The FTSE 100 index moved higher, but fell short of the boost seen in European markets, after Shell's results capped gains on the index.
The FTSE 100 closed up 0.57% or 42.11 points at 7,421.43, led by the rally on Wall Street and favourable trade numbers from across the pond.
Sterling made some gains against the euro after the European Central Bank did not make any changes to its policy, with president Mario Draghi saying that the bank's monetary policy could remain accomodative well past September.
Shell fell 0.73% following its results, with its cashflow falling short of market expectations.
Russ Mould from AJ Bell said: 'For the last two years, Shell has been dogged by concerns that its US$0.47-a-quarter dividend was at risk of a cut owing to a downturn in oil and natural gas prices - and earnings cover for the dividend is still thinner than ideal."
He highlighted that Shell generated some US$6bn of free cash flow in the first quarter, which covers the US$4bn quarterly dividend payment by 1.5 times.
BP PLC (LON:BP) however rose 2.16%, or up 11.30p to close at 535.30p after announcing that Helge Lund will take over Carl-Henric Svanberg as its chairman with effect from 1 January 2019.
Lund, the chairman of Novo Nordisk AS, will join the BP board as chairman designate and become a non-executive director on 1 September 2018.
Exclusive: Discount retailer Poundworld to close up to 100 stores in a move that will threaten hundreds of jobs if plans being drawn up for a Company Voluntary Arrangement are approved by creditors. https://t.co/gS650Yxv5x
- Mark Kleinman (@MarkKleinmanSky) 26 April 2018
In another hit to High Street retailers, news is circulating that around 1,500 Poundworld jobs could be at risk on reports that the company plans to shut down 100 stores nationwide. Poundland is reported, under its restructuring plan under the Company Voluntary Agreement, to close around a third of its chain's 355 stores and renegotiate the rental on the remaining sites.
Barclays was heavily traded, closing down 1.41% at 210p despite its better-than-expected numbers in the first quarter. The results included fines and legal costs from historic misconduct issues.
Barclays Q1 distorted by hefty US settlement. I'm not sure what to make of underlying picture - and neither is the market, as shares little moved. Probably at around the right price for now.
- Rodney Hobson (@RodneyHobson) April 26, 2018
The US's trade deficit in goods shrank for the first time in 7 months in March, falling 10.3% to US$68bn according to an advanced report released by the US government.
Imports dropped 2.1% in March, with autos being the only major category to rise in the period, while exports increased 2.4%.
Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, who forecast a goods deficit of US$69bn, said: "If we're right, GDP forecasts for the first quarter will be revised up by about half a percentage point."
However, Michael Moran of Daiwa Capital Markets said the shrinking imports suggested that there could be other weaknesses elsewhere, adding in a note to clients: "We would not adjust GDP growth by a half percentage point, however, as fewer imports will probably mean softer than expected results elsewhere (e.g. consumer spending, business investment in equipment, or inventory investment,)".
Industrialist Sanjeev Gupta has entered into an agreement to acquire the British arm of Nigerian lender Diamond Bank.
The deal, understood to be worth over ?30mln, comes as Gupta seeks to broaden his reach in financial services and focus on increasing trade within the Commonwealth.
The bank will be renamed to British Commonwealth Trade Bank and will most likely join GFG Alliance, the group of firms owned by Gupta.
Liam Fox, the UK's international trade secretary, has already blessed the deal as the government pushes to strengthen trade links with other Commonwealth countries in the hopes it will form a new trading base after Brexit.
Fox said: "GFG's acquisition of Diamond Bank UK will go a long way in helping UK businesses access opportunities in some of the world's largest and fastest-growing markets. This includes the Commonwealth - with a third of the world's population - where the bank has a strong presence."
In other news, the Football Association (FA) has confirmed that it is currently in negotiations to sell the home of the England national team, Wembley Stadium, to billionaire and owner of the US National Football League team the Jacksonville Jaguars Shahid Khan.
An FA spokesman confirmed that it had received an offer to buy the stadium, rumoured to be worth up to ?1bn.
Under the plan, the FA would keep the stadium as the main venue for major matches such as England Internationals and the World Cup final, but the national soccer team could play elsewhere in October and November due to clashes with the U.S's NFL season.
