Legal & General to sell general insurance business, Wizz Air optimistic about year ahead

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 47 points lower on Friday, having closed up 0.46% at 7,218.16 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

Legal & General said it was selling its general insurance business to Allianz for a minimum £242m. The business comprises principally retail customers who hold household insurance policies. In 2018 gross written premiums were £410m and operating profit was nil, Legal & General said in a statement. It added that further potential payments could be made over a three year period from “ongoing commercial arrangements”.

Infrastructure company Balfour Beatty announced on Friday that it has been conditionally selected in joint venture to deliver the $1.7bn (£1.3bn) Interstate 635 LBJ East project on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation. The FTSE 250 firm said it had a 45% share in the joint venture, with Fluor Corporation holding 55%. Works would include the reconstruction and widening of 11-miles of the interstate highway around the north and east of Dallas in Texas, including the I-30 interchange, as well as the construction of service roads and numerous intersection improvements along the route.

Low cost airline Wizz Air said it was optimistic for the year ahead and would increase net profits after reporting full-year results in line with expectations. Wizz Air on Friday said it expected net profit in the range of €320m - €350m in the current financial year, after posting a 6% rise in net profit to €292m (£257m) in the 12 months to March 31.

Newspaper round-up

The Liberal Democrats have surged into first place ahead of the Conservatives, Labour and the Brexit Party, a poll has revealed. The pro-Remain party topped the Times/YouGov survey with 24 per cent, the first time it has been in the lead since 2010 under Sir Nick Clegg’s leadership. - The Times

HSBC is looking to cut up to 500 investment banking jobs just weeks after its senior executives vowed to keep a close eye on costs in the face of growing uncertainty about the global economy. One source said "several hundred" bankers will be made redundant this year as part of a wider restructuring programme dubbed Project Oak. - Telegraph

The JD Sports Fashion executive chairman has been awarded a £6m cash bonus not linked to any future performance targets. Peter Cowgill’s special bonus, to be paid in instalments of £1.5m a year for four years starting from October, each of which will be subject to income tax and national insurance, must be approved at JD’s annual shareholder meeting on 3 July. - Guardian

Donald Trump will confront Theresa May over the security risk posed to Britain by the Chinese company Huawei during his visit next week, a senior aide to the president has said. John Bolton, the American national security adviser, said that the US was prepared to accept only “zero” risk in its federal telecoms network from Huawei and suggested that Washington was trying to convince its intelligence partners to follow suit. - The Times

Netflix is hiking prices for customers in Britain by up to £24-a-year, it emerged on Thursday. Television fans will soon have to fork out extra to binge watch programs on the biggest streaming service, after Netflix unveiled a price rise for UK subscribers of up to 20 percent a year. - Daily Mail

US close

US stocks finished in the green on Thursday, as investors digested a speech from the US central bank's number two official and amid weak readings on US corporate profits and for pending home sales.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.17% at 25,169.88, the S&P 500 added 0.21% to 2,788.86, and the Nasdaq 100 was 0.4% higher at 7,245.40.

In the wake of the recent inversion in the US Treasury yield curve on the back of global growth concerns triggered by the US-China trade spat, investors had a close eye on a speech from the US central bank's number two official, Richard Clarida.

He spoke at The Economic Club of New York at 1800 BST, as traders were seeking guidance on what the Federal Reserve's next steps might be.

Clarida suggested that the Fed’s interest rate policy was in the right place given the state of the US economy, but did caution that things could change if conditions deteriorated.