Hastings to still pay final dividend, Equiniti cancels its distribution

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 38 points lower on Wednesday, having closed down 0.88% at 5,791.31 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Insurance group Hastings said it still planned to pay its final dividend of 5.5p despite the coronavirus pandemic and a warning from regulators over payouts during the crisis. The group said its had no business lines with direct claims cost exposure resulting from Covid-19, for example travel or business interruption insurance. The payout represents a 39% cut on 2018, Hastings said in an update.

Equiniti Group said on Wednesday that the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic had led to a large number of its clients cancelling or suspending dividends, and changing the timing of other corporate events, often at very short notice. The FTSE 250 financial outsourcing and administration provider said that while it had responded to those issues “without difficulty”, it was inevitable that some revenues would be deferred until later in the year or beyond, when normal conditions return. It said it was “proactively managing” its cost base and was continuing to generate cash, but had still decided it would no longer propose a dividend for 2019 at the annual general meeting in May.

Ferguson withdrew its interim dividend and suspended its $500m share buyback to conserve cash during the Covid-19 crisis.The plumbing and heating company said trading to the end of March was not materially impacted by the pandemic but that the effect increased significantly in the past 10 days. Ferguson also set out plans for a secondary listing of its shares in the US followed by a primary listing within 12 months.

Newspaper round-up

Commercial creditors owed money by poor countries should only be eligible for government Covid-19 bailout cash if they agree to sign up to a comprehensive global debt deal, the head of one of the world’s leading charities has said. Despite signs that the G20 group of developed and developing nations are edging towards an agreement on help for the most vulnerable nations, Inger Ashing, chief executive of Save the Children International said the plan would only be fully effective if it included the private sector. – Guardian

Businesses facing a cash crisis are desperate for the Government to launch its furlough scheme in time for this month's payrolls, the British Chambers of Commerce has warned. A survey conducted by the business organisation found that two-thirds of respondents had furloughed staff in advance of the job retention programme, announced last month by Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, which enables employees to be paid 80pc of their wages up to £2,500 a month while they are not working to help avoid redundancies. – Telegraph

The US Treasury Department has announced that major American airlines have tentatively agreed to a $25bn (£19.8bn) support package in an attempt to help them weather the turbulence caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The deal is said to have been accepted by the country’s largest airlines - American Airlines, Delta, United Airlines, Southwest, Alaska and JetBlue - as well as four smaller rival carriers. – Telegraph

Business confidence fell at its fastest pace on record last month, far surpassing the slump experienced in the financial crisis a decade ago. Many companies are struggling to survive because of the government’s social distancing measures, BDO, the accountancy firm, warned yesterday, as its confidence index plunged by 21.69 points in March to 79.95. – The Times

The government is in talks with housebuilders about extending the Help to Buy scheme as part of a range of measures to get the industry building again after the lockdown is eased. Officials fear that the shutdown of construction work and sales offices during the coronavirus outbreak will have a long-term impact. Savills estimates that builders have downed tools on sites where they could construct about 200,000 new homes, equivalent to almost a year’s supply. – The Times

US close

US stocks closed sharply higher on Tuesday as market participants seemingly grew more optimistic regarding the Covid-19 pandemic as corporate earnings season kicked off.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.39% at 23,949.76, while the S&P 500 was 3.06% firmer at 2,846.06 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.95% stronger at 8,515.74.

The Dow closed 558.99 points higher on Tuesday after seeing out the previous session lower on the back of OPEC and various other oil-producing nations reaching a deal on a massive production cut.

Sentiment was boosted after Donald Trump said on Monday that growth in new Covid-19 cases had stabilised, offering "clear evidence" that social distancing measures were working.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo also said it appeared the worst was over for the state, assuming people continued to be "smart" going forward.

The US has confirmed more than 582,000 cases of the coronavirus.