Ggood morning. The latest official data on UK retail sales, scheduled for release at 7am, is expected to show a slowdown during August amid the impact of the Treasury’s popular Eat Out to Help Out program.

Elsewhere, Friday is usually quiet, as European equities are expected to drift slightly lower after yesterday’s poor performance.

5 things to start your day

1) Czech billionaire acquires a large stake in Sainsbury’s: Daniel Kretinsky became the largest investor in Royal Mail and the fourth largest shareholder in the supermarket with a 3% possession.

2) Almost half of companies are about to swing jobs: A CBI survey of nearly 250 companies reveals the emergence of a two-speed job market before the virus resurfaced.

3) The lithium explorer makes an “important” discovery in Cornwall: Cornish Lithium hopes to meet the demand for electric vehicle batteries in the UK.

4) Ryanair suffers from investor revolt over CEO salaries: Michael O’Leary, head of the airline, awarded the budget a € 458,000 bonus despite a collapse in revenue and profits in the wake of the coronavirus crisis

5) Future of Railways: Are We On the Right Track Toward Beeching Part 2? Calls to reverse Beeching cuts were mounting before Covid-19. Now the numbers of train passengers have collapsed. Where does that leave our network?

What happened overnight

Asian stocks rose slightly on Friday despite some investor interest shifting back to the uncertainty of global economies amid the coronavirus pandemic, as reflected in the overnight decline on Wall Street.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was little changed, but rose less than 0.1 percent in morning trade, to 23,326.00. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 2,412.37 points. The Australian S & P / ASX 200 did not change much at 5,887.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.2 percent to 24398.87, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5 percent to 3286.68.

Is coming today

Trading statement

Investec

Economics

Retail sales (UK); Producer prices (Germany); Consumer confidence (US).