Rio Tinto reports record iron ore shipments, Volution announces acquisitions

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open one point lower on Thursday, having closed down 0.13% on Wednesday at 7,898.77.

Stocks to watch

Rio Tinto reported record first-quarter iron ore shipments from its Plibara operations in Western Australia as China ramped up steel production, but cut copper output guidance due to issues at its US Kennecott and Chilean Escondida operations. Iron ore shipments rose 16% to 82.5 million tonnes of the steel-making material, beating a prior first-quarter record of 80.3 million tonnes set in 2018.

Ventilation products maker Volution said it has bought I-Vent in Slovenia and completed the acquisition of Ventilairsec SA in France. Both acquisitions will be earnings enhancing and will report as part of Volution Group's Continental Europe sector. The deals are being funded from existing cash resources and the group borrowing facilities.

Newspaper round-up

Meta workers are bracing for thousands of additional layoffs as the embattled social media firm continues to cut costs. A new round of layoffs began on Wednesday, according to a report from CNBC that was confirmed by Meta. The company will cull 4,000 jobs immediately as part of a larger plan to cut 10,000 jobs announced earlier this year, focusing largely on technical roles. – Guardian

Security staff at Heathrow airport are to strike on eight days next month in a dispute over pay. The action by members of the Unite union will take place on 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 25, 26 and 27 May, and follow strikes over Easter. – Guardian

Rupert Murdoch’s bill for settling defamation lawsuits against Fox News is likely to eclipse the £1bn paid out in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal. Fox reached a dramatic 11th-hour settlement with Dominion Voting Systems on Tuesday over accusations that the news network knowingly broadcast false claims that Dominion’s technology was used to rig the 2020 election of Joe Biden. – Telegraph

A shareholder revolt to remove Helge Lund as chairman of BP was gathering momentum last night, with five of Britain’s biggest pension schemes planning to vote against his re-election in protest at the company’s watering down of green commitments. The Universities Superannuation Scheme followed the National Employment Savings Trust in announcing plans to vote against Lund. Brunel Pension Partnership, a group of nine council schemes, also said it would vote to oust him. Two other council pension umbrella groups, LGPS Central and Border to Coast, are said to be joining them. – The Times

A leading American consultancy has offered new recruits from business schools thousands of dollars to hold off joining and kill time by becoming a yoga instructor or by heading out on safari. Bain has given sizable financial incentives to recruits with postgraduate business degrees to push back their start dates until next April, according to The Wall Street Journal, which reported that McKinsey had also delayed new starts. – The Times

US close

Wall Street’s stock indices closed mixed on Wednesday, with little change overall, as investors responded to the latest round of quarterly earnings from the likes of Morgan Stanley.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23% to close at 33,897.01, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.01% to 4,154.52.

Going the other way, the Nasdaq Composite eked out gains of 0.03% to end the day at 12,157.23.

The latest inflation figures out of the UK also weighed on market sentiment, as consumer price growth slowed less than expected in March as food price inflation remained red-hot.

In currencies, the dollar was last up 0.06% on sterling at 80.44p, while it gained 0.01% against the common currency to 91.29 euro cents.