Yahoo Finance What to Watch: Wizz Air cuts 1,000 jobs, stocks rise, 'deteriorating' UK finance
Here are the top business, market, and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe, and abroad:
Wizz Air slashes 1,000 jobs with flights at 3% capacity
Wizz Air has announced plans to slash 1,000 jobs, making a fifth of the workforce redundant at one of Europe’s biggest budget airlines. It did not confirm the location of affected workers.
Some workers will be furloughed and its senior staff will take a 22% pay cut, while remaining pilots, cabin crew and office workers will see an average 14% cut to earnings.
The Hungarian-based, London-listed airline said it was running at just 3% of capacity as flights around the world have been grounded, with demand collapsing and governments curbing travel.
It said it expected to take a €70-80m hit from hedging losses between March and May 2020, leaving it with a full-year net profit of €270-280m. It said it could not provide guidance for the next financial year to 31 March 2021.
Stocks rise as European countries ease coronavirus restrictions
Stocks headed higher on Tuesday as several European countries started to ease lockdown restrictions and investors welcomed promising Chinese factory data.
The Europe-wide Stoxx 600 (^STOXX) index of large and mid-cap firms was trading 1% higher at around 8.30am in London, and the Stoxx 50 (^STOXX50E) of leading blue-chip firms was trading 0.9% higher.
Germany’s DAXX (^GDAXI) was trading 1.3% higher, while the French CAC 40 (^FCHI) was up 0.6%.
It follows a slight easing of curbs on economic activity in parts of Europe, which are being closely scrutinised by other governments weighing up similar moves.
Europe mainly followed similar gains in Asia after promising factory data. China’s SSE composite index (000001.SS) was up 1.6%, and Japan’s Nikkei (^N225) leapt 3.1%. MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares, excluding Japan, hit a one-month high.
Customs data in China showed overseas shipments were down only 6.6% year-on-year in March, compared to a 17.2% slide a month earlier, according to Reuters.
CBI: ‘Deteriorating’ outlook for UK finance
The FTSE (FTSE 100) was trading 0.5% lower in London as a new survey data showed the outlook for the UK’s key financial services industry is “deteriorating.”
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said on Tuesday that financial firms expect demand, profitability and employment to decline sharply in the coming months.
New data from UK finance on Tuesday also showed banks had granted 1.2 million borrowers mortgage payment holidays, in a sign of the strain on household finances.
The UK is entering its fourth week of lockdown, with all non-essential businesses shut and the bulk of the population staying home. According to a report in The Times, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak told colleagues GDP could shrink by up to 30% this quarter because of the coronavirus lockdown.
Next halts online orders within hours of re-launched trading
Next (NXT.L) has been forced to suspend orders on its online store within hours of re-opening after it was inundated by shoppers.
The high street retailer’s online site was relaunched on Tuesday, with a cap on order numbers and reduced workforce in its warehouses to enable social distancing.
The retailer appeared to have been quickly overwhelmed by demand and had already hit its reduced sales capacity by 9am in London.
Next shares were trading around 0.2% lower at around 9am in London, though dropped less sharply than the FTSE.
What to expect in the US
Futures were also pointing to a higher open for US stocks on Wednesday. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were trading 1.2% higher, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were up 1.3% and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) rose 1.4%.
