US hangs in the balance
America divided
The future direction of the United States is still to be decided, after electoral polls closed on 3 November. It was unclear which way the vote would go at the time of going to press, as critical battleground states were still counting votes. The states that had been called showed a nation still divided. Before the official result, President Trump told supporters in a speech that he believed that he had won the election, while Joe Biden said that he was optimistic that he would win the race.
Ant Group listing suspended
2 days before scheduled trading
The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) postponed Ant Group’s $37bn (£28.3bn) public offering, one day after Chinese regulators summoned founder Jack Ma and other Ant executives for an interview. The financial technology company was set to list on 5 November on the Shanghai and Hong Kong bourses in a record-breaking IPO. The SSE’s announcement noted that Mr Ma had been called for “supervisory interviews”, and flagged “major issues”, including “changes in the financial technology regulatory environment”. Shares in e-commerce group Alibaba (US:BABA) were down 8 per cent in New York trading following the release.
Lloyds hopeful for a recovery
£1bn profit in the third quarter
The high street bank logged a £1bn profit in the third quarter, prompting chief executive António Horta-Osório to proclaim the business was seeing “an encouraging business recovery”. Deposits were up £35bn in the year, as retail current account holders pushed down the loan-to-deposit ratios to 98 per cent from 100. Elsewhere, the bank grew its open mortgage book by £3.5bn and described its loan impairments as “benign”, which suggests that the £3.8bn of credit provisions in the first half is shielding it from the impact of coronavirus.
Shell bumps up dividend
Despite drop in earnings
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) has increased its shareholder payout again, following thousands of job losses and an 80 per cent drop in adjusted earnings in the last quarter. The company’s trading segment was the standout in the period, with its $1.6bn in adjusted earnings representing almost all of the oil products divisions earnings. This was in stark contrast to an $844m adjusted loss from upstream, although integrated gas did log $768m in adjusted profit. Shell’s share price has been hovering around 25-year lows on the back of weak oil prices, although it bumped up 4 per cent on the day of the release.
Open-ended property funds in question
Danger of Isa rule breach
Open-ended property funds could be banned from individual savings accounts (Isas), after HMRC warned that a proposal to set the notice period between 90 and 180 days on investor withdrawals would put them in breach of Isa rules. Most Isa account holders have to be able to access or transfer their funds to another Isa within a maximum of 30 days of making an instruction to their account manager. Open-ended funds have already been hit by the impact of lockdown on real estate businesses, as well as mass trading suspensions in 2016 and earlier this year.
LVMH renegotiates with Tiffany
Deal price lowered
LVMH (FR:MC) has agreed to buy Tiffany & Co (US:TIF) for a slightly lower price, signing off on a $15.8bn deal and ending a bitter legal conflict that threatened to stop a historic acquisition in the luxury sector. LVMH had condemned Tiffany’s prospects as “dismal” in court filings in September. However, chief executive Bernard Arnault said in an announcement that LVMH is “convinced as ever of the formidable potential of the Tiffany brand”.
Loan holidays extended
Support for vulnerable borrowers
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that mortgage, loan and credit card borrowers can seek further repayment holidays, following the news of a second lockdown in England. Those who did not take a mortgage holiday after the initial lockdown in March can seek a break from repayments for up to six months, if they are struggling financially. Borrowers who have already had a payment holiday of less than the maximum six months can extend the deferral up to that period. The regulator said that mortgage borrowers who have already used the six-month holiday should speak to their lender to arrange “tailored support”.
Some forecasts for gross domestic product (GDP) in the UK have worsened following the announcement of a second lockdown in England.
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said that repeated changes in policy have held back the recovery, as well as the resurgence of the coronavirus. The report found that the chances of a V-shaped bounce-back now appear negligible.
