Business 17 May 2026 - 19 May 2026

LegalZoom Drops Ahead of Shareholder Meeting as AI Fight Hangs Over Stock
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LegalZoom Drops Ahead of Shareholder Meeting as AI Fight Hangs Over Stock

LegalZoom.com traded lower in premarket Wednesday, with the stock near $6.53 as investors prepared for the company’s annual meeting. Shares have had trouble translating stronger sales into better numbers on the bottom line. The latest price was off 14.5 cents from Tuesday’s close, giving LegalZoom a market cap near $1.16 billion. The timing sets the scene. U.S. markets are open as usual, and Nasdaq’s 2026 holiday list shows the next full day off is Juneteenth, June 19. LegalZoom’s shareholder meeting is scheduled for later in the day, not on a weekend or holiday.
June 3, 2026
Tate & Lyle Drifts Under Ingredion Offer as Deal Timeline Becomes Focus
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Tate & Lyle Drifts Under Ingredion Offer as Deal Timeline Becomes Focus

Tate & Lyle shares dropped in London on Tuesday, slipping further below the price suggested by a possible bid from Ingredion as traders looked for signs the U.S. firm will firm up its offer. The stock traded at 514.5 GBX at 15:00 BST, down 1.25% on the day. The session started at 521p and shares briefly hit 513p. Ingredion is offering up to 615p a share for Tate & Lyle, with 595p in cash and as much as 20p in dividends, but both sides said there's no guarantee on a firm deal. That discount is in focus now.
May 19, 2026
Howden Joinery Shares Up After UK Jobs Data Pushes FTSE 100 Higher; Kitchen Demand Remains Weak
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Howden Joinery Shares Up After UK Jobs Data Pushes FTSE 100 Higher; Kitchen Demand Remains Weak

Howden Joinery Group shares traded up Tuesday. The stock jumped with the wider London market after weaker UK jobs numbers cooled bets on a near-term Bank of England rate hike. The kitchen and joinery supplier traded at 736.25 pence, up 0.44% on a Cboe Europe real-time quote. Latest data showed the FTSE 100 up 0.64%. Howden is still down 11.35% this year, so today’s gain has yet to make up for the stock’s earlier losses.
May 19, 2026
BAE Systems Gains as Europe Defence Stocks Attract Buyers
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BAE Systems Gains as Europe Defence Stocks Attract Buyers

BAE Systems plc traded higher in London on Tuesday, topping the FTSE 100. Investors moved back into defence names as European stocks gained. The stock traded at 1,931.5p to sell and 1,932.5p to buy as of 13:47 BST, up 51.5p, or 2.74%, from the previous close with at least a 15-minute delay on prices. The FTSE 100 was up 0.64% and the UK aerospace and defence sector added 1.93%, Barclays market data showed.
May 19, 2026
Diageo Shares Up as Guinness Gains Counter Weak U.S. Spirits
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Diageo Shares Up as Guinness Gains Counter Weak U.S. Spirits

Diageo shares traded higher on Tuesday, outpacing the FTSE 100 as some investors watched for signs that strong Guinness sales and new CEO Sir Dave Lewis’s early steps might help the group deal with weak U.S. spirits results. The stock changed hands at 1,571p/1,572p by 11:49 in London, up 19.5p, or 1.26%. The FTSE 100 added 0.73% at the same time, Barclays Smart Investor data showed. Data delayed by at least 15 minutes. That counts now as Diageo stretches its recent steadier streak, following a tough period for the Johnnie Walker and Don Julio producer. The shares finished at 1,552.50p on Monday, May 18, after closing at 1,529.50p on Friday and 1,500p on Thursday, according to share price data.
May 19, 2026
Anglo American Shares Drop After $3.9 Billion Coal Exit Deal Puts Teck Merger in Focus
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Anglo American Shares Drop After $3.9 Billion Coal Exit Deal Puts Teck Merger in Focus

Anglo American shares slipped on Tuesday, underperforming a stronger London market, as investors weighed a $3.875 billion deal to exit Australian steelmaking coal against weaker metals prices and a fresh permit uncertainty in Chile. The stock was down 1.3% at 3,733 pence by 11:01 a.m. in London, while its 52-week high stood at 4,118.50 pence. Google Finance data showed the shares opened at 3,695 pence and traded between 3,678 pence and 3,771 pence in the session.
May 19, 2026
Why Standard Chartered Stock Is Slipping After Its Big AI Jobs Plan
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Why Standard Chartered Stock Is Slipping After Its Big AI Jobs Plan

