Good morning: Short-selling positions more than tripled last week as hedge funds scoured the London market for vulnerable companies to bet against. Shorting activity surged to its highest levels since records began just over seven years ago, according to an analysis of official data by The Times. It looks set to be another volatile day for equity markets, with the FTSE 100 forecast to open 5 per cent lower, below 5,000, when trading begins shortly. There are no scheduled 7am announcements this morning, following the Financial Conduct Authority’s edict that ordered companies to delay publishing preliminary results. However there are dozens of profit warnings and unscheduled announcements:● Shell, the oil giant, has announced that it is scrapping future share buybacks and £5billion of capital

Source: The Times March 23, 2020 09:00 UTC