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LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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EasyJet poached Halfords Group Chief Financial Officer Andrew Findlay to the same position at the low-cost airline, with the car-parts and bicycles retailer starting a search for a replacement. Findlay will remain at Halfords until the end of October, having been CFO of the company since February 1, 2011. Separately, Halfords said trading in the final quarter of its financial year was in line with management expectations.
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ICAP poached Hiscox Chief Financial Officer Stuart Bridges for the same role at the interdealer broker, with the specialist insurer starting a search for his successor. Bridges has been at Hiscox for 16 years, but will leave at the end of August once the company reports its half-year results in late July. ICAP's former CFO Iain Torrens had said he was stepping down last September to join TalkTalk Telecom Group, but had agreed to remain in place to ensure a smooth transition.
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TeleCity Group said its all-share takeover of European data centre services provider Interxion Holding NV has been cleared by the Federal Cartel Office of Germany. The takeover is still conditional upon other regulatory and anti-trust approvals, as well as shareholder approval. TeleCity continues to expect the deal to close in the second half of 2015.
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MARKETS
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UK stocks are trading mixed on a light day of company and economic news, as insurer Aviva leads FTSE 100 gainers on its first day of trading after the completion of its merger with Friends Life Group.
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FTSE 100: down 0.4% at 7,064.25
FTSE 250: down 0.4% at 17,807.15
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 736.48
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The pound fell to a fresh near five-year low against the dollar, below USD1.46.
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GBP: down at USD1.4589
EUR: up at USD1.58.64

GOLD: down at USD1197.94 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD58.64 a barrel

(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Labour is set to guarantee that all of its policies will be fully funded and will require no additional borrowing when it tables its election manifesto later on Monday, as the party said it plans to crack down on tax avoidance and the Conservatives faced attacks over their inheritance tax and NHS spending policies. Labour leader Ed Miliband, who is due to launch the party manifesto Monday, will rule out a "shopping list of spending policies" and will pledge that a Labour government will cut the deficit every year. He will claim the Tories would go on a "reckless spending spree" if re-elected.
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Polling ahead of the UK General Election remained mixed, as Labour pulled ahead in a couple of polls but the Tories took the lead in another as they clawed away some support from the right-wing UK Independence Party. The latest YouGov/The Sun poll has Labour leading at 36% to the Tories 33%, though the YouGov/Sunday Times poll published on Sunday had the pair level-pegging on 34%. Both surveys have UKIP in third with 13% and the Liberal Democrats in fourth with 7%. The BBC and Sky News polls of polls both have Labour with a marginal lead, with the BBC seeing Labour at 34% to 33% for the Tories and Sky also with Labour at 34% but with the Tories at 32%.
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China had a merchandise trade surplus of USD3.10 billion in March, the Customs Office said. That was far below forecasts for a surplus of USD40.20 billion and down sharply from the USD62.62 billion surplus in February. Exports plummeted 14.6% on year - well shy of forecasts for an increase of 10.0% following the 48.3% surge in the previous month. Imports tumbled an annual 12.3% versus forecasts for a decline of 10.0% following the 20.5% plunge a month earlier.
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Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board believe that the country's moderate economic recovery will continue at its current pace, the minutes from the board's March 16 and 17 meeting revealed. In its long-standing war with deflation, the board said inflation expectations appear to be rising - although the members cautioned that the upside was being capped by tumbling energy prices.
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France's current account deficit in February increased from the previous month, as the visible trade shortfall widened due to the reduction in the growth of international trade, figures from Bank of France showed. The seasonally adjusted current account deficit rose to EUR 1.8 billion in February from EUR 0.2 billion in January. The goods trade surplus increased to EUR 2.9 billion from EUR 2.3 billion a month ago. Meanwhile, the surplus on services trade shrank to EUR 1.1 billion in February from EUR 2.0 billion at the start of the year.
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The growth in the Irish construction sector accelerated moderately in March, after easing in the previous four months, survey figures from Markit Economics showed. The Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 52.9 in March from 52.0 in February. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. But the rate of expansion remained much weaker than seen during 2014.
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Saudi Arabia rejected calls by its regional rival, Iran, to halt a multi-nation air campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen amid escalating tensions between Riyadh and Tehran. "How can Iran call on us to stop the fighting although the fighting in Yemen has been there for more than a year?" Saudi Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal said in the Saudi capital Riyadh. "We came to Yemen to help the legitimate authority and Iran is not in charge of Yemen." Saudi Arabia is leading eight Sunni fellow Arab countries in mounting a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis, who have taken over vast areas of Yemen. Saudis have repeatedly accused Shiite Iran of aiding the Shiite Houthis, an accusation denied by both the Yemeni rebels and Tehran.
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Former secretary of state and past US first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Sunday in an online video that she is seeking the left-leaning Democratic Party's 2016 presidential nomination. Clinton, 67, is slated to travel this week to the Midwestern state of Iowa, which holds the first of the state presidential contests through which both major parties choose their presidential nominees. In a video posted to her campaign website, Clinton declares she wants to be a champion for ordinary Americans fighting to get ahead as the US economy improves.
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Cuban President Raul Castro and US President Barack Obama met face-to-face Saturday in Panama, pledging to work together to establish diplomatic relations in the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries in more than 50 years. "This is obviously an historic meeting," Obama said. "We are now in a position to move on a path toward the future."
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Jordan Spieth rewrote Masters history Sunday by winning the 79th edition of the golf tournament at Augusta with a joint record score of 270, 18-under par, triumphing by four shots from Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose. Leading by four at the start of the final round, Spieth slipped occasionally early on the front nine to allow Rose to close within three shots of the lead. But Rose, the 2013 US Open champion, could not cut the gap further and Spieth steadied himself by the turn to storm to victory, banishing the ghosts of 2014 when he lost a two-shot lead in the final round to finish tied second. The 18-under score equals the Masters record set by Tiger Woods in 1997 when he won the tournament for the first time.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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