Standard Chartered shares fell in London morning trade on Tuesday as investors weighed the bank’s new growth plan, which links higher return targets to a broad push into automation and artificial intelligence. The stock traded at 1,912 pence, down 0.49%, at 10:02 a.m. London time. The update matters because Chief Executive Bill Winters is trying to move the Asia- and Africa-focused lender from a long clean-up phase into a growth phase. Investors are also comparing the bank with larger rival HSBC, which has its own investor day this week and has often been the preferred Asia banking trade.
May 19, 2026
Brambles drops 20% after U.S. pallet logjam cuts outlook
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Brambles drops 20% after U.S. pallet logjam cuts outlook

Brambles Ltd dropped 20% Monday, marking its biggest one-day loss in more than 20 years. The pallet-pooling company lowered its annual profit forecast, blaming a backlog in its U.S. repair network that failed to meet customer demand. Shares ended at A$17.63, down A$4.47, with high volume. The loss is significant for Brambles, which isn’t a minor player in transport. The company, known mostly for its CHEP brand, has a global reusable pallet, crate, and container system covering around 60 countries. North America and Europe account for most of its business.
May 18, 2026
Diageo Shares Gain as Guinness Parent Faces New Turnaround Test
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Diageo Shares Gain as Guinness Parent Faces New Turnaround Test

Diageo shares climbed in London on Monday, with the stock adding to a hard-fought rally for the Guinness and Johnnie Walker maker as a director bought shares and U.S. spirits demand stayed soft. Shares were at 1,553 pence, up 1.54% as of 3:08 p.m. in London. The FTSE 100 edged higher. But the stock is still trading roughly 30% under its 52-week peak of 2,215 pence, with management still under pressure to prove the gains aren’t just a short-term move.
May 18, 2026
BAE Systems Stock Bounces Back, But the Defence Trade Has a New Test
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BAE Systems Stock Bounces Back, But the Defence Trade Has a New Test

BAE Systems shares rose in late London trading on Monday, recovering part of last week’s sell-off as investors weighed fresh U.S. space hardware news against a cooler mood in European defence stocks. The stock was up 34 pence, or 1.84%, at 1,884.50 pence as of 14:54 BST, with 1.30 million shares traded, delayed LSEG data carried by Investors’ Chronicle showed. The move matters because it repairs only a slice of Friday’s damage, not a clean turn. BAE closed at 1,850.50p on Friday, down from 1,923.00p on Thursday, a 3.77% fall, with volume of 8.25 million shares, according to London South East data.
May 18, 2026
Imperial Brands Shares Gain 2.5% as Buyback Bets Offset Tobacco Slowdown
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Imperial Brands Shares Gain 2.5% as Buyback Bets Offset Tobacco Slowdown

Imperial Brands shares climbed Monday as the stop-start rebound from last week’s half-year numbers continued. Investors looked at cash returns, pricing, and what some saw as a steadier outlook for the full year. Shares in the FTSE 100 tobacco group climbed 2.52% to 2,888p, a gain of 71p. The stock started at 2,811p and reached as high as 2,896p. Around 782,000 shares changed hands, based on delayed UK prices from AJ Bell.
May 18, 2026
RELX Shares Edge Up, Still Facing Pressure From AI Risks
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RELX Shares Edge Up, Still Facing Pressure From AI Risks

RELX PLC gained in London on Monday, extending Friday’s rally as investors continued to weigh its AI offering while competition from legal tech remains a risk. Late data showed RELX at 2,458 pence, up 1.44%. The stock is still down 19.1% for the year and off 40.5% over 12 months, while the FTSE 100 was last up about 0.5%. RELX isn’t just moving with a slow Monday market. The question now is whether AI tools end up helping its LexisNexis, Elsevier, and risk-analytics units, or if they hurt the paid workflow business that the stock depends on. In February, Reuters said RELX, Thomson Reuters, and Wolters Kluwer took a hit from AI worries after Anthropic rolled out legal and workflow
May 18, 2026
Intertek’s £9.4bn Takeover Spread Persists as Traders Eye Next Steps
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Intertek’s £9.4bn Takeover Spread Persists as Traders Eye Next Steps

Intertek Group shares slipped on Monday while the FTSE 100 advanced. The move kept a clear gap between Intertek’s market price and the last cash offer from Sweden’s EQT. Intertek slipped 0.2% to 5,605 pence on a delayed Hargreaves Lansdown quote, with the FTSE 100 up 0.1% at 10,208.69. The shares traded around 7% below the £60 cash offer from EQT, leaving a spread that traders typically read as a sign the market still doubts the deal will close.
May 18, 2026
Unilever Shares Up as Magnum Sale Chatter Puts Focus on Break-Up Talk
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Unilever Shares Up as Magnum Sale Chatter Puts Focus on Break-Up Talk

