2) Exporters forge new opportunities outside the European Union after Brexit: British exporters have diverted £ 50 billion of trade to countries outside the European Union since the Brexit referendum, forging “new opportunities around the world”

3) A collapsed Debenhams is claiming £ 40m on furlough: The department store chain – which is now being liquidated – has claimed £ 40.5m in taxpayer money through its Rishi Sunak leave scheme.

4) Ms. Tina Green puts 50 million pounds into the Arcadia pension fund: Sir Philip Green’s wife, who controls his retail empire, will pay the money 10 months earlier than planned after the collapse of Arcadia.

5) Pershing Square by Bill Ackman enters the FTSE 100 Index: The billionaire hedge fund will replace home repair company Homeserve that has been downgraded to FTSE 250 after just two quarters at the top level.

What happened overnight

aChinese stocks were mixed on Thursday after a choppy day of trade on Wall Street, thanks in part to a disappointing US jobs report, while the US currency slumped near its two-and-a-half year lows amid growing optimism about a coronavirus vaccine.

The dollar index fell to a new two-and-a-half year low of 90.948 on Thursday and was last at 90.976.

S & P500 E-Mini futures were weaker as were Dow futures. Eurostoxx 50 futures are 0.1% lower, German Dax futures are 0.2% and London FTSE futures are 0.4% lower.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei was unchanged while the Kospi in South Korea and the Australian benchmark index rose by 0.4% each. Chinese shares opened slightly lower, with the CSI300 leading index falling 0.2%. New Zealand stocks were also weaker.

This sent the MSCI’s broader Asia Pacific Index of stocks outside Japan up 0.4% after two consecutive days of gains.

Is coming today

Company: Clipper Logistics, Marlow (Interim results); AJ Bell, CareTech Holdings, Countryside Properties, Impax Asset Management, Paragon, Tritax EuroBox (Whole year); Go-Ahead Group (Trading statement)

Economics: Services / final reading of the composite PMI (UK, Japan, China, Eurozone and US); Retail (Euro-zone) ; Unemployed (we)