HSBC appoints CFO and announces restructure, Hunting trims full-year earnings outlook

Stocks to watch

HSBC announced the appointment of Pam Kaur as group chief financial officer on Tuesday, effective 1 January, being promoted from her current role as group chief risk and compliance officer. The FTSE 100 banking group also announced the restructure of its operations into four main business segments - Hong Kong, UK, Corporate and Institutional Banking, and International Wealth and Premier Banking - to streamline processes and enhance strategic execution. It said the changes were designed to reduce duplication and align its global operations with its strategic goals.

Hunting reported a 16% year-on-year increase in group EBITDA to $87m in a third quarter update on Tuesday, alongside a 12% EBITDA margin and a $652m sales order book, driven by contracts in OCTG and Organic Oil Recovery. The FTSE 250 company said it had also secured $300m in new borrowing facilities, replacing its previous asset-based lending structure. However, due to lower oil and US natural gas prices, it lowered its full-year EBITDA guidance by 8% to netweem $123m and $126m, with year-end cash and bank borrowings expected to rise significantly.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s financial watchdog has interviewed 20 social media influencers under caution, as it clamps down on “finfluencers” who may be touting financial services products illegally. The 20 were interviewed voluntarily using the Financial Conduct Authority’s criminal powers. Potential penalties include fines and imprisonment of up to two years. – Guardian

Microsoft is introducing autonomous artificial intelligence agents, or virtual employees, that can perform tasks such as handling client queries and identifying sales leads, as the tech sector strives to show investors that the AI boom can produce indispensable products. The US tech company is giving customers the ability to build their own AI agents as well as releasing 10 off-the-shelf bots that can carry out a range of roles including supply chain management and customer service. – Guardian

The French media giant behind the Paddington films is seeking a valuation of up to €8bn (£6.7bn) when it lists on the London Stock Exchange, which would make it the largest debut listing of the year. Canal+, which owns Paddington producer StudioCanal, is expected to appear on the LSE in mid-December as part of a spinout by its parent company Vivendi. City sources said the debut is likely to value Canal+ in a range between €6bn and €8bn – which would give the embattled market a much-needed boost. – Telegraph

Almost a third of UK businesses are calling for the government to support British trade by reducing Brexit-related regulations and red tape. A survey by Santander found that nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of businesses are confident they will grow in the next three years and 36 per cent are “very confident” about future growth, compared with just 22 per cent a year ago. – The Times

Dow Jones and the New York Post have filed a lawsuit against Perplexity, the artificial intelligence startup, for “shamelessly” ripping off their journalism for its search engine. The News Corp-owned publishers have alleged that Perplexity’s AI-generated “answer machine” has copied “vast” quantities of journalists’ work into its database. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday as Q3 earnings season gets set to pick up steam.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.80% at 42,931.60, while the S&P 500 lost 0.18% to 5,853.98 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.27% firmer at 18,540.00.

The Dow closed 344.31 points lower on Monday, snapping a three-day winning streak and knocking the blue-chip index off its all-time high.

Although market participants seemingly remain optimistic that US stocks can continue to deliver a solid performance, investors were also dialled in on heightened tensions in the Middle East and the upcoming US general election.

No major corporate earnings were released on Monday, but Tesla, Coca-Cola, Boeing, T-Mobile, and IBM will all report their latest quarterly numbers before the end of the week.