Khan has said he would also allow the FA to keep the Club Wembley debenture and hospitality business, valued at ?300mln.
The proceeds from the sale would allow the FA to reinvest in grassroots football in England, with a particular focus on pitches.
The euro has rallied after ECB president Mario Draghi provided a relatively confident outlook for the eurozone economy against some expectations that he would take a cautious stance after recent weak data.
However, the gains were largely marginal as core European bond yields dipped after Draghi acknowledged that measures of underlying inflation remained subdued.
The euro was trading up 0.3% at US$1.2210 after briefly falling to US$1.2145, its lowest since mid-January.
David Lamb, head of dealing at FEXCO Corporate Payments, said: "The only surprise at Mario Draghi's lacklustre press conference was the abject lack of surprises. Nevertheless the ECB's approach to loose monetary policy has shifted subtly, from 'strong' to 'long'. Even once the Eurozone's QE money presses are switched off, the Bank plans to keep interest rates low for an extended period of time.
He added: "Critics will say that such open-ended dovishness shows the ECB has come to see loose monetary policy less as a tool and more as an article of faith; and that it is hooked on what should have been a short-term stimulus. But despite the Eurozone's robust economic performance - which last year was its strongest for a decade - Mr Draghi has good reason to be concerned by the threat of a US-China trade war. Whether he is motivated by addiction or prudence is a moot point for the currency markets. With the prospect of a Eurozone interest rate rise looking ever more remote, the single currency has continued its lifeless drift against both the Dollar and the Pound."
Meanwhile, in the US, durable goods orders surged 2.6% in March off the back of a large increase in contracts for Boeing aircraft.
However aside from transportation, orders were flat and business investment declined for the third time in four months, although it was still up 7% over the past year.
US stocks are set to open with modest gains this morning as better than expected results from Facebook lifted investor sentiment on technology stocks.
Earnings releasing before the bell will also be in focus, with shares in both AT&T (NYSE:T) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) falling in pre-market trading after the telecoms giant missed profits and sales forecasts while the car maker posted a 60% drop in net income on restructuring costs.
The concern over rising US interest rates is also continuing to rattle markets, as yields on 10-year Treasury bonds remained above the 3% level.
Ken Odeluga, market analyst at City Index, said: "U.S. investors were not quite ready to return to risky assets on Thursday morning after this week's panicked reaction to U.S. benchmark debt beginning to yield 3% for the first time in four years and alarmingly non-committal commentary from pivotal U.S. companies,"
He added: "The optics of the dollar hitting a three-month peak may also be immaterial for real economic impact but deepened the dent to sentiment, particularly as markets began to price how the greenback's recovery might exacerbate other headwinds on the horizon like trade disputes and an interminably ascending U.S. budget deficit,"
Irish budget airline Ryanair (LON:RYA) has said it is to open a new base in the German city of Dusseldorf, its eleventh in the country.
The schedule for the base will include one aircraft for a US$100mln investment, with three routes to Alicante, Malaga, and Palma de Mallorca, with 21 weekly flights carrying around 140,000 passengers each year.
Ryanair's shares were up 0.3% at 15.4p in early afternoon trading.
Elsewhere, the European Central Bank has, unsurprisingly, retained its main refinancing interest rate at zero% and its deposit rate at -0.4%.
Following the decision, the euro was little changed against its major currency rivals, trading at US$1.21 against the dollar and ?0.82 against the pound.
Nancy Curtin, chief investment officer at Close Brothers Asset Management, said: "Europe remains firmly in a period of growth, but lately we've seen momentum slow significantly. While this shouldn't be anything to worry about, it's certainly not the right time for a change in monetary policy given benign inflation and relatively weak wage growth.
She added: "Over the coming months we'll see a reduction in bond buying and it's likely that interest rates will remain unchanged until the end of the year as Draghi takes the time to wait and see how growth picks up."
FTSE 100 pharma group Shire (LON:SHP), the target of a takeover bid from Japanese group Takeda Pharmaceutical, reported a 6% increase in its earnings for the first quarter, as higher product sales and a lower tax rate offset lower gross margins.
