Wall St futures flat amid US-China trade jitters; bank earnings in focus
Investing.com -- British stocks inched higher on Monday, lifted by gains in gold miners on record bullion prices, while airline shares fell after a cyberattack disrupted operations across European airports.
As of 11:35 GMT, the blue-chip index FTSE 100 gained 0.1% and the British pound rose 0.2% against the dollar to 1.35.
DAX index in Germany rose 0.2%, the CAC 40 in France fell 0.6%.
European airports face major disruptions from ransomware attack
A ransomware attack targeting Collins Aerospace’s Muse check-in and boarding system has caused significant disruptions at several major European airports since Friday, forcing them to switch to manual check-in procedures.
The cyberattack has affected operations at Heathrow, Brussels, Berlin, and Dublin airports, resulting in long delays and numerous flight cancellations. Brussels Airport was particularly hard hit, canceling almost half of its scheduled departures on Monday as technical and security issues remained unresolved.
Airline stocks fell following the news. Shares of Deutsche Lufthansa AG (ETR:LHAG), International Consolidated Airlines Group S.A. (LON:ICAG), Air France KLM SA (EPA:AIRF), EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ), Wizz Air Holdings PLC (LON:WIZZ), Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON:0RYA), and Tui AG NA (ETR:TUI1n) were trading lower by 0.5% to 1.3%.
Ericsson, Nokia land £2 bln VodafoneThree network contract
In other news, VodafoneThree, formed by the merger of Vodafone UK (LON:VOD) and Three UK, has awarded a £2 billion ($2.7 billion) network contract to Ericsson and Nokia Oyj (ST:NOKIA).
The deal will see Ericsson taking the lead role, deploying its radio access network across 10,000 sites and upgrading core network components, while Nokia will contribute at 7,000 sites.
UK’s Starmer reportedly weighs cutting visa fees for top global talent
Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is considering proposals to eliminate certain visa fees for top global talent, according to a Financial Times report on Monday.
This comes as the United States has adopted stricter immigration policies.
Ottawa to assess $53 bln Teck–Anglo American deal
In Canada, Finance Minister Francois Philippe Champagne stated over the weekend that the proposed $53 billion merger between Teck Resources Ltd (TSX:TECKa)and Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) is under review by the federal government, which must determine if the deal benefits the country.