Updates from Toshiba, Deutsche Bank and Volkswagen
Trading for the FTSE 100 ended at 6,254.6 just before Christmas, almost 5% down on the same time frame in 2014 (oil-skewed commodity stocks take much of the blame). Mondi and BP saw 1.8% and 1.5% climbs to 1359p and 365.9p while M&S shares recovered 1.4% to 453p. Tesco and BT shares though dipped 1.3% and 1.2%.
Wall Street trading yesterday saw more muted pessimism with the Dow Jones down 24 points to 17, 528.2; Chevron was down more than 1.8% with continued over-supply worries. Meanwhile the price of US crude oil dipped again overnight, down 3%, with news that Iran may be hiking exports.
We start with news thatDeutsche Bank is selling a chunky 20% Huaxia Bank stake to Chinese state-owned insurance player PICC Property & Casualty Co player; the deal is worth $4bn. The German bank is under pressure to improve its capital reserves though the deal isn't thought a major advance.
Analyst Christian Hamann told Bloomberg Business it's good that the deal is done, "but it's a small step in a long journey and this isn't going to propel them forward".
Other big banking players including HSBC and Goldman Sachs have recently sold holdings in Chinese financial institutions due to pressure from emerging accounting rules.
More news from scandal-hit VW. There's some clarity from its Audi division with a likely €3bn investment spend on plant compared to the annual €3.4bn spent (annualised) previously.
One of the Audi investment casualties is a new wind tunnel. "The Board of Management has therefore decided to postpone the construction of a new wind tunnel for one year" the prestige car maker said in a statement.
The capex cut from VW is expected to be slimmed to €12bn compared to €13bn (annualised) from 2015. However Audi remains VW's biggest profit earner.
Lastly another scandal-hit company, Toshiba, is moving towards a new $2.5bn loan in order to back more restructuring, possibly from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. If the loan goes ahead it will be its third credit line in three months.
However the company is under fresh loan pressure having suffered a recent downgrade from Moody's. Toshiba has promised more job cuts.
Toshiba is expected to make a 550bn yen loss. It still has nuclear ambitions and an Indian Toshiba deal looks likely, though confirmation isn't expected until well into 2016.
Breaking news: Halifax claims the London borough of Newham saw the steepest house price rises in 2015