The company reported non-GAAP diluted earnings per American Depository Share of US$3.86 on revenue of US$3.7bn, slightly ahead of analyst expectations of US$3.7bn.
Meanwhile, fellow FTSE 100 constituent Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) saw its shares dip 2% to 2,534p in lunchtime trading after its profits for the first quarter failed to meet expectations given higher oil prices.
The upstream business, which is most directly impacted by the price of crude, saw earnings of US$1.55bn for the quarter, up from US$540mln in the first quarter of last year.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell said: "Investors were always likely to have high expectations ahead of this release given recent strength in the oil price."
He added: "While a higher oil price is great news for the production side of the business, its refining arm has suffered thanks to the higher input costs implied by more expensive crude."
The FTSE 100 overcame a slow start this morning to move back into the green by lunchtime, helped by a reversal in the fortunes of Barclays (LON:BARC), who's shares reversed initial losses to climb 1.9% to 217p in late-morning trading in the wake of a first quarter loss in its finances.
Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex, said: "the fact Barclays managed to reverse its losses, climbing 1.6% despite a PPI-hit first quarter, allowed the UK index to overcome its initial reticence. The FTSE climbed 0.2% to lurk just under 7400, effectively holding at or around the 11 week peak it has been recently propelled towards.
He added: "Its gains likely would have been larger if it weren't for Shell, which fell 2.2% as investors ignored a robust Q1 to instead zoom in on the muted outlook for the second quarter."
In company news, FTSE 100 mobile operator Vodafone (LON:VOD) said it has become a premium partner of the world's largest esports company, ESL, and will sponsor its upcoming flagship event series.
Vodafone said the event series would include the Intel Extreme Masters (IEM), ESL One and ESL Pro League events, with the agreement including a live broadcast segment, 'The Vodafone View', content and advertising distribution, as well as branding and activation at the events.
In the small caps, AIM-listed firm Concepta (LON:CPT) shares surged 22% higher as the firm signed an agreement with SinoPharm, the largest state-owned pharmaceutical company in China for local stock holdings and logistics services throughout the whole of the country for its fertility product myLotus.
Data from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has shown that British retailers saw slower-than-expected sales growth during the first part of April.
The CBI said its sales volume balance for April rose to -2, below a Reuters average forecast of +5 from an economist poll but up from a five-month low in March of -8.
In a statement, the CBI said sales were below average for the time of year for the second month in a row, albeit at to a lesser extent than in the year to March. Meanwhile, orders placed on suppliers fell slightly, but are expected to pick up again in the year to May.
CBI economist Anna Leach said: "Sales have continued to disappoint in April, after falling in March. But expectations for next month are looking a little healthier.
She added: "It's no secret that UK high streets have endured tough trading conditions in recent months, with some big names closing or cutting back. Much of this reflects ongoing structural changes in the sector as well as the continued squeeze on households' real incomes. While conditions have improved for households recently - with real wage growth inching into positive territory - we expect further gains in living standards to remain modest. So the pressure looks set to stay on retailers for the time being."
In other news, Facebook's (NASDAQ:FB) chief technology officer, Mike Schroepfer, has said the embattled social media giant will introduce new measures to boost transparency around adverts on the site.
In a written submission to the UK Parliament's media committee, Schroepfer said those wanting to run political adverts would have to complete an authorisation process and the messages would also have to display who paid for them.
Market attention is currently being drawn to the meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB) that takes place later today.
While there is a moderate consensus that the status quo will be reiterated, any comments regarding an end to the ECB's Asset Purchasing Programme (APP) may add pressure to the Euro.
Analysts at Dutch bank ING said: "After a relatively dovish message in March, the risk to the Euro at Thursday's ECB meeting is that President Draghi ratchets up his concerns over the outlook for the Eurozone economy - stemming from either slower cyclical macro dynamics and/or heightened trade and geopolitical uncertainties. In this dovish scenario, we could see EUR bulls retreat en masse as odds for a 2Q19 ECB depo rate hike are slashed further
They added: "In the absence of this, we think risk-reward favours modest EUR upside going into the meeting. A reiteration of the status quo constructive domestic economic outlook - with growth and inflation expected to broadly recover over the ECB's forecast horizon - could keep lingering EUR bulls excited over the prospects of a mid-2019 rate hike (current implied probability at 60%)."
