Vodafone Share News (VOD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London were lower at midday on Tuesday following the long bank holiday weekend, as investors digested threats made by the Trump administration to raise tariffs on China. In the latest developments to the protracted trade spat, China said Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington for two days of negotiations starting Thursday.Liu's trip had initially been scheduled to start on Wednesday, but was put under pressure after US President Donald Trump threatened to raise tariffs on USD200 billion worth of Chinese goods.Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Tuesday downplayed the move, saying China believes it is "normal" for two sides to have differences.US media had reported Monday that Liu was going to cancel his trip - which was seen as one of the last steps before the two countries could sign off on a trade deal - after Trump's surprise announcement Sunday that he would increase tariffs.Top US economics advisers explained Trump's move by accusing China of backtracking on promises made in an attempt to resolve a year-long trade war between the two economies.The FTSE 100 was down 63.83 points, or 0.9%, at 7,311.81. The FTSE 250 index was down 147.28 points, or 0.8%, at 19,557.89, while the AIM All-Share was flat at 970.07. The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.9% at 12,398.96. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.6% at 17,579.98. The Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,782.34.In Paris the CAC 40 was down 0.6% and the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.5%. "European equity markets are in the red as tensions persist between the US and China, even though it was confirmed that China's vice premier Liu He will be a part of the trade delegation that visits the US this week. British investors missed the excitement yesterday, and now they are playing catch up, but it seems that tensions may have cooled, but not disappeared. The bullish run that European stocks have been enjoying since late December as been disrupted a little, and some dealers might resort to wait-and-see mode, until Washington DC and Beijing are back on better terms," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. In the FTSE 100, Vodafone was up 1.2%. The telecommunications firm said it signed a cable wholesale agreement with Telefonica Deutschland to allow the German company to offer broadband services via Vodafone's network. Under the deal, Telefonica DE will be able to market broadband services over the combined Vodafone and Unitymedia cable network in Germany, which covers 23.7 million households, the company explained.AstraZeneca was up 0.9% after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker said its treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukaemia had met its primary goal of delivering an improvement in the time patients live without disease progression compared to an alternative combination treatment.In the FTSE 250, Kier Group was down 5.7% after the construction company said Finance Director Bev Dew is to leave the firm by the end of September. Kier did not say why Dew will be departing, but said it has started the search for a successor.Domino's Pizza was down 3.5%, after the pizza delivery chain said it no longer believes its International operations will break even in 2019 following a disappointing first quarter. Domino's International operations - Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Switzerland - saw sales down 2.0% to GBP25.1 million from GBP25.6 million."Domino's is struggling to make their international businesses fire on all cylinders. It is disappointing to see them losing ground in almost all of the areas that the group operates, outside of the UK and Ireland. The trading update is unsurprisingly badly received by the market," said Hargreaves Lansdown's Steve Clayton. The pound was quoted at USD1.3090 at midday, down from USD1.3150 at the London equities close Friday.On the political front, pressure on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to set a firm resignation date is mounting ahead of a meeting with the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers Graham Brady. Meanwhile, senior Tory activists will consider the question of May's leadership at an emergency meeting of association chairmen next month. A revolt against May could become more likely if talks with Labour result in a Brexit compromise which would be unacceptable to Tory Eurosceptics.Government ministers and their Labour counterparts will resume talks in Westminster aimed at breaking the deadlock.Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said both sides need to be willing to compromise after both main parties lost ground in the local elections in England last week. The euro stood at USD1.1202 at midday, higher than USD1.1185 at the European equities close Friday.In economic news from the continent, German manufacturing orders grew less than forecast in March after falling in the previous two months, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.Factory orders grew 0.6% from February, when they fell 4%, which was revised from 4.2%. In January, orders shrunk 2.1%.Economists had forecast a 1.5% increase in orders in March. The latest gain was the weakest in five months.Stocks in New York were set for a lower open with ride-hailing company Lyft set to report quarterly earnings on Tuesday - the first financial report since the company went public in March.The stock closed at USD60.57 on Monday, down 16% from its IPO price of USD72.Rival company Uber Technologies' initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange will take place on Thursday. The DJIA and S&P 500 index were called down 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.6%.In company news, Anadarko Petroleum Corp on Monday said the revised merger proposal put forward by Occidental Petroleum Corp is a "superior proposal" to Anadarko's merger agreement with Chevron Corp.Anadarko said, as a result, it plans to terminate its merger agreement with Chevron and instead enter into a definitive merger agreement with Occidental.Under the revised Occidental proposal, Occidental would acquire Anadarko for a consideration consisting of USD59.00 in cash and 0.2934 of a share of Occidental common stock per share of Anadarko common stock.Under Chevron merger agreement, Chevron has the right, until May 10, to revise its merger offer or make another proposal.