| | | | | | | The Top 10 Stocks for Q4 Our latest quarterly stocks report analyses the top and bottom 10 FTSE 100 performers of 2017 so far and looks at our Top Ten Stock Picks for Q4 including City broker consensus and their average target price for each stock. Losses can exceed deposits Download the report here | | |
| | London Market Report |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London close: Stocks end higher as pound slips on August wage data London stocks had pushed higher by the close on Wednesday, with the pound slipping back against the dollar following a brief pop higher, as investors digested the latest data on UK wages and unemployment.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.36% to 7,542.87, while the pound was weaker against the dollar at 1.3179 and down 0.12% versus the euro at 1.1197.
European bourses were also upbeat on Wednesday with the DAX up 0.37% to 13,043.03, he CAC 40 0.42% higher to 5,383.81 and the IBEX 35 0.55% firmer to 10,273.40.
After a mixed labour market release from the Office for National Statistics, IG analyst Chris Beauchamp said: "It's not been a great week for sterling bulls. First inflation comes in as expected, disappointing those hoping for a bounce in prices, and then the wage gap stays firmly in place. This should send a firm signal to the BoE to not get too excited about possible rate increases.
"A brief spike above $1.32 for cable was reversed as the pair headed back to the lows of the day. It looks like the rally off the October lows has faded away. The FTSE 100 took a brief knock as the pound rallied, but normal service has been resumed, with the index broadly in the same place it was a week ago."
Official figures released mid-morning showed UK wage growth continues to lag behind inflation, though shifts in the level of employment mean the Bank of England's decision on whether to raise rates in November is "on a knife edge", some economists feel.
Annual growth in average weekly earnings hit 2.2% for the three months to August, on the back of a 2.1% rise a month earlier which revised up to 2.2% by the ONS, while the figure excluding bonuses softened to 2.1% from a revised 2.2%.
Consumer price inflation in August was 2.9% and rose to 3.0% in September, meaning the squeeze on real incomes remained fierce.
The headline ILO unemployment rate for the last three months remained at 4.3%, the joint lowest since 1975, though employment numbers gained 94,000 in the three months to August, the smallest increase since February.
The more timely claimant count rate, showing data for September, remained at 2.3%, with jobless claims rising 1.7K.
In corporate news, AstraZeneca ticked up as it said that it and Merck & Co have been granted priority review by the US Food and Drug Administration for a supplemental new drug application for the use of Lynparza (olaparib) tablets in patients with metastatic breast cancer who have been previously treated with chemotherapy.
Pearson was top of the leaderboard, rallying for a second day thanks in part to price target increases from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.
Likewise, Iberia parent International Consolidated Airlines Group flew higher as Credit Suisse bumped up its target on the stock.
Softcat rallied as shareholders lapped up news of a hiked dividend and a jump in annual profit and revenue, while Spectris was firmer after completing the acquisition of privately-held US company Omnicon for an initial consideration of $29m.
Gold miner Hochschild shone after saying it achieved record production levels in the third quarter, while FTSE 250 wealth manager Rathbone Brothers advanced as it reported a jump in assets in the third quarter as inflows grew.
On the downside, Durex maker Reckitt Benckiser was in the red after saying it endured a "soft" third quarter amid a continued challenging market and downgrading its full year guidance.
Rio Tinto fell after being slapped with a £27.4m fine by the City watchdog for failings in its financial reporting process relating to the $3.7bn purchase of mining assets in Mozambique, an issue that US regulators have now begun to investigate.
BHP Billiton edged down after posting a drop in quarterly iron ore output, but saying it still expects to meet full-year production targets.
Sainsbury's was another stock moving lower, with investors not seemingly impressed by its plans to cut 2,000 jobs. |
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| Market Movers
FTSE 100 (UKX) 7,542.87 0.36%
FTSE 250 (MCX) 20,259.77 0.64%
techMARK (TASX) 3,557.46 0.28%
FTSE 100 - Risers
Pearson (PSON) 687.00p 3.00%
ITV (ITV) 178.70p 3.00%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 652.50p 2.68%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 930.00p 2.48%
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 312.50p 2.19%
Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 3,914.00p 2.14%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 279.20p 2.12%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 2,647.00p 2.08%
TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,347.00p 2.05%
Persimmon (PSN) 2,840.00p 1.76%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,719.50p -3.11%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,599.00p -2.98%
Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 6,857.00p -2.53%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,428.00p -2.16%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 370.00p -2.12%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 992.50p -1.93%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,390.00p -1.77%
Mediclinic International (MDC) 639.50p -0.93%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,401.00p -0.85%
Carnival (CCL) 5,040.00p -0.79%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Spire Healthcare Group (SPI) 250.50p 8.58%
Softcat (SCT) 465.50p 5.99%
Greencore Group (GNC) 199.20p 4.57%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 189.60p 3.89%
McCarthy & Stone (MCS) 161.00p 3.87%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 272.70p 3.77%
Smith (DS) (SMDS) 489.60p 3.71%
Bellway (BWY) 3,673.00p 2.91%
BTG (BTG) 748.00p 2.89%
LondonMetric Property (LMP) 175.20p 2.63%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 391.80p -3.26%
Provident Financial (PFG) 876.50p -3.15%
Kaz Minerals (KAZ) 836.00p -2.28%
Sirius Minerals (SXX) 25.75p -2.28%
Elementis (ELM) 274.50p -2.27%
Cineworld Group (CINE) 666.00p -2.06%
GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd (GCP) 124.00p -1.82%
Vesuvius (VSVS) 577.00p -1.79%
Sanne Group (SNN) 788.50p -1.75% |
| | Europe Market Report |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | Europe midday: Stocks build on early gains, Fed policy and euro in focus Stocks were building on their early advance come midday, buoyed by weakness in the single currency and the continuing grind higher by the main market indices on Wall Street.