David Morrison, senior market strategist at GKFX, commented that while a change to the Minimum Bid Rate was unexpected, the ECB would likely also try to postpone comment regarding the end of its APP until its next meeting.
He added: "Against this are the hawks, led by German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, who want a decisive end-date for the APP - currently set for September this year (although Draghi insists that it could be increased in either size or duration, as necessary). But that then brings into focus the start of rate hikes. Currently market expectations are that the initial rate rise will come six months after bond purchases end."
The Euro is currently at US$1.22, up 0.13%.
Meanwhile, the pound has continued its weekly slump against the dollar, falling 0.1% to US$1.3915 as investors grew wary of the effect weaker the forecast GDP figures could have on the Bank of England's (BoE) interest rate decision.
The drop puts sterling's losses this month to more than 0.5%, which while not a large loss is concerning due to April being a traditionally strong period for the currency.
Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: "After the hat-trick of disappointing numbers last week and a more dovish sounding Bank of England, a weaker than forecast Q1 GDP on Friday would put to bed any remaining optimism of a May rate hike,"
The data will be the last release before the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee meets early next month, with the market currently split over whether interest rates will rise.
UK banks approved less mortgages than a year ago, according to figures from UK Finance.
The trade association reported that banks had approved 37,567 mortgages for house purchases last month, a 10% decrease from the same period last year and below February's figure of 38,035.
However, the data did not include building societies, which account for a large chunk of UK mortgage lending.
Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said: "It is possible that mortgage approvals for house purchases in March were affected by the severe weather. Even allowing for this, the underlying performance over the first quarter points to the housing market remaining weak as it is pressurised by still limited consumer purchasing power, fragile confidence and likely further gradual interest rate rises following November's first hike since 2007.
He added: "There seems little evidence that the cutting of stamp duty for first-time buyers in November's budget has yet provided a noticeable boost to housing market activity. The latest survey evidence also points to ongoing subdued housing market and buyer enquiries were reported to have fallen for a 12th month running in March."
Meanwhile, a report from Reuters has said cybersecurity group Avast is targeting a market cap of between ?2.5bn to ?3.2bn in its initial public offering (IPO), in what could potentially be the biggest London listing since July.
The bookrunner for the float gave a price range of between 250p to 320p per share, with an aim to sell 25% of the firm and raise around US$200mln in proceeds from the new shares.
The current record for biggest London listing is held by Russian gold company Polyus, whose float gave it a ?6.3bn market value.
The shares will be admitted to the market on 10 May.
--Adds comment on mortgage approvals--
Activist hedge fund Elliott Advisers, who recently made headlines as a key advocate of Costa's demerger from Whitbread (LON:WTB) is to become the new owner of bookshop chain Waterstones.
Waterstones said its previous owner Lynwood Investments would retain a minority stake in the business, which has returned to profitability over the last two years after almost collapsing in 2011 due to a combination of competition from e-books and high debt.
Meanwhile, Jaime Guardiola, chief executive of Spanish Banco Sabadell, owner of embattled British bank TSB, said the group expected the banks technical operations to be back to normal by next week.
Guardiola said: "Fixing the problem took more time than expected and we were not able to reopen (the full) access until Wednesday. I expect next week we will reach something very close to normality,"
The news may cause more irritation than relief to TSB customers, who have already suffered over 5 days of outages and issues with its online and mobile banking systems since a planned upgrade over the weekend caused an IT meltdown.
The FTSE 100 index edged lower in early trading as investors waded through a big batch of blue chips and second line news first thing, with Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) weaker after results, and the oil majors going in opposite directions.
Around 8.30am, the UK blue chip index was down 4 points at 7,374, steadying after a 46 point drop yesterday.
Barclays was an early blue chip faller, down 2.3% at 208.10p after the bank reported an attributable loss of ?764mln for the first three months of 2018, compared to a profit of ?190mln the same period last year.