Unilever PLC shares ticked up 0.12% to 4,212 pence early Monday in London, with trading volume at 440,372 shares. The move put Unilever ahead of the FTSE 100, which slipped 0.04% to 10,190.81 according to Reuters’ LSEG-delayed data. Buyers looked beyond a new bearish note from Jefferies to renewed takeover talk around Unilever’s old Magnum ice-cream division. Unilever is getting fresh attention as it shifts away from its old image as a sluggish consumer goods stock. The London-listed firm has been focusing more on personal care, beauty and household brand lines. It still holds a 19.9% stake in Magnum and wants to sell that in the next five years.
May 18, 2026
Coles Shares Face a Fresh Test as ‘Down Down’ Ruling Puts Pricing in the Crosshairs
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Coles Shares Face a Fresh Test as ‘Down Down’ Ruling Puts Pricing in the Crosshairs

Coles Group Ltd enters the new trading week with its shares under pressure from a court loss over discount claims and fresh scrutiny of supermarket pricing, after the stock closed Friday at A$20.81. It has slipped 3.8% from the previous Friday’s close of A$21.63. The timing matters because the Federal Court ruling cuts at a core lever for supermarkets: promotions that pull shoppers through the door. Vantage Markets analyst Hebe Chen said the “court ruling is the clear trigger” for weakness, but investors are also pricing the risk that Coles’ “discounting playbook becomes less flexible.”
May 17, 2026
South32 drops 5%, Alaska project lifts copper outlook but cost concerns remain
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South32 drops 5%, Alaska project lifts copper outlook but cost concerns remain

South32 Ltd closed out Friday at A$4.21, falling 5.18%. That’s still ahead of the previous week’s A$4.14 finish. As of early Monday, the stock was yet to begin normal trading on the Australian Securities Exchange, with the market set to open at 09:59:45 Sydney time. South32 is getting tugged two ways right now. The stock covers a mix of metals—alumina, aluminium, copper, manganese, zinc, silver, lead—so shifts in industrial metals, changes in project costs, or new permitting can all swing how the market values it.
May 17, 2026
Lynas Rare Earths Faces a Monday Test After 7.7% Slide as China Curbs Keep Sector in Play
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Lynas Rare Earths Faces a Monday Test After 7.7% Slide as China Curbs Keep Sector in Play

Lynas Rare Earths heads into Monday’s ASX session under pressure after a sharp late-week selloff, even as fresh global deal activity keeps investors focused on non-China rare-earth supply. The ASX cash market was still closed at the dateline; normal trading in Sydney runs from 09:59:45 to 16:00. The stock closed at A$17.95 on Friday, unchanged on the day after touching A$17.77, with 4.20 million shares traded. Its heavier move came on Thursday, when it fell 9.8%, leaving the week’s loss well ahead of the broader market’s decline.
May 17, 2026
Xero’s $550M buyback bounce puts focus on Monday trading
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Xero’s $550M buyback bounce puts focus on Monday trading

Xero Ltd opens Monday on the ASX as traders weigh whether Friday’s jump signals a real turnaround or was just a brief recovery after the results-day drop. Xero shares bounced 8.13% to A$79.67 on Friday, clawing back some of Thursday’s 9.04% slide. The accounting software firm reported its full-year earnings and approved a buyback of up to A$550 million. The stock now sits between investors weighing faster U.S. growth against a weaker statutory profit.
May 17, 2026
Woodside Shares Trade Monday With $35 Billion Browse LNG Bet Back In View After Inpex Deal
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Woodside Shares Trade Monday With $35 Billion Browse LNG Bet Back In View After Inpex Deal

Woodside Energy Group Ltd starts the week in focus as its Browse gas project draws attention again. This comes after Japan’s INPEX said it would take PetroChina’s 10.67% stake in the project. Woodside ended Friday’s session up 2.1% at A$31.25. Shares added roughly 4% in the five sessions to May 15, well ahead of the lagging local market. Why it matters right now is Browse. It’s Australia’s largest undeveloped offshore gas field, and Woodside plans to send the gas to the North West Shelf’s Karratha plant. LNG, or liquefied natural gas, is made by chilling gas into a liquid so tankers can carry it.
May 17, 2026
Applied Optoelectronics’ Monster AI Rally Now Faces a $600 Million Test
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Applied Optoelectronics’ Monster AI Rally Now Faces a $600 Million Test

Applied Optoelectronics heads into the new week with its stock still up nearly 28% over five sessions, even after a sharp two-day pullback, as investors weigh a new $600 million stock-sale program against a fast-rising order and capacity story. The Nasdaq-listed optical-networking supplier closed Friday at $190.36, down 6.49% on the day, but well above its $148.94 close on May 8. The stock hit $233.67 intraday on Wednesday before giving back ground Thursday and Friday.
May 17, 2026
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