Closing post
Time to wrap up.
McColl’s is set to appoint administrators, putting 16,000 jobs at risk, after its lenders turned down a last-minute rescue deal from Morrisons.
It is understood that EG Group, the petrol forecourts operator owned by the Issa brothers, is lined up to buy McColl’s out of administration. No deal has been finalised, however, and other offers could yet win out for the convenience store.
McColl’s, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, said its shares were being suspended with immediate effect.
Pension trustees urged any buyer to protect McColl’s schemes.
While Morrisons, which had hoped to agree a rescue, said it was a very disappointing, damaging and unnecessary outcome.
The collapse came just a day after the Bank of England warned the UK was facing a very sharp slowdown. That which has put pressure on ministers to draw up fresh emergency help to protect millions of families.
Boris Johnson said the global inflation surge was hurting the UK, warning:
I’m not going to pretend that there isn’t going to be a difficult period as we come through the aftershocks of Covid. There is.
Recession worries have hit stock markets again, with the FTSE 100 dropping 1.5% as the global selloff continues.
Here’s more of today’s top stories:
Goodnight. GW
Updated
Recession fears hit markets again
Back in the financial markets, shares are sliding on both sides of the Atlantic.
Recession fears are sweeping the City, after the Bank of England slashed its growth forecasts yesterday.
In London, the FTSE 100 index has now shed 1.6%, or 118 points, to 7,384 points. Germany’s DAX (-2%) and France’s CAC (-2.3%) are also weaker.
The selloff is being driven by Wall Street, where the S&P 500 index is down another 1%, adding to Thursday’s selloff.
MarketWatch: U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday, extending Thursday's selloff which saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index book their worst daily drops since 2020. https://t.co/PJe5Zr48ax pic.twitter.com/pnt36pWxyZ
— Cash Flow with JVH (@CashFlowJVH) May 6, 2022
Anxiety about inflation, central bank rate hikes, China’s lockdowns and the Ukraine war are also hitting stocks.
A shock 3.9% drop in German factory output in March, reported this morning, has raised concerns about a recession in Germany
Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, explains:
The main source of worry is high levels of inflation around the world, which is hurting consumer pockets. On top of this, a global wave of monetary-policy tightening, which includes quantitative tightening, means stock markets can no longer rely on this source of support that had propped up the markets all these years, especially in the aftermath of the first waves of Covid lockdowns back in early 2020. What’s more, the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to push up oil and gas prices, meaning inflation is unlikely to recede any time soon. Perhaps, China’s Covid lockdowns are going to help somewhat, but this is also growth-sapping. It is a lose-lose situation.
A shock 3.9% drop in German factory output in March, reported this morning, has raised concerns about a recession in Germany.
Europe’s largest economy has been suffering badly from disrupted supply chains on the back of Russian-Ukraine conflict and lockdowns in China. Industrial production continued the trend of weaker macro data here, with a fall of almost 4% in March which was miles below expectations.
