Sports Direct's Ashley moves to lead Debenhams, GSK upbeat on HIV treatment data
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 36 points lower on Friday, having closed down 0.53% at 7,157.55 on Thursday.
Stocks to watch
Debenhams said it was "disappointed" after Sports Direct called an extraordinary shareholder meeting to remove all but one of the current board and to appoint the sports chain's founder Mike Ashley as its new boss. Sports Direct, which has a near-30% stake in the troubled department store group, said that if enough other shareholders supports its plan, then Ashley would step down from his current roles as a director of Sports Direct to focus on turning Debenhams around, including rebuilding the management team. He would be replaced as acting chief executive at Sports Direct by Chris Wootton, currently the deputy chief financial officer.
GlaxoSmithKline's ViiV Healthcare joint venture has presented comprehensive data from two pivotal phase III studies of its novel, investigational, long-acting HIV treatment. The two studies met their primary endpoints, showing that the combination of ViiV Healthcare's cabotegravir and Janssen's rilpivirine, injected every four weeks, was non-inferior in maintaining viral suppression in adults infected with HIV type-1 compared to the current standard of a daily oral three-drug regimen.
Serco Group has signed a new contract to provide field office support services to the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC). The FTSE 250 outsourcing giant said the single award, indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract had a one-year base period and four option years with a total potential value of $200m if all option years were exercised. It said the first task order had already been issued, with a five-year value of up to $112m.
Newspaper round-up
Theresa May will make a last-ditch attempt to persuade the EU to give her a better Brexit deal on Friday, as she struggles to hold her crumbling government together following a day of cabinet embarrassments in Westminster. The prime minister will plead with EU leaders to offer further concessions, as it became clear that talks in Brussels have stalled and hardline Eurosceptics in her party are likely to vote down the deal for a second time in parliament next week. - Guardian
Splits are emerging among Bank of England rate setters after a second member of the monetary policy committee said that they were likely to cut rates in a no-deal Brexit. Silvana Tenreyro, 45, one of four external members of the nine-strong committee, has joined Gertjan Vlieghe, 48, another external, in signalling that she would loosen policy. - The Times
Airbnb is acquiring the last-minute hotel booking site HotelTonight for an undisclosed amount of money. The privately owned home-sharing company announced on Thursday that it had signed an agreement with HotelTonight in advance of a potential public float this year. - Telegraph
US close
US stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday as investors continued to keep a close eye on trade developments between the US and China, with the European Central Bank rate announcement and the latest jobless claims also in focus.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.78% lower at 25,473.23, while the S&P 500 was down 0.81% at 2,748.93 as the Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.13% to 7,421.46.
The Dow recorded its fourth straight day of losses as it sunk 200 points on Thursday, with relations between the US and China still firmly in focus after Chinese tech company Huawei filed a lawsuit against the US government over a ban that restricts federal agencies from using its products.
Donald Trump said on Wednesday that trade talks between the two nations were moving along well.
According to Reuters, Trump said during a meeting in the Oval Office that there would either be "a good deal or it's not going to be a deal, but I think they're moving along very nicely".