London’s leading share index built on its recent highs in early deals, with banks at the top of the leaderboard.
Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) shares shot up 33p to 959p on news that ex-JP Morgan executive Bill Winters will replace Peter Sands as chief executive.
Shares in RBS (LON:RBS) went up 1.4% to 409p despite the state-owned lender reported its seventh consecutive annual loss. Operating profit improved for the bank, which is cutting costs in the face of mounting legal fees.
Overall, the FTSE 100 was 5 points ahead half an hour after the open at 6,940.
RSA Insurance (LON:RSA) was at the wrong end, with shares down 14p to 436p despite reporting a profit after tax if £76mln compared to loss net of tax of £338mln a year ago.
Reed Elsevier (LON:REL) was 62p lower at 1,125p. Revenue decreased 4% to £5.7bn from £6bn in prior year.
It also announced plans to combine its UK and Dutch parent companies in an effort to simplify its corporate structure and "increase transparency" for shareholders.
In focus will be a whole lot of data from Europe and the US.
We have German unemployment, UK GDP, Eurozone industrial and consumer confidence and US durable goods orders and inflation data.
Also of note are the speeches with the BoJ, ECB, BoE and US Fed representing today.