0919 gmt  london stocks fall as hopes for an end to the ukraine war fade after russia and ukraine made little progress in negotiations the ftse 100 drops 02 to 7370 points with financial stocks among the worst performers while mining shares rally equity markets remain highly sensitive to the repercussions of the conflict and as fighting enters the fourth week there still seems a gulf separating russian and ukrainian negotiators hargreaves lansdown analyst susannah streeter says in a note us president joe biden and his chinese counterpart xi jinping are expected to hold talks over russia at 1300 gmt friday which is causing nervousness given it comes at a sensitive diplomatic time between russia and the us she says renaedyerwsjcom contourglobal plc on friday reported record high earnings for 2021 and said that performance in the current year is better than expected essentra swung to 2021 pretax profit on higher revenue strong start to 2022 essentra plc said friday that it swung to a pretax profit for 2021 as revenue rose and that it had made a strong start to the year with sales and its order book ahead of 2021 eurocell plc reported on friday a swing to a pretax profit for 2021 and said that it has started 2022 in a strong position with sales volumes to the end of february up 6 on the previous year iag agrees to give air europas owner eur100m loan for potential 20 stake in airline  update international consolidated airlines group sa said it has signed a deal with air europas conglomerate owner globalia corporacion empresarial sa to provide a 100 million euro 1103 million sevenyear unsecured loan in exchange for a potential stake of up 20 in the spanish airline cenkos securities plc on friday reported a profit rise for 2021 reflecting growth in transactions and clients jd wetherspoon plc said on friday that its pretax loss narrowed for the first half of fiscal 2022 as revenue rose and that trade in the last three weeks to march 13 was 26 below the equivalent period in 2019 reflecting an improving trend in the sector investec plc on friday raised its earnings guidance for fiscal 2022 citing strong momentum in the second half and said its operating performance is better than prepandemic levels harland  wolff group holdings plc said friday that it has appointed malcolm groat as chairman sycamore partners management lp on friday confirmed that it is considering making a bid for the clothing brand ted baker plc xeros technology group plc said friday that chief executive officer mark nichols has informed the company that he intends to step down impact healthcare buys two care homes in mansfield england for gbp111m impact healthcare reit plc said friday that it has acquired two care homes for 111 million pounds 146 million from woodleigh care in mansfield nottinghamshire in england symphony international holdings ltd reported on friday a swing to a pretax profit as well as positive earnings per share for 2021 as a whole ferrexpo plc said friday that the deadline for publishing its 2021 accounts has been extended to june 30 due to the impact of russias invasion of ukraine 0820 gmt  the bank of englands more prudent approach when talking about further interest rate increases over the next months signals that policy makers are increasingly concerned about a squeeze on household incomes pantheon macroeconomics says the committee now is placing more weight on the adverse impact that high inflation will have on domestic demand than on the risk that it will cause inflation expectations and wage growth to drift higher over the medium term the economicresearch firm says pantheon expects the rate increase cycle will stall once the rate reaches 1 from the current 075 which is still likely to happen in may by the meeting in june 16 it should be clear enough that the economy is struggling pantheon says xavierfontdegloriawsjcom quick end to conflict would allow markets to return to growth 0746 gmt  a quick resolution to the russianukrainian conflict and a continued fall in commodity prices could make the overall economic damage quite limited and markets could return to their growth trajectory candriam says in that case inflationary pressures would fall and the economic environment would improve while central banks could pursue their normalization path more serenely it says conversely the deterioration of the current situation could weigh on growth and inflation forecasts reinforcing the risk of stagflation and leading ultimately to a recession it says in this context the allocation to risky assets should be reduced while the yield curve should flatten before inverting emesebarthawsjcom