Market buzz: Conviviality to call in administrators, Amazon feels Trump wrath

1758:Close Reports of Conviviality's demise were somewhat exaggerated, it seems, with the Bargain Booze owner saying it's still in talks with its lenders after failing to drum up the full amount of its attempted emergency cash call.

Not long after Sky's story, the Conviviality put out a statement saying it was talking to its lenders and advisors about other funding options, including a potential sale of all or parts the business.

By the close, London stocks had either reversed their earlier losses (the FTSE finished up 0.64% to 7,044.74 after sitting in the red stuff earlier) or erased the worst of them (the 250 finished just 32.5 points lower at 19,356.59, having earlier fell below 19,170), as the pound's gains were erased to below $1.141 and deal news and utilities provided a boost.

Shire was the big story of the day, surging on the back of rumours about a takeover by Takeda Pharmaceutical, which solidified as the Japanese company said it was considering making an approach regarding a possible offer. Shire issued a statement saying it had received no approach from Takeda and that there was no certainty a bid would be forthcoming or as to the terms of any such bid.

United Utilities led a group of utilities including Pennon and Severn Trent, helped by a favourable tailwind in the form of a six basis point drop in the yield on the benchmark 10-year Gilt.

1630: Bargain Booze owner Conviviality is heading for administration after failing to drum up investor support for its £135m emergency fundraising. Conviviality, which was sped towards the wall by a 'surprise' £30m tax bill, is expected to announce later on Wednesday that it has been unable to secure sufficient new funds, Sky News reported, adding that PricewaterhouseCoopers is likely to be appointed as administrator tomorrow.

1520: Nex Group shares ae up as Square Mile anticipation grows that US exchange giant CME Group will confirm its takeover bid for the London-based trading platform provider.

1449: Shares of Amazon.com are falling fast, they were last down by 5.21% on the back of reports that it may have fallen afoul of the White House. Stock in Facebook bobbing around, up just over 1% now.

Back in the UK, with the pound lower, so is the yield on the benchmark 10-year Gilt, which is off by five basis points to 1.38%. Utilities all higher.

Yield on similarly-dated US Tresuries also lower, but by less, apparently probing the downside after breaking out of their five-week trading range yesterday (and in the face of a wall of short-term debt issuance).

UBS upgrades recommendation on Unilever's euro denominated shares to 'buy'.

1407: US futures: DJI: +47.0 to 23,906.0, S&P 500: +1.25 to 2,617.0, Nasdaq-100: -35.75 to 6,525.5.

Facebook down 0.57% at $151.35.

1330: US Q4 GDP estimate marked up from 2.5% to 2.9% by Commerce (consensus: 2.7%). February goods trade deficit prints at -$75.4bn (consensus: -$78.1bn).

1314: Comment from analysts at Jefferies on Shire after Takeda confirmed it is considering an offer to acquire the Dublin-based company.

"We see the potential strategic rationale for the deal and have long highlighted Shire is currently trading at a substantial discount to our fundamental c.4300p/share NPV given overhangs, notably haemophilia competitive concerns." Nevertheless, analysts said Takeda's near-$42bn market cap versus Shire's $47bn or $66bn enterprise value "raises questions on a potential deal structure".

1232: The London midday market report finds the FTSE 100 paring by midday thanks to the Shire news and with warer companies United Utilities and Severn Trent plus electricity infrastructure group National Grid all top of the leader-board.

The blue chip index was down 0.2% to 6,983.89, while the pound was up 0.1% against the euro at 1.1422 and flat versus the dollar at 1.4153.

1229: Victrex is set for strong growth in coming years, Credit Suisse says, seeing demand coming from new applications for the company's PEEK polymers.

1227: Facebook is 1.5% higher ahead of the opening bell, after announcing that it will streamline its privacy settings.

Adding some colour on yesterday's downdraft in US tech stocks, analysts at UniCredit are telling clients: "With sector P/E and P/B ratios trading significantly above their long-term averages, it should not come as a surprise that some negative news would precipitate a sell-off.

"We see this continuing, either with US tech stocks underperforming a rising equity market or weakening materially if risk aversion remains high. In the last few weeks we have recommended a rotation towards defensive sectors, which are more attractive at this stage in the cycle and are more insulated in the event that trade conflicts escalate."

