However, financial stocks outperformed, boosted by strong earnings from US banks JPMorgan and Citigroup. Vet pharmaceutical company Dechra soared by 37% on Friday after it announced that it started talks with private equity group EQT for a potential £4.63 billion offer. The FTSE 100 added 1.7% for the week.

The index opened 0.5% higher on Monday, led by energy stocks, which gained 1.2% as crude prices rose following OPEC+'s plans to cut production further. Miners also outperformed due to higher metal prices.

Among stocks, Network International gained 21% after the payment’s provider received a takeover offer from CVC Capital and Francisco Partners.

John Wood Group climbed 7.2% after reports it is warming to a £1.7bn takeover offer from Apollo Global Management.

Meanwhile, Barclays is set to slash over 100 jobs at its investment banks, according to a Sky News report.

Today, Bank of England Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe is due to speak. UK unemployment figures will be published tomorrow, ahead of UK inflation data on Wednesday. On Friday, there are a set of PMI releases from the UK, EU and the US.

 

Things to read today:

China hit by surge in Belt and Road bad loans (Financial Times)

UK Heads for Pause on Rates With Inflation Slowdown Forecast (Bloomberg)

Fed Pause Wouldn’t Necessarily Refresh Stock Market (Wall Street Journal)