George Osborne's speech last night in the City, Argos and Home Retail (LON:HOME) and Ryanair (LON:RYA) were all trending topics on the web today.
Sea bass may have been on the menu but it was banking news that caught the eye of the press as the Chancellor said it was now the time to start selling off the tax-payer owned titan
RBS (LON:RBS) following its rescue from collapse in 2008.
He said it was the right time despite the shares being worth £13bn less than what the then Labour gov't shelled out seven years ago. He said the Treasury would still make a £14.3bn profit on the rescue programme, overall across the banks that were rescued.
The speech had echoes of two years ago when Mr Osborne used the black tie dinner to announce the sale of the 43% public stake in Lloyds (LON:LLOY).
Supermarkets were on the up, with Sainsbury's (LON:SBRY) topping Footsie after yesterday's numbers and an upgrade from Cantor.
Meanwhile, postal giant Royal Mail (LON:RMG) was biggest laggard, down 4.12% to 495.2p after the Chancellor also confirmed its selling of the remaining stake and as heavyweight broker JP Morgan upgrading it to 'overweight' from 'neutral'.
Meanwhile, for those who like their economic news to be snail-paced, Greek talks continue with a debt deal reportedly close. The EU commissioner has reportedly said the story needs a "happy ending".
Argos owner Home Retail (LON:HOME) saw shares add 1.07% despite reporting falling sales at the High Street catalogue business. The FTSE 250 group revealed Argos sales declined by 2.1% to £846mln, whiles sales at Homebase shed 1.6% to £438mln in the first quarter as people do less DIY and shy away from electricals.
A store cutting plan is currently underway at Homebase, with 17 store closures in the quarter, the firm said.
In other news, budget carrier Ryanair (LON:RYA) has pledged to fight a British watchdog's ruling to make it sell most of its stake in rival Aer Lingus (LON:AERA).
The group said it would challenge the Competition & Markets Authority's (CMA) decision to confirm its provisional ruling to force Ryanair to cut its holding in the Irish flag carrier to 5% from 29.8%. Ryanair shares nudged 0.6% higher.
The biggest London riser was Invista European Estate Trust (LON:EIRE), which was up almost 69%. In small caps, Charaat Gold (LON:CGH) also nudged higher.
It said the definitive feasibility study for its flagship gold project in the Kyrgyz Republic was on schedule and nearly ready.
“NERIN is nearing the completion of the feasibility study, which will assist in underpinning the value of the deposit,” chief executive Dekel Golan said in its annual report.