Litigation and conduct charges included a ?1.4bn settlement with the US Department of Justice over the sale of mortgage-backed securities in the lead up to the 2008-09 financial crisis.
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, commented "The indelible stain left on these numbers by litigation and conduct issues masks the reasonable progress which Barclays is making."
The bank itself highlights that its restructuring is complete and that legacy issues, most notably the fine relating to US residential mortgage-back securities, can now be viewed in the rear view mirror."
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA) was also a loser, shedding 2.1% at 2,476p as its strong first-quarter results were much as expected showing the benefits of a better oil price.
Shell's quarterly earnings were up 69% year-on-year at US$5.7bn versus US$3.38bn in the comparative period of 2017 and US$3.08bn in the preceding three months.
But rival BP PLC (LON:BP) gained 1% at 528.8p after it announced that former BG Group chief executive Helge Lund is to succeed Carl-Henric Svanberg as its chairman from 1 January 2019.
Lund was chief executive of BG from 2015 to 2016 when the company merged with Shell.
Braveheart Investment Group PLC (LON:BRH) saw its shares jump on Thursday after the company said it expects to report substantially increased profit after tax for the year ended 31 March 2018 compared to the prior year.
Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) has confirmed a contract win with an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the German car industry.
Graphene-based products supplier Directa Plus Plc (LON:DCTA) returned to revenue growth in 2017.
Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) has commenced preparatory work on the first Phase III efficacy trial for MED2002, the company's topical gel for erectile dysfunction (ED).
Completion contracts specialist FFI Holdings Plc (LON:FFI) has acquired Signature Entertainment, one of the UK's largest film distributors. Steven Ransohoff, FFI Holdings' chief executive said Signature is especially well placed in the streaming arena, which is a new captive distribution channel for the group.
Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) has published a work programme to re-start operations at its recently acquired Leigh Creek copper mine in South Australia. Full production is expected around mid-2019 at the Mountain of Light and Lyndhurst projects, while the existing min plan will be extended for five years to include five other deposits and the heap leach pads.
Raymond Akers has been relieved of his executive roles at Akers Biosciences Inc (LON:AKR) (NASDAQ:AKER).
More offices being converted into flats helped Circle Property PLC's (LON:CRC) property values and rental income rise sharply over the past year. The AIM-listed group specialises in acquiring commercial properties that need a bit of TLC/refurbishment and demand for space in good locations in regional cities remains buoyant said John Arnold, chief executive.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) has released a new competent persons report for the A1 prospect, confirming the potential scale of the gas assets hosted in the Tendrara-Lakbir permit. Preliminary findings of consultant RPS Energy confirm previous estimates of the A1 prospect. Big Pic in October.
Cadogan Petroleum PLC (LON:CAD) has revealed a significant increase in gross profit and narrowing of net losses, thanks to improved oil prices and an upturn in its trading division. The Ukraine focussed oil and gas firm, in financial results for 2017, reported an average realised price of US$41.60 per oil equivalent barrel, up from US$34.5 per barrel in the preceding year.
Range Resources Ltd (LON:RRL) shares were on the back foot in Thursday's early deals, down 4%, after an incident caused by illegal third-part drilling at the Perlak oil field, in Indonesia, The company revealed, in a statement on Wednesday evening, that a new well being drilled by local residents had caused a blowout and fire, resulting in multiple fatalities and injuries.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has announced the completion of the reverse circulation (RC) drilling campaign at its Tarouca tungsten and tin exploration licence in Portugal.The AIM-listed firm said the month-long programme included 29 holes with 1,515 metres of total drilling, completed in lengths between 50 metres and 70 metres.
Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) said bulk sampling is underway at the NOA deposit at its Mina do Barroso lithium project in northern Portugal.
Landore Resources Ltd (LON:LND) said it has begun drilling at its BAM East gold deposit at the Junior Lake property in Ontario, Canada.
As Jersey Oil & Gas PLC (LON:JOG) releases financial results for 2017 all attentions are fixed on the follow-up drilling planned for the Verbier discovery later this year. An appraisal well is planned by project operator Statoil to further test Verbier this summer, and it is described by Jersey as exciting near-term activity.
