Good morning. The FTSE 100 is set to fall at the open amid fears of a rise in interest rates.Â
5 things to start your dayÂ
1) Tariff truce settles Airbus-Boeing dogfight over state aid: Row dates back to 2004 when US demanded talks about what it claimed were unfair subsidies for Airbus from France, Germany, UK and Spain.
2)Â Deloitte senior consultant investigated over bullying claims:Exclusive:Â Deloitte’s diversity champion Dimple Agarwal is being investigated over accusations of bullying and inappropriate working practices.
3)Â M&S Bank pulls plug on current accounts and in-store branches: Supermarket banks have struggled to compete with big lenders despite confidence in the sector crashing after the 2008 financial crisis.
4)Â Ocado pays 5p per plastic bag returned by customers: Ocado drivers will be able to collect up to 99 carriers when they drop off goods, under the scheme which starts on Monday.
5) NHS and private hospitals to unite in future, says Spire boss: Healthcare firm used by NHS for hip and knee replacements carried out critical and cancer care worth £363m for health service last year.
What happened overnightÂ
Asian stocks skidded to one-month lows on Friday as rising USÂ Treasury yields again rattled equity investors while hoisting the dollar to a three-month high, which in turn dragged the Japanese yen.
Energy markets were not spared the volatility either, with oil prices adding to big gains overnight after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies agreed to mostly maintain their supply cuts in April as they await a more solid recovery in demand from the coronavirus pandemic.
Australian stocks shed more than 1%, Japan’s Nikkei share average dropped 1.6% and shares in Seoul fell 1.4%. Chinese shares were in the red with the bluechip CSI300 index off 1.5%.
That sent MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan to 684.52, the lowest since Feb. 1.
E-Mini S&P futures were 0.5% lower.
U.S. stocks dropped on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell disappointed some investors by not indicating that the Fed might step up purchases of long-term bonds to hold down longer-term interest rates.
Coming up today
Corporate:Â ConvaTec, Essentra, London Stock Exchange Group (Full year)
Economics: Halifax house price index (UK), manufacturing orders (Germany), non-farm payrolls (US)