Weakness in the euro came as some market commentary was highlighting the possibility that the next US central bank chairman may have a harder policy bias than Janet Yellen.
Investors in European markets were also aware that a second deadline was looming - on Thursday morning - for officials in the Spanish region of Catalonia to back off from their unilateral declaration of independence made the week before.
Against that backdrop, as of 1215 BST the benchmark Stoxx 600 was up by 1.68 points or 0.43% to 392.12, alongside gains of 0.49% or 63.56 points to 13,059.07 for the German Dax and an advance of 0.56% or 30.19 points to 5,391.50 on the Cac-40.
Also in the spotlight on Wednesday was the start of the Chinese Communist party's 19th Congress, at which president Xi Jinping laid out his vision to convert the country into a "great modern socialist country" by 2050, with rule of law, innovative companies, a clean environment, expanding middle class and reduced inequality.
"We are also cautiously optimistic that China will continue a gradual reform pace and it will get increased focus over the coming years. Nevertheless we expect the economy to slow down gradually over the next year due to financial tightening, which will cause some headwinds for equity markets as well," commented analysts at Danske Bank.
Significantly, the Danish broker's expectation was for Jinping to focus more on the economy over the next five years, having spent his previous term 'cleaning up' the party.
Back on the economic data front, euro area construction output dipped by 0.2% on the month in August.
Meanwhile, in the corporate space, according to Reuters Germany's SpringerNature was preparing a stockmarket listing in 2018 valuing the firm at as much as €4.0bn.
Dutch chemicals giant Akzo Nobel posted weaker-than-expected operating profits of €383m for the three months to September, amid margin pressures from increased costs for raw materials.
Another Dutch outfit, semiconductor equipment maker ASML on the other hand pleased investors, announcing third quarter net profits of €557m, which was ahead of market forecasts. The company also reaffirmed full-year 2017 guidance for a 25% jump in sales.
Hochtief's supervisory board was reportedly set to meet later in the same day to discuss a possible counteroffer to Atlantia's bid for Spain's Abertis. |
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Top of the stocks Number of Deals Bought Number of Deals Sold |
| | US Market Report | | US open: IBM soars, pulls Dow Industrials past 23,000 Gains for Big Blue on the back of its latest quarterly numbers have pushed the Dow Industrials clear of the 23,000 point mark with investors very much focused on the steady stream of corporate results coming out.
At 1509 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was ahead by 0.45% or 104.58 points at 23,102.22, with the S&P 500 up by 0.05% or 1.22 points to 2,560.58, while the Nasdaq Composite was drifting 0.05% or 3.33 points lower, changing hands at 6,620.33.
In parallel, shares of IBM were rocketing 8.71% - for their biggest one-day price move since January 2001.
Commenting on the fresh record highs on the Dow Industrials and S&P 500, Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK said: "Looking back at previous instances of stretched valuations one of the common denominators on a historical basis has been a feeling of euphoria, a sentiment which is largely absent at this point in time.
"That's not to say investors are complacent, some undoubtedly are but when we've had substantial corrections on previous occasions the rotation of capital has always had an alternative destination to go to in terms of government bonds. These are nowhere near as attractive now, interest rates, and bond yields were much higher in 2007, 1997 and 1987, while today they are anchored to the floor, which limits investor options in terms of returns."
Against that backdrop, on Wednesday morning Dallas Fed chief Robert Kaplan sounded a 'dovish' note, reportedly saying that the so-called 'neutral' interest rate lay at about 2.5%, adding that there was potential for it to be lower due to declines in long-term GDP growth.
In other economic news, a key indicator of homebuidling activity in the States fell back for a third consecutive month in September, although some economists brushed off the data, saying they expected to see at least a partial rebound in coming months.
US housing starts fell by 4.7% month-on-month in September to reach an annualised pace of 1.127m, according to the Department of Commerce. That fell well short of the 1.18m pace of starts projected by economists.
Despite that weak print on housing, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was four basis points higher to 2.34%.
Back on the corporate side of things, also some observers were critical of the quality of IBM's earnings, arguing that they had much to do with the multinational's ability to dodge taxes, the fact was that its latest set of financials soundly beat forecasts from analysts on the Street.
For its third quarter, IBM posted earnings per share of $3.30 on adjusted basis (consensus: $2.84) on the back of $19.15bn in revenues (consensus: $18.61bn).
Also in the spotlight, chip-maker Micron Technologies announced plans to redeem $2.25bn of debt via recently raised funds and from cash on hand.
From a sector standpoint, the biggest gains were to be seen in Computer Services (4.19%), Industrial Suppliers (4.05%) and Coal (1.74%).
E-Bay and American Express were scheduled to update investors after the closing bell. | | | | To advertise in the Euro Markets Bulletin please contact advertise@advfn.com |
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