the payment over the Simandou project in Guinea. – The Times

US close

US stocks were mixed at the closing bell on Thursday as traders continued to digest Donald Trump’s election victory and what it means for markets.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.17% to 18,807.88 points, the S&P 500 increased 0.20% to 2,167.48 points while the Nasdaq declined 0.81% to 5,208.80 points.

Oil prices fell after the monthly report from the International Energy Agency on Thursday revealed production rose by 230,000 barrels a day to a record high of 33.83 million barrels a day in October.

West Texas Intermediate dropped 2.1% to $44.32 per barrel and Brent crude dipped 1.6% to $45.60 per barrel at 2140 GMT.

Investors continued to weigh the implications of a Trump presidency after his win initially sent global stocks falling. Equities have recovered since Tuesday's election outcome on hopes that the new leader’s plans to lift infrastructure spending and cut taxes will boost US economic growth and fuel inflation.

“With the US election now behind us, attention returns firmly to the Federal Reserve meeting in December,” said Oanda’s Craig Erlam.

“Shortly after it became clear that Trump was going to become President elect and markets were in turmoil and deep risk aversion territory, the probability of (an interest rate) hike in the markets plummeted to around 50% from around 80% previously but, as with everything else, this quickly rebounded and now stands at around 71%.”