Sports Direct Share News (SPD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 moved off some early lows on Tuesday to trade in the green by midday, as investors look ahead to events such as the European Central Bank meeting and the start of earnings season later this week.The FTSE 100 was up 8.34 points, or 0.1%, at 7,460.23 Tuesday midday, having dipped as low as 7,426.45 in early dealings. The FTSE 250 was down 36.42 points, or 0.2%, at 19,480.79, while the AIM All-Share was down 0.1% at 923.96.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.3% at 12662.27. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17399.96, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.2% at 11224.18.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 0.2% and up 0.1%, respectively, at midday.Stocks in Europe posted small gains on Tuesday amid caution ahead of some key events this week."The week is heavily loaded towards the backend, which is largely the reason why we're seeing this kind of fence sitting from investors," explained Craig Erlam at Oanda. "Tomorrow alone we have the ECB meeting, Fed minutes and emergency EU Brexit summit, while later in the week earnings season kicks off and the UK may - probably not - leave the EU without a deal. It's hardly surprising that investors aren't getting too excited by a bunch of tier two or three economic data," he said.UK Prime Minister Theresa May is to meet her counterparts in Berlin and Paris on Tuesday, a day before she is due to ask for another delay to the Brexit process at an emergency EU summit.May will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and President Emmanuel Macron in Paris as she seeks to avoid a no-deal Brexit on Friday, when Britain is currently scheduled to exit the European Union.The prime minister has said she will ask for an extension until June 30 at Wednesday's summit of EU leaders but Brussels has already indicated it expects her to have a concrete plan in place if more time is to be granted.British parliamentarians however have three times rejected the withdrawal agreement she negotiated with the EU, while also failing to come up with a majority position on any other option.Late Monday, UK parliament passed a bill put forward by a Labour opposition lawmaker which legally requires the government to request an extension, rather than allowing the country to crash out of the bloc with no deal in place.The pound was quoted at USD1.3077 at midday, up from USD1.3040 late Monday.Wall Street is on course for a subdued start on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones and S&P both seen flat while the Nasdaq is called down 0.1%. Though the US corporate calendar is light at the start of the week, Friday sees first-quarter earnings season get underway with figures due from banks JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.The US economic calendar on Tuesday has the Redbook index at 1355 BST and JOLTS job openings at 1500 BST.The US is proposing a list of EU products that will face additional tariffs to counterbalance subsidies for European aircraft following a recent World Trade Organization ruling.The 15-year saga between the US and the EU over their main aircraft makers, Boeing and Airbus respectively, ended last month at the WTO, when the global trade body ruled that the US failed to stop some subsidies for Boeing.The WTO previously declared European subsidies for Boeing's European rival Airbus illegal. In May 2018, it also found that the EU had failed to scrap its support for Airbus."The administration is preparing to respond immediately when the WTO issues its finding on the value of US countermeasures," said US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Monday. The USTR estimates the harm from the EU subsidies as 11 billion dollars annually.The commission "takes note" of the US announcement, which initially relates to Airbus, an EU source said on condition of anonymity."The EU is confident that the level of countermeasures on which the notice is based is greatly exaggerated," he added, noting that the USTR figure is "based on US internal estimates that have not been awarded by the WTO."In Paris, Airbus was trading 1.3% lower on Tuesday.In London, blue-chip water firm Severn Trent was down 2.1% after JPMorgan cut its rating on the stock to Neutral from Overweight. Meanwhile, smaller peer Pennon Group fell 2.1% after the US bank also cut the firm to Neutral from Overweight.Elsewhere on the Main Market, equipment rental firm Vp fell 7.4% after the UK competition regulator said the company has allegedly broken competition law.Vp said it plans to "fully cooperate" with the Competition & Markets Authority. CMA has been investigating equipment rental firm Vp as well as MGF Trench Construction Systems and Mabey Hire, all of which provide groundwork products to the construction industry. These three, CMA said, have formed "a cartel" to reduce competition and keep prices high, sharing confidential information on pricing and coordinating commercial activity. The investigation began after whistleblowing from one of the firms, with Mabey "confessing" its role. As a result, it will not be fined under the CMA's leniency rules. Meanwhile, shares in struggling department store Debenhams were suspended as it went into administration. The firm said its operating companies will continue to trade as normal, and its shares will be cancelled on Wednesday morning. Debenhams warned it does not expected a distribution to shareholders at this stage.Earlier, Debenhams rejected a GBP200 million underwriting proposal from shareholder Sports Direct International on the basis it "was not sufficient to justify" extending its deadline for offers, which passed on Monday.Debenhams also said, given it has not met necessary milestones, it is not eligible to receive the second tranche of new facilities.The beleaguered retailer said: "As a result of the milestones relating to a potential transaction with [Sports Direct] not having been met, it is likely these facilities will now only be available to the group's subsidiaries upon transfer of those subsidiaries into the ownership of a lender-approved entity."This outcome would ensure the stability and continuing trading of the group's operating subsidiaries, with no disruption to the group's business, customers, employees, pension holders, suppliers or operations. This outcome would result in no equity value for the company's current shareholders."Sports Direct - which holds just under a 30% stake in Debenhams - was up 0.9% at midday.