Meggitt secures new contract with Textron, AstraZeneca's 'Lynparza' gets new EC approval

Stocks to watch

Aerospace engineer Meggitt on Tuesday said it had a contract with US conglomerate Textron to supply of fire protection systems on the Cessna Denali and Skycourier platforms. Deliveries are scheduled to commence later this year. No financial details were disclosed.

AstraZeneca and its partner MSD announced on Tuesday that the European Commission has approved ‘Lynparza’ (olaparib) as a first-line maintenance treatment for women with BRCA-mutated advanced ovarian cancer. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the licensed indication was as a maintenance treatment of adult patients with advanced BRCA1/2-mutated high-grade epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer who were in response following completion of first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.

Interim pre-tax profits at storage firm Safestore fell 53% driven by a reduced gain on investment properties, the company said on Tuesday. Statutory pre-tax profit fell to £38.2m from £81.9m in 2018.

Newspaper round-up

Labour would set up a new gambling ombudsman to protect consumers, deputy leader Tom Watson will say on Tuesday, citing a string of scandals that have raised concerns about “predatory” practices in the industry. In a speech at the think tank Demos, Watson will unveil the latest plank of a plan to overhaul betting regulation via a new Gambling Act, following a party review published last year. – Guardian

Britain is aware of the risks facing sensitive areas of the economy from greater levels of Chinese investment, Philip Hammond has said, as London forges closer economic ties with Beijing despite US concerns. Speaking after a joint economic summit between Britain and China in London that is set to open up deals for companies in the two countries worth more than £500m, the chancellor said he welcomed the closer cooperation. – Guardian

If there was ever a project that demonstrated Britain is open for business, then Heathrow expansion is it. Gordon Brown faced down his critics to give the first green light in 2009 and successive Conservative prime ministers have spent a significant amount of political capital fighting for parliamentary approval for a new runway. - Telegraph

The global slowdown will extend into next year as mounting trade war uncertainty forces businesses to rein in spending and Chinese consumers turn cautious, Fitch Ratings has warned. The credit ratings agency trimmed its 2020 global growth forecast from 2.8pc to 2.7pc, highlighting “persistent weakness in Chinese consumer spending” and the impact of tariff tensions on business investment. – Telegraph

The chief executive of Britain’s largest building society has received benefits worth more than £500 a day to cover the cost of travel, security and medical expenses. Joe Garner, the boss of Nationwide, was handed £185,000 in perks during the 12 months to April 4, according to the group’s latest annual report. – The Times

Saudi Arabia has indicated that it could proceed with the on-again, off-again float of its state-owned oil company as soon as next year. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the gulf state’s de facto ruler, said that he was preparing to take Saudi Aramco public on its domestic exchange, as well as on at least one overseas market by “early 2021”, at the latest. – The Times

US close

Stocks closed slightly higher to start the week on Monday, with investors looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy meeting later in the week and the upcoming G-20 leaders' summit in Japan.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.09% at 26,112.53, while the S&P 500 was also 0.09% firmer at 2,889.67 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.62% stronger at 7,845.02.

The Dow closed 22 points higher as stocks attempted to stage a rebound after closing lower on Friday when investors reacted to a spate of mixed economic data out of China and tensions between the US and Iran following an attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Thursday.

The week's focus looked set to be squarely on a long list of central bank policy risks, with policymakers at the ECB conference in Sintra likely to provide a steady stream of comments for investors to weigh even as they pondered whether or not the Federal Open Market Committee's, the US central bank's main policy organ, expected dovishness would be enough to satisfy investors hungry for rate cuts.

Elsewhere, Donald Trump warned Americans over the weekend that if he was not re-elected in 2020 there would be "a market crash the likes of which has not been seen before."

In remarks to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross downplayed the likelihood of a major trade deal should the leaders of the US and China meet at the 28-29 June G-20 leaders' summit, saying Donald Trump was "perfectly happy" to slap further tariffs on China.