London's stock markets finished with a mixed performance on Thursday, as investors digested a slower-than-expected GDP growth reading from the United States, while a slew of well-received earnings underpinned the top-flight index.
US drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb on Thursday announced plans to cut its workforce by 6% as part of a $1.5bn cost-savings programme, as it reported better-than-expected results for the first quarter.
Consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser said on Wednesday that it was on track to deliver its full-year revenue and profit targets as it posted a rise in first-quarter like-for-like net sales.
UK banks are leaving themselves open to “severe, unexpected losses”, by failing to properly measure how exposed they are to the $8tn private equity industry, the Bank of England has warned. In a speech on Tuesday, Rebecca Jackson, a senior executive at the central bank, said there was a “creeping sense of complacency” among lenders, who – despite a boom in loans and financing to the sector – had almost no ability to put together data “or even appreciate its crucial importance”. – Guardian