Indivior seeks to block latest court ruling, Stagecoach gets short extension to rail franchise
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 15 points higher on Tuesday, having closed up 0.82% at 7,129.11 on Monday.
Stocks to watch
Indivior said it will petition the US Supreme Court to block a decision by the Court of Appeals of the Federal Circuit to allow other companies to sell their generic versions of its anti-opioid treatment. The FTSE 250 company said it assumes that both Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Alvogen Pine Brook will both launch their copycat versions of its Suboxone Film "at risk" of pending court judgments that they are infringing on Indivior's patents.
Stagecoach Group confirmed on Tuesday that its subsidiary, East Midlands Trains, has agreed a new short-term rail franchise with the Department for Transport. The FTSE 250 passenger transport operator said the new franchise would commence on 3 March, and run until at least 18 August, ahead of a decision on the operator of the next long-term franchise. It said the DfT had the discretion to extend the franchise by up to 24 weeks on terms that had already been agreed.
CYBG said on Tuesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Clydesdale Bank has entered into a joint venture with Salary Finance, to add an “innovative channel” to CYBG's personal lending business. The FTSE 250 firm said Salary Finance would provide the joint venture with all of the services required for its business, including loan origination and management, marketing, cash management and other corporate services. It said the venture would be complementary to CYBG's existing product plans, and would provide an incremental opportunity to develop the company’s unsecured loan business within risk appetite.
Newspaper round-up
The gathering storm of human-caused threats to climate, nature and economy pose a danger of systemic collapse comparable to the 2008 financial crisis, according to a new report that calls for urgent and radical reform to protect political and social systems. The study says the combination of global warming, soil infertility, pollinator loss, chemical leaching and ocean acidification is creating a “new domain of risk”, which is hugely underestimated by policymakers even though it may pose the greatest threat in human history. – Guardian
Facebook is under pressure to stem the rise of anti-vaccination groups spreading false information about the dangers of life-saving vaccines while peddling unfounded alternative treatments such as high doses of vitamin C. So-called “anti-vaxxers” are operating on Facebook in closed groups, where members have to be approved in advance. By barring access to others, they are able to serve undiluted misinformation without challenge. – Guardian
The chief executive of fintech start-up Revolut has denied that his company has links to the Kremlin following a political dispute over its operations in Lithuania. Revolut, which launched four years ago and now has 3 million customers, offers app-based bank accounts and cards with fee-free foreign transactions. It was granted a European banking licence by the Bank of Lithuania in December, which allows the company to offer its services across the EU. – Telegraph
InReach Ventures, a venture capital firm using artificial intelligence to spot the most promising early stage startups in Europe, has closed a new €53m (£46m) fund, as it said the Brexit process would be unlikely to decrease entrepreneurship in the EU. InReach Ventures said it had initially been targeting a fund of €50m, to help European entrepreneurs "get discovered", but had raised more in what it called "the next level of validation for us". – Telegraph
UK shareholders in the company that owns British Airways will not face new restrictions on their holdings after Brexit, the group said last night, but other non-EU shareholders will. International Airlines Group said that non-EU ownership of its shares had reached 47.5 percent and that it was placing a ceiling on non-EU ownership of that amount in future. Any non-EU buyer making purchases that breached the ceiling would lose their voting rights on the shares and would be forced to sell them within ten days. – The Times
US close
US stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday as investors continued to eye trade relations between the US and China and considered the prospect of yet another government shutdown due to Trump's insistence that his border wall be funded.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.21% at 25,053.11, while the S&P 500 moved ahead 0.07% to 2,709.80 and the Nasdaq Composite traded 0.13% firmer at 7,307.90.
The Dow recorded a four-day losing streak on Monday, closing 53 points lower on Monday with Sino-US relations remaining in focus as discussions between the two nations were set to continue later in the week when US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer will head off to Beijing for the next stage of talks with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Thursday and Friday.
Elsewhere, Trump lambasted Democrats over border-security talks on Monday, calling the opposition party "crazy" ahead of a new round of bipartisan talks which will focus on limiting the number of beds and funding levels for barriers.
"The Democrats do not want us to detain, or send back, criminal aliens!" Trump tweeted.