JP Morgan warns of Brexit job cuts, Hammerson secures Ireland shopping centre

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 15 points lower on Friday morning, after it closed 1.09% higher at 6,533.79 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

Hammerson and joint venture partner Allianz Real Estate has secured the ownership of Dundrum Town Centre in Ireland, a shopping and leisure destination as part of a portfolio of market-leading retail assets in Dublin, for €1.23bn (£1.01bn). The two partners acquired loans secured against a portfolio of retail assets in September 2015 from the National Asset Management Agency for €1.85bn (£1.53bn), a discount to the face value of the loans. The company said it has reached a consensual agreement with the borrowers to transfer the underlying properties delivering immediate ownership of Dundrum, the Dublin Central development site and land adjoining the Pavilions shopping centre, Swords.

Online trading company IG announced on Friday that it has appointed Paul Mainwaring as chief financial officer designate. The FTSE 250 firm said Mainwaring will start on Monday, replacing Mark Ward who will leave the company after a short handover, as previously announced. IG confirmed that Mainwaring will take up the role on a permanent basis and join the board of IG once regulatory approval is received. “After an extremely thorough search process, we are very pleased to have secured someone of Paul's standing,” said IG chairman Andy Green.

Aveva Group has announced the stepping down of chief executive Richard Longdon after three decades at the data and IT group, which also said it could benefit from a potentially sizeable currency gain for the full year due to weakness of sterling since the EU referendum. The FTSE 250 engineering data and IT provider, which said Longdon would be replaced by chief financial officer James Kidd at the end of 2016, added that trading had remained satisfactory in recent weeks.

Newspaper round-up

The Business Secretary begins a round the world tour of Britain’s key trading partners, as he flies to India with a view to forging new links across the globe after the EU referendum. Sajid Javid will land in Delhi to begin preliminary trade talks with the world’s second most populous market, meeting with finance and industry ministers to outline what a future trading relationship between the two markets might look like. - Telegraph

A quarter of German companies with UK subsidiaries are planning to cut British jobs in the wake of the referendum, while a third say they will reduce capital investment. The souring view of Britain in the boardrooms of Germany, the UK’s second biggest trading partner after the US, comes in a survey by the German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK). - The Times

Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JP Morgan, has repeated his warning that he could move thousands of jobs out of the UK in spite of a pledge yesterday by his deputy to help London retain its position as the world’s leading financial centre. Viswas Raghavan, the bank’s deputy chief executive and head of investment banking in Europe, was one of five senior London bankers who met the chancellor yesterday and promised to support the capital. - The Times

The antitrade policies championed by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump risk sparking a dangerous protectionist movement that could severely damage the global economy, Christine Lagarde has warned. Britain’s vote to leave the EU is already casting a shadow over international growth, the International Monetary Fund chief said in an interview, adding that the imposition of new trade barriers in another large economy could have ruinous effects. - Financial Times

US close

Stocks in the US finished mixed on Thursday as sharp drops in crude prices weighed on markets, and investors kept their wallets shut ahead of Friday’s crucial nonfarm payrolls.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.13% to 17,895.88, the S&P 500 slipped 0.09% to 2,097.90 and the Nasdaq gained 0.36% to 4,876.81.

Verizon led the decliners on the Dow, with Goldman Sachs gaining the most.

Oil prices settled significantly down, with Brent crude off 4.88% to $46.53 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate losing 4.84% at $45.24.