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| | London open: Stocks edge up ahead of retail sales; but Debenhams dives |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London stocks edged higher in early trade on Thursday as investors eyed the latest retail sales data, with Debenhams casting a small shadow after it posted a big drop in profit. At 0850 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.2% to 7,332.41, while the pound was down 0.2% against the euro at 1.1459 and 0.1% lower versus the dollar at 1.4156. On the data front, UK retail sales data for March is due at 0930 BST. Month-on-month sales are seen falling 0.5% after a 0.8% rise in February, leading to a 2.0% rise for the year-on-year figure. Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Though not quite a needle-mover of the same pedigree as Tuesday’s jobs reports and Wednesday’s CPI data, the figures are nevertheless noteworthy enough to define the session’s UK trading. Admittedly March’s number is going to be somewhat complicated by the impact of the 'Beast from the East’, meaning the severity of the forecast plunge from 0.8% to -0.5% may be written off as an anomaly." Ahead of that data, department store chain Debenhams slumped as it posted an 85% drop in half-year profits, with a "material" impact from the aforementioned Beast. As expected, directors decided to halve the dividend to 0.5p, 'rebasing' the payout in order to keep dividends covered at least twofold by earnings. Rentokil International was the standout gainer in the FTSE 350, however, despite saying that revenue growth slowed in 2018 because of the impact of the hurricane in Puerto Rico and cold weather in the US that delayed the emergence of spring pests. Elsewhere, broadcaster Sky - which is currently the subject of a bidding war - was in the black as it posted a 5% rise in nine-month like-for-like revenues as core earnings rose 14%, and the company said it remains on track for the full year. BHP Billiton edged up after saying it will produce less iron ore than expected this year due to unplanned maintenance work, and cutting its expectations for the Olympic Dam copper mine in Australia. Essentra was on the front foot after the supplier of plastic and fibre products said trading in the financial year-to-date has been in line with the board's expectations, as it announced the departure of its group finance director. Engineer Weir Group rallied as it launched a rights issue after striking a $1.3bn deal to take over US mining tools manufacturer Esco Corp. Utility player Telecom Plus advanced as it reported record revenue, profits and dividend for the year to the end of March 2018. Unilever fell as it said sales growth slowed in the first quarter from the end of last year, though the consumer goods colossus remained confident of hitting its full-year target for underlying sales growth of 3-5%. Defence company Ultra Electronics was under the cosh as the Serious Fraud Office said it has opened a criminal investigation into suspected corruption in the conduct of its business in Algeria. Acacia Mining lost its shine after it posted a 33% drop in first-quarter revenue as it took a hit from export ban in Tanzania. In broker note action, Hammerson was in focus after abandoning its bid for Intu Properties on Wednesday. Peel Hunt upgraded the stock to buy’, while Jefferies lifted it to 'hold’, but Goldman Sachs cut Hammerson to 'neutral’. Intu meanwhile was downgraded to 'underweight’ by Barclays. Elsewhere, Peel Hunt upgraded Bellway to 'buy’, while National Express was cut to 'hold’ at Liberum, Croda was cut to 'neutral’ at JPMorgan, while Polymetal was upgraded to 'neutral’. The main FTSE indices were higher in spite of a large mass of large stocks going ex-dividend, including Aggreko, BAE Systems, Balfour Beatty, Barratt Developments, Bodycote, Capital & Counties Properties, Croda, Drax, Greggs, Informa, Inmarsat, Intu Properties, Lloyds Banking, Polypipe, RPS Group, Rathbone Brothers, Standard Life Aberdeen and UBM. |
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| | US close: Financials and energy surge, but IBM and treasuries drag | | Wall Street closed on Wednesday as it opened, on a mixed note, with solid earnings from banking giant Morgan Stanley and stronger oil prices being offset by a struggling IBM weighing on the blue-chip index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 38.56 points or 0.16% at 24,748.07, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both finished moderately higher, up 0.19% and 0.1%, respectively. Stocks were pulled hither and thither by various factors, as US Treasures sold off by roughly three basis points, oil prices reached their highest levels since late 2014 as WTI crude rose more than 3% to $68.75 per barrel, while the dollar index gained 0.1% to 89.61. The dollar was helped by a weak pound and the greenback's largest single-day rally in over a month against its Canadian counterpart, bