Wall Street has fallen at the open, as investors fret over the current rise in Covid-19 cases stateside.

• Dow is down 1%
• S&P 500 is down 0.45%
• Nasdaq is down 0.21%

Banking stocks, which originally rose ahead of the Fed’s stress test results yesterday, are also trading lower.

Amid the flurry of news, we’ve got to catch up with the latest batch of US data ahead of the market open.

Incomes which were initially boosted by US government pay protection programmes during the pandemic in April, have started to fade away as lockdowns started to ease.

The US Bureau of Economic Analysis said US personal income dropped 4.2% month-on-month in May after surging 10.5% in April.

The decrease in personal income in May primarily reflected a decrease in government social benefits to persons as payments made to individuals from federal economic recovery programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic continued, but at a lower level than in April.

Separately, the core personal consumption expenditures price index edged up 0.1% last month after easing 0.4% in April.

There is a serious incident taking place in Glasgow, involving armed police. My colleagues are covering the story here.

More on Intu’s appointment of administrators:

The company, whose centres include Lakeside in Essex and the Trafford Centre in Manchester, said all of its shopping centres will continue to trade and that its “underlying group operating companies” are not affected.

The intu Group’s relationships with its tenants are with these operating companies, not the companies entering administration.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been asked if he’ll intervene in the retail sector, in light of shopping centre Intu being on the brink of administration.

He’s said shopping malls have been feeling the squeeze and that the government will do everything they can to look after them, according to Reuters.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at SpreadEx says European stocks are rising in reaction to further hints of stimulus both in the UK and the EU:

It seems that investors are choosing focus on stimulus-positive remarks from around Europe, instead of the realities of a potential second wave.

Christine Lagarde, who said that we’ve ‘probably passed the lowest point’ of the pandemic, claimed that ‘there is no question’ in her mind that central banks need to use ‘all tools available’ to combat a recession. S

he did go on to warn, however, that she thinks EU leaders won’t reach a final agreement over fiscal stimulus at the July 17^th summit.

For the UK, it wasn’t the Bank of England but the Chancellor in the spotlight. When pressed on stimulus, Rishi Sunak said that he ‘will be outlining further things in the coming weeks’.

If hardly a rousing statement of intent, it was still enough of a hint to allow the FTSE to double down on its early growth.

Aston Martin Lagonda will raise £245m in new equity and high-cost debt as the luxury carmaker seeks funding to see it through the slump in revenues caused by the coronavirus pandemic, my colleague Jasper Jolly writes.

The company will issue new shares worth as much as 19.99% of the existing share capital, raising up to £190m from investors in the third major change to its financing this year.

Aston Martin will also draw down about $68m (£55m) of borrowing, due to be repaid in 2022, at an expensive 12% interest rate. The borrowing terms were agreed in September, before billionaire Lawrence Stroll effectively took control of the company just as the coronavirus pandemic began.

The pandemic added to the carmaker’s struggles, forcing dealerships around the world to shut and choking off revenues. The company lost £119m in the first quarter, and on Friday it said sales would be lower in the second quarter. More than 90% of its dealership network has now reopened, Aston Martin said.

It has also reduced dealer stock by 617 cars. It will make the first deliveries of the DBX, which was crucial to its pre-pandemic expansion plans, in July.

European stocks are still rising, as investors ignore the Fed warnings on loan losses and rising coronavirus cases on the other side of the Atlantic.

But over on Wall Street futures pointing to a weak, and potentially mixed start for US stocks:

• Dow futures are down 0.1%
• S&P 500 futures are up 0.16%
• Nasdaq futures are up 0.21%

Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, says the resurgence of Covid-19 cases is weighing on sentiment:

The Dow Jones futures are trading lower as traders fail to shake off the fact that the US had its biggest one day surge in coronavirus cases yesterday and it has constrained the re-opening process.

There is no doubt that the second coronavirus wave news has been glum and it may maintain this narrative for some time but the fact is that smart money does see the Texas governor’s recent action of halting the further re-open efforts as a positive sign.

For them, this is the step in the right direction to stamp out the current spike in Covid-19. Measures like this have put an end to the drumbeat of coronavirus news.

Aslam adds that futures are likely to remain sensitive to the fact that the US is struggling to have a “clean re-opening” of the economy which could hamper recovery efforts.

Meanwhile, geopolitical tensions between the US and China still continue to simmer in the background.

As the Times’ James Hurley points out, funds routed through Wirecard Card Solutions in the UK are not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (which usually covers deposits of up to £85,000).

However, the FCA actions today should help protect any consumer cash, including those on pre-paid cards that use its services:

Meanwhile, the former number two executive of German payments giant Wirecard has fled to China, my colleague Mark Sweney writes.

Jan Marsalek, a former board member and chief operating officer under suspicion in Germany over Wirecard’s accounting scandal, reportedly flew to the Philippines on Wednesday.

Menardo Guevarra, the Philippine secretary of justice, had ordered authorities to look for Marsalek after his arrival and investigate his involvement in an alleged 1.9bn Euro fraud that caused the collapse of Wirecard.

Bureau of Immigration records show that Marsalek, who was fired from Wirecard on Monday, arrived in Manila on 23 June and left for China from Cebu the next morning, Guevarra told CNN Philippines.