Capital Drilling Ltd (LON:CAPD) said it has expanded its presence in the West Africa region as an additional 12 rigs arrived in the first quarter.
Metminco Limited (LON:MNC) today confirmed it has completed a A$5.6mln entitlement offer, which forms part of the group's refinancing and relaunch. It will now issue 694.8mln new shares to subscribing shareholders, with each new share priced at 0.8 Australian cent each. Additionally, the investors will receive options (a total of 231.6mln will be issued) creating the possibility for a further issue of equity before June 2020.
Further to the announcement made on 25 April 2018, Cello Group confirmed that its change of name to Cello Health plc (LON:CLL) is now effective.
The FTSE 100 is expected to start Thursday higher, albeit not by very much.
Generally positive company reporting and a spike in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity saw Wall Street benchmarks mark a decent session on Wednesday.
In New York, the Dow Jones ended the day up around 60 points or 0.25% to 24,083 while the S&P 500 rose 0.18% to finish at 2,639, although the Nasdaq closed the session just on the negative side of flat, at 7,003.
US investors have enjoyed a decent run, but, some are now wondering how much longer it may last.
"With US interest rate levels starting to rise to new multi-year highs on an almost daily basis, investors are asking themselves, despite a bumper earnings season, is this likely to be as good as it gets," said Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets.
"With companies beating expectations in the way that they have been thus far, the bar for the rest of the year has suddenly been pushed a little bit higher."
In Asia, trading was mixed. Japan's Nikkei rose around 89 points or 0.4% to trade at 22,306 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 280 points or 0.9% lower to 30,046 and the Shanghai Composite gave up 1.15% to 3,082.
Australia's ASX 200 dipped 0.21% to change hands at 5,909.
London's FTSE 100 benchmark, meanwhile, is due to be steered somewhat by a busy schedule of corporate results - with blue chips like Barclays, Shire and Royal Dutch Shell among the big names reporting today.
IG Markets sees the FTSE 100 starting on the front foot, calling the benchmark up by around 13 points at 7,382 to 7,386.
ECB monetary policy meeting
Interims: Barclays PLC (Q1) (LON:BARC), Royal Dutch Shell PLC (LON:RDSA), Shire Plc (Q1) (LON:SHP), Weir Group PLC (Q!) (LON:WEIR)
Finals: Capita PLC (LON:CPI), Air Partner PLC (LON:AIR), N Brown Group PLC (LON:BWNG), Morses Club Plc (LON:MCL), U And I Group PLC (LON:UAI)
Trading updates: Taylor Wimpey PLC (LONTW,), Domino's Pizza Group PLC (LON:DOM), Cobham PLC (LON:COB), Elementis PLC (LON:ELM), Hastings Group Holdings PLC (LON:HSTG), KAZ Minerals PLC (LON:KAZ), Meggitt plc (LON:MGGT), Synthomer PLC (LON:SYNT)
Ex-dividends: FTSE 100 - Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO), Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), Legal & General Group PLC (LON:LGEN), RELX PLC (LON:REL), Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR.)
Economic data: CBI distributive trades survey; US weekly jobless claims, US international trade in goods; US durable goods orders
Sterling: US$1.3946, up 0.1%
Gold: US$1,324 an ounce, up 0.22%
Brent crude: US$74.44 a barrel, up 0.77%
Bitcoin: US$8,882, up 0.21%
UK car output falls by more than 6 percent in first quarter - Reuters
Firms pledge to eliminate 'unnecessary' single-use plastics by 2025 - ITV News
TSB admits its internet banking woes are not over - BBC News
Persimmon shareholders revolt over boss's ?75m bonus - Citywire.co.uk
Facebook posts record revenues for first quarter despite privacy scandal - The Guardian
Activist fund TCI buys 4% stake in 21st Century Fox - Financial Times
Ford Plans $11.5 Billion in Extra Cuts, Kills Most US Cars - Bloomberg
Disney World is hiring 3500 people ahead of a busy summer - CNNMoney
Chipotle Beats Sales Expectations and Pledges More Change Ahead - Wall Street Journal
Chevron evacuates Venezuela executives following staff arrests - Reuters