1129: Shire shares are up more than 20% as Japan's Takeda has confirmed it is considering an approach.

Takeda said the approach was at a "preliminary and exploratory stage". The FTSE 100 company's stock has been climbing since rumours of a takeover were reported yesterday.

1040: Three-month LME copper futures are at $6,608 per metric tonne following a Tuesday close of $6,695 per tonne.

1012: Shares in GSK are edging higher ahead of tomorrow's deadline for the £8bn hostile takeover by Melrose Industries.

Melrose this morning launched a final push to assert its commitment to the UK economy as it set out details of binding undertakings for its proposed hostile takeover of GKN, saying its plan was in the interests of GKN's workers and the UK.

1005: DFS Furniture is up 8% despite posting a 58% drop in first-half profit on Wednesday as revenue declined amid “challenging” market conditions, but the results were broadly in line with expectations and the company sounded an optimistic note on its outlook.

0918: Morgan Stanley has some short-selling ideas, if you want em. The bank's 'Sellers' Compendium' has 63 stocks that appeared two or more times in stock screens looking for sell ideas.

They include Kaz Minerals, Carlsberg, Nex Group, Cobham and Kering. From a sector perspective, the weighting of defensives has fallen to the bottom half of its 10-year range driven mainly by consumer staples where the weighting has fallen close to a 10yr low. IT has seen the biggest decline in the share of sell ideas falling from a 10Y high in the previous edition of the report but still remains elevated versus history.

The Buyers’ Compendium seeks to identify stocks that may offer an interesting entry point, with 85 stocks appearing on more than two screens, including ITV, Wood Group, Shire, Marks & Spencer, ;Kingfisher, Shell, Anglo American, Taylor Wimpey, BHP and Mondi.

0840: Wednesday's London open market report sees stocks down in early trade as FTSE has a bite taken out of its by a tech-led selloff on Wall Street. The FTSE 100 was down 0.6% to 6,956.75, while the pound was flat against the euro at 1.1419 and 0.1% lower versus the dollar at 1.4141.

The US sell off, led by the so called 'FANG' stocks of Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google-owner Alphabet was key, says market analyst Michael Hewson at CMC Markets, as investors and analysts re-examine how these companies are valued amid a potential crackdown on their use of personal data.

"As one of the main sectors that has driven the bulk of stock market gains over the past two years it remains much more susceptible to a major pullback, which if we see further losses, could act as a bit of a ball and chain for the rest of the equity space. With the S&P500 back at its long term 200 day moving average, and a lot of attention around this key technical level, investors are likely to become ever more nervous of a much sharper sell-off if we drop below 2,580."

0717: The FTSE is being called 50-60 points lower on Wednesday, as volatility continues to present itself as the the new norm to trading in 2018.

Market analyst Jasper Lawler at London Capital Group notes that tech stocks led the US decline, with the tech heavy Nasdaq seeing its third largest drop this year.

"Asian shares fell in line with Wall Street overnight, with the follow through expected to hit European bourses on the open, turning Tuesday’s rally into nothing more than a dead cat bounce. The trading environment has changed dramatically this year, stock picking will return to the scene in a big way going forward, as lasts years' more relaxed approach to trading is no longer going to cut it for investors, particularly with respect to the tech stocks."

0702: Stocks on Wall Street finished in the red overnight, despite a slightly more positive tone to news on the global trade front earlier in the session, but with disappointing consumer confidence knocking confidence later. Weakness in tech stocks was the main driver. The Dow fell 1.43% to 23,857.71, the S&P 500 lost 1.73% to 2,612.62, and the Nasdaq declined 2.9%, all three erasing most of the gains from the previous day's best-in-two-and-a-half-years session.

Facebook continued to fall overnight, now down over 20% from its 1 February peak as the Cambridge Analytica story rumbles on. Nvidia was the S&P’s largest decliner dropping 7.6% as it announced that it would be temporarily suspending testing driverless cars on public roads following the recent fatality. Netflix shed over 6% and Apple 2.5% despite launching a new, cheaper iPad.