(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
----------
COMPANIES
----------
The UK government said it has asked its independent medicines regulator to assess AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine as part of the formal approval process for the drug to be rolled out by the end of the year. AstraZeneca has completed phase III clinical trials of its vaccine, the last stage before regulatory approval. But under British rules, the government must also ask the independent Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to green light the drug. On Thursday, the head of British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca said further research was needed on its Covid-19 vaccine after questions emerged over the protection it could offer. "Now that we've found what looks like a better efficacy we have to validate this, so we need to do an additional study," Chief Executive Pascal Soriot told Bloomberg in an interview.
----------
JD Wetherspoon expressed dissatisfaction with the new UK government Covid-19 regulations, stating that 366 of its 870 pubs will remain closed under new restrictions which will see cities across England placed under different tiers starting next week. The FTSE 250-listed pub owner said only thirteen of its pubs were in areas classified as Tier One, adding that there are 51 pubs in Wales where the regulations equate to Tier One in England. For Wetherspoon, Tier Two affects 435 pubs. This tier includes 17 pubs in Scotland where the regulations approximate to Tier Two in England, the pub chain said. It highlighted that due to the new restrictions, 366 pubs which will remain closed. Of these, 315 are in Tier Three in England and 51 are in Northern Ireland and Scotland. These 51 pubs have similar restrictions to Tier Three in England.
----------
Spanish lender Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria said conversations about a potential merger with rival Banco de Sabadell have come to an end without having reached an agreement. On Monday last week, BBVA said it was in talks with representatives of Banco de Sabadell - which owns high street lender TSB Bank in the UK - over a potential merger. BBVA said the two companies had initiated a reciprocal due diligence review process as is customary in this type of transaction and had appointed external advisors. On Friday, Sabadell said that it had "decided to terminate these discussions" as the two parties had failed to come up with a share exchange agreement. BBVA posted a net loss of EUR15 million for the first nine months of 2020 while Banco Sabadell saw net profit fall during the period by 74% to EUR203 million as it increased provisions for bad loans.
----------
MARKETS
----------
London shares were lower amid concerns over the UK government's revamped tier system and confusion over AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine. The pound was flat against the dollar with Brexit talks set to resume. Stocks in the US are seen opening higher later on Friday after being closed for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. Wall Street closes after a half-day session at 1 pm local time.
----------
FTSE 100: down 0.6% at 6,322.54
FTSE 250: down 1.1% at 19,187.00
AIM ALL-SHARE: flat at 1,038.52
GBP: flat at USD1.3336 (USD1.3333)
EUR: up at USD1.1923 (USD1.1908)
GOLD: down at USD1,808.72 per ounce (USD1,810.32)
OIL (Brent): up at USD48.04 a barrel (USD47.77)
(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
The decision to impose tough restrictions on 99% of England has prompted a furious reaction with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson facing a Tory revolt over his post-lockdown plans. More than 55 million people will be placed into Tier 2 and Tier 3 measures when the second national lockdown ends on December 2, meaning mixing between households indoors will effectively be banned for the vast majority of the country. Only the Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly – accounting for little more than 1% of England's population – face the lightest Tier 1 coronavirus restrictions. Large swathes of the Midlands, North East and North West are in the most restrictive Tier 3, which accounts for 41.5% of the population, or 23.3 million people. The majority of authorities – including London – will be in Tier 2, which will cover 57% of the country, or 32 million people. Out of those areas to go into Tier 3, only eight of 119 have reported a rise in cases.
----------
Top-level, face-to-face Brexit talks are to resume in London, the EU's chief negotiator has said. However, Michel Barnier warned ahead of a meeting with his UK counterpart, David Frost, that "significant divergences" still remain. In-person negotiations in Brussels were suspended a week ago after a member of Barnier's team contracted coronavirus. But Barnier has now said "physical negotiations" can resume. He is briefing EU member states ahead of talks with Lord Frost as areas such as fishing rights remain major obstacles to a deal before the Brexit transition period expires at the end of next month. Barnier tweeted on Friday: "In line with Belgian rules, my team and I are no longer in quarantine. Physical negotiations can continue."
----------
Germany is set to take out almost EUR180 billion in new debt next year, according to the nation's 2021 budget, which has grown in recent weeks to allow for the mounting costs of the pandemic in Europe's biggest economy. The budget was agreed to early Friday following overnight discussions by a parliamentary committee. The Bundestag parliament is expected to pass the framework in a vote in December. The German state is to spend around EUR498.6 billion in 2021 - almost as much as its outgoings this year, when the government freed up billions for business aid and stimulus in response to the coronavirus crisis. A draft budget put forward by Finance Minister Olaf Scholz was approved by Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet in September. Several amendments to this document were adopted by the budgetary committee in talks lasting over 17 hours. The amended budget foresees over EUR85 billion more in spending than the first draft.
----------
President Donald Trump said Thursday for the first time that he would leave the White House if Joe Biden is officially confirmed the winner of the US election, even as he railed against the "rigged" vote. Trump has made an unprecedented attempt to defy the results of the election by refusing to concede, spreading wild theories about stolen ballots and launching baseless legal challenges that have been thrown out by courts. Answering his first questions from reporters since the November 3 vote, the president moved closer to accepting that he would serve only one term in office before Biden is inaugurated on January 20. When asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College confirmed Biden's victory, Trump said, "Certainly I will. And you know that." But "if they do, they made a mistake," he said, adding, "It's going to be a very hard thing to concede." The Electoral College, which determines the White House winner, will meet on December 14 to certify Biden's victory, with Biden receiving 306 votes to Trump's 232.
----------
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.