Image source, Reuters

Shares in WPP have seen their biggest intra-day jump since December 2008 following this morning's first quarter trading update, rising more than 9%.

The advertising giant's shares have eased back, however, and are currently up 6.5%. Analysts attribute the sharp rise to expectations that the firm will be broken up following the sudden departure of Sir Martin Sorrell.

The firm said this morning that it had not disclosed more about its investigation into former Sir Martin's personal misconduct because he resigned before that became necessary.

"Martin decided to resign before the board had taken into consideration the outcome of the investigation and determined whether or not it was appropriate to take action," Chairman Roberto Quarta said.

Image source, EPA

Frustrated TSB customers are continuing to be locked out of their accounts as the bank's IT fiasco enters a second week.

Some have suggested the system is "going from bad to worse" as they are denied access to online banking and the bank's mobile app.

According to the bank's latest update half of its online banking customers are still unable to access their accounts.

Worries over payments also remain as error messages are shown to some customers trying to move money.

The bank says it is "working around the clock" to fix the problems.

Read more here

Image source, Glencore

The FTSE 100 has barely wavered and at lunchtime the blue chip index is trading up 39.36 points, or 0.52%, at 7,541.57.

Sainsbury's shares continue to lead the risers, up 16.46% at 314.15p, after it released details of its proposed merger with Asda.

WPP's share price is also trading up sharply at £12.27, an increase of 6.8%.

Commodities giant Glencore is the biggest faller, with its share price down 2.83% at 358.6p.

Glencore said that its former partner, businessman Dan Gertler, had served two freezing orders against two of its subsidiaries - Mutanda Mining Sarl and Kamoto Copper Company - in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The FTSE 250 is ahead 78.78 points or 0.39% at 20,350.41.

The pound's currently down 0.45% against the dollar at $1.3718, its lowest level in two months. It's also a quarter of a per cent lower against the euro at €1.1353.

The drop follows the pounds 1% fall on Friday which followed disappointing GDP data showing that the UK economy grew by just 0.1% in the first three months of the year.

Expectations that the Bank of England will raise rates have been scaled back since then, hitting the pound.

Image source, Getty Images

Gambling company Rank Group has named John O'Reilly as its new chief executive to replace Henry Birch who announced his intention to stand down last month.

Mr O'Reilly previously led Ladbrokes' digital operations and was an executive director on the company's board. In August 2011, Gala Coral Group to relaunch the Coral brand online.

Rank owns the Mecca bingo brand and Grosvenor Casinos.

If you want to see how many Sainsbury's stores overlap with Asda, have a look at this handy map by clicking on the link below.

The green dots are Asda stores, the red ones Argos and the yellow ones are Sainsbury's.

It makes for some interesting viewing.

Freelance journalist Harry Wallop questions whether Sainsbury's and Asda's staff numbers are accurate

Image source, PA

Carpetright, whose restructuring plan was approved by creditors last week, says investors have now also approved the plan.

The retail chain plans to shut 81 stores and has also secured rent reductions.

It has also just updated investors on its expected performance for the full year.

It says trading conditions have remained difficult since its 12 April outdate.

The chain is now predicting an underlying pre-tax loss of £7m to £9m for the full year.

Like-for-like sales, which strip out sales from new stores, will be down 3.6% for the year, it says.

Image source, Getty Images

Sainsbury's chairman David Tyler has said he believes the combination of Sainsbury's and Asda "will create substantial value for our shareholders and will be excellent news for our customers and our colleagues".

Mr Tyler is also chairman of shopping centre owner Hammerson, which owns Birmingham's famous Bullring and said similar things about its proposed takeover of smaller rival Intu.

In the end, opposition from shareholders meant Hammerson had to pull out of the deal.

However, Sainsbury's positive share price reaction so far suggests there's unlikely to be a similar situation this time.

Image source, Getty Images

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has said it's concerned the merger between Sainsbury's and Asda could hurt small suppliers.

“A merger of this size will concentrate a lot of power in the hands of one giant company, and it’s important that power isn’t misused to coerce small suppliers into accepting unfair contracts and poor payment terms," FSB chairman Mike Cherry says.

He wants Sainsbury's and Asda to explain how they plan to merge these two supply chains fairly "and give reassurance that cost savings won’t be achieved simply by milking their small suppliers for all they’re worth".

Image source, Reuters

Charles Hall, head of research at Peel Hunt, says that there is "no chance" of the Asda/Sainsbury's merger getting through the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) "without a major dismemberment of the combined business".

He says: "This will only be possible if there is an acquirer for a significant proportion of the business and Morrisons is the only acquirer that makes sense. This would take the big four [supermarkets] down to three, which looks highly unlikely to get through the CMA."

He adds: "Clearly synergy savings would be substantial if the deal was to complete, which would come through sourcing benefits as well as the reduction in central staff, IT and distribution. This would clearly be of concern for the suppliers, but there would be winners and losers."

Image source, Reuters

If Sainbury's merger with Asda goes ahead, it has pledged not to close any stores, not to cut any jobs at its shops and will keep both companies' head offices open.

So where where will the cost-savings come from?

Sainbury's chief financial officer Kevin O'Byrne tells Sky News it will find "net synergies of over £500m from the merger".

He says these will come from "products that we buy that we don't sell to the consumer and we can buy them more efficiently together".

He adds: "The other is putting Argos stores inside Asda stores as we've done with Sainsbury's and we find that consumers love that and we can save rent and rates on Argos stores so that's a saving we can pass onto customers.

"Then when you combine the buying books of these two large businesses, we'll be able to buy products more cheaply and then we'll lower the price of products on the shelf for customers."

Global Data's Neil Saunders reckons Walmart is getting the best deal of everyone.

Despite Mike Coupe's assertions on store closures, Patrick O'Brien, UK research director at Global Data, has been crunching the numbers on where Sainsbury's and Asda stores overlap.

As a result, he expects the regulator to demand disposals.

Interserve's share price has plunged by 11.28% to 94.84p after it revealed widening pre-tax losses at £244.4m on flat revenues at £3.2bn.

The group described its full-year financial performance as "extremely poor".

Image source, Reuters

Commenting on the proposed merger between Sainsbury's and Asda, Laith Khalaf, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said:‘Sainsbury and Asda have clearly decided there’s strength in numbers as they battle the headwinds currently buffeting the UK retail sector."

He said: "We expect the competition authority to take a localised approach to their assessment, as they did with the Tesco takeover of Booker, so store disposals could still be a feature of the merger. Although Sainsbury thinks they will be able to avoid any closures.

"If the deal goes through, the prospect of Sainsbury, Asda, and Argos working together, with Walmart chipping in too, is a pretty powerful combination. It would also be good for consumers, who can expect lower prices as a result. Meanwhile the executives of other supermarkets no doubt have their head in their hands at the prospect of another price war."