However, Guevarra added that there were no signs of Marsalek on CCTV at the Mactan-Cebu Airport:

What is really bothersome is the fact that it appeared in the database of BI. We want to find out exactly if he arrived here or there was only a glitch or something, but there were certain details appearing in the database, like the aircraft that carried him to Manila and his departure from Cebu via a specific airline going to China.

Guevarra said Marsalek was accompanied by his Filipina wife which was why he was able to enter the country despite coronavirus travel restrictions.

The EU is set to investigate Germany’s financial regulator over the way it regulated the scandal-hit tech giant Wirecard.

You’ll remember that yesterday the company filed for insolvency after failing to reach a deal with lenders for funding.

It follows a torrential week for the payments processing firm, which is facing a major accounting scandal linked to a €1.9bn (£1.7bn) hole in its finances. (A dramatic turn of events in recent days also involved the resignation and arrest of its chief executive.)

Now, the EU’s executive vice-president in charge of financial services policy Valdis Dombrovskis has told the Financial Times (£) that was asking the bloc’s markets supervisor ,the European Securities and Markets Authority, to assess BaFin’s handling of Wirecard.

He said the EU should be prepared for a formal investigation into the German regulator for “breach of union law” if the preliminary probe by uncovers shortcomings in BaFin’s upholding of EU rules on financial reporting.

Dombrovskis said:

We will be asking Esma to investigate whether there have been supervisory failures and if so to set out a possible course of action.

We need to clarify what went wrong.

Brits bought 60% more bikes in April as the nation turned to two-wheeled transport during the coronavirus lockdown, my colleague Sarah Butler writes.

Government advice to avoid public transport and to keep cars off the road led to a complete turnaround in the cycle market.

In the first three months of the year, the value of bike sales was down 4% and 8% fewer bikes were bought in the UK, according to the Bicycle Association.

But in April, the value of sales surged 57% as the number of bikes sold rose 60%.

The biggest change was in more affordable bikes valued at £400 to £1,000, sales of which doubled in April. Sales of bikes over £3000 fell.

With administration looming, Intu shares have plunged nearly 60% today to record lows of around 1.7p.

The shopping owner’s share price has collapsed by more than 95% since January.

Oliver Creasey, head of property research at investment manager Quilter Cheviot, says Covid-19 is “arguably the biggest test yet for the retail property sector.”

Many retail premises will not be able to reopen with the same capacity levels as before the pandemic and there will almost certainly be fewer customers in a number of sectors.

Some retailers have shut up shop for good already this year, and forecasts suggest that around 20,000 retail units could close by year end, with the vast majority on the high street or in shopping centres. Retail parks and standalone shops are relatively unscathed.

Closed units are bad news for landlords and investors, and it is likely we will see continued downward pressure on rents in the near term.

The government has provided some support to the sector, but it’s likely we will see a further tightening of rental income, particularly for property funds orientated towards the high street and shopping centres.

Tesco sales soared during lockdown as shoppers switched to buying online, in local stores as well as returning to big weekly shops at the supermarkets, my colleague Sarah Butler writes.

The UK’s biggest supermarket chain said UK sales at established stores rose 8.7% in the three months to 30 May with sales of food increasing by 12% while clothing sales dived by a fifth. Online sales rose by 48.5% and sales in convenience stores jumped 10%.

Retail profits for the year are expected to be in line with last year as the chief executive Dave Lewis said the cost of adapting to the pandemic had been “very significant”, including new safety measures in stores, covering sick pay for vulnerable staff who have had to isolate at home and bringing in 47,000 new workers to help with increased demand.

He said he expected additional costs to be close to £920m, the upper end of expectations set out earlier in the year.

As part of his last results presentation before handing over to new Tesco boss Ken Murphy in the autumn, Lewis said:

In the last three months the industry has changed beyond imagination.

His departure is expected to be marred by a row over pay at Friday’s annual shareholder meeting.

Lewis’s pay rose by more than a third to £6.42m last year after Tesco’s board decided to remove the online grocer Ocado from a list of rivals used to rate performance.

A lot to catch up on this morning, including French consumer confidence, which rose more than expected in June.

The INSEE official statistics agency said the reading came in at 97, higher than expectations for a reading of 95 and higher than 93 in May.

It was helped by the fact that France started easing its own strict lockdown measures around 11 May.

INSEE said households’ concerns about economic situation in general over the next 12 months had eased slightly (though that’s after hitting record highs in both April and May).

However, concerns about jobless rates rose to the highest level in seven years and fears about the pandemic’s impact linger.

Not great news for corporate gender diversity:

Card Factory has announced that Karen Hubbard is stepping down, saying that it’s the ‘right time for new leadership’ (though I suppose that’s always questionable in middle of a pandemic):

Karen and the board have agreed that this is an appropriate time to transition to new leadership committed to the longer term successful implementation of the next phase of the Group’s return to growth.

The board and Karen have therefore agreed that she will step down as CEO and from the board at the end of June and a search for a successor will commence immediately.

Paul Moody, chairman, will take on the role of executive chairman until a new CEO has been appointed and is in role.

And European markets are open for trading:

• FTSE 100 is up 1.1%
• France’s CAC 40 is up 1.1%
• Spain’s IBEX is up 0.7%
• Italy’s FTSE MIB is up 1%