Babcock continues to make good progress, Persimmon profits exceed £1bn

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 46 points lower on Tuesday, having closed up 0.07% at 7,183.74 on Monday.

Stocks to watch

Babcock said underlying earnings expectations for the year remained unchanged as it continued to make good progress and grow its businesses across defence, aerial emergency services and nuclear. It said Brexit would result in a one-off tax cost of £10 as Babcock restructure its aerial emergency services businesses to comply with European operating requirements. Additional ongoing costs related to the operation of the new structures would be around £10m a year. Group underlying revenue for the year was expected to fall to around £5.2bn from £5.36bn as its major QEC contract wound down and the company disposed of or exited more businesses in the second half.

Profits at Persimmon topped £1bn last year as the housebuilder faced scrutiny over its participation in the government's Help to Buy scheme. The FTSE 100 group also appointed Dave Jenkinson as group chief executive on permanent basis, after previous boss Jeff Fairburn left last year in the wake of his £75m bonus furore.

RSA Insurance Group announced the appointment of Charlotte Jones as its chief financial officer on Tuesday morning, replacing Scott Egan, who moved to become chief executive officer of RSA's UK and international division on 5 February. The FTSE 100 company said Jones would serve on the board as an executive director, reporting to group chief executive officer Stephen Hester, and was expected to take up the position by the summer. She was currently a non-executive Director of RSA and member of the group audit and board risk committees.

Newspaper round-up

The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday asked a judge to hold Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, in contempt for violating last year’s settlement with the federal agency. Shares of Tesla fell about 5% in extended trading. The regulator pointed to Musk’s 19 February tweet saying “Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019”, noting that Musk did not seek or receive pre-approval prior to publishing this tweet, which was inaccurate and disseminated to over 24 million people. – Guardian

Monsanto is facing its first federal trial over allegations that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer, but a US judge has blocked attorneys from discussing the corporation’s alleged manipulation of science. In an extraordinary move in a packed San Francisco courtroom on Monday, US judge Vince Chhabria threatened to sanction and “shut down” a cancer patient’s attorney for violating his ban on talking about Monsanto’s influence on government regulators and cancer research. – Guardian

The Government is making plans to pay billions of euros to Brussels to settle large parts of the £39bn Brexit divorce bill even in the event of a ‘no deal’, the Telegraph can reveal. Ministers signed off the in-principle decision on Monday at a meeting of the Brexit ‘no deal’ preparedness cabinet committee, according to senior Whitehall sources. – Telegraph

Vodafone boss Nick Read has called on US spies to share any evidence they have about Huawei so Europe can take a common view about whether to use the Chinese group's technology. Read, who is chief executive of the world's second largest mobile operator, told reporters at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that cutting the number of major network suppliers to two from three would damage the industry. – Telegraph

Company directors could be disqualified for serious breaches of consumer laws and boards could be overhauled by the Competition and Markets Authority under far-reaching proposals to broaden its powers. Lord Tyrie, the regulator’s chairman, has outlined a plan to extend the watchdog’s reach and to make it more nimble. The move comes less than a year after he took over the CMA last June and after a request by Greg Clark, the business secretary, for reforms. – The Times

US close

US stocks closed slightly higher on Monday amid signs of progress in Sino-US trade relations.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.23% at 26,091.95, while the S&P 500 had moved ahead 0.12% to 2,796.11 and the Nasdaq Composite picked up 0.36% at 7,554.46.

The Dow closed 60 points higher on Monday, shedding some stronger gains earlier in the session, as investors breathed a sigh of relief after Donald Trump said overnight that the 1 March deadline for the implementation of higher tariffs on Chinese imports would be delayed.

Trump tweeted: "I am pleased to report that the US has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues.

"As a result of these very productive talks, I will be delaying the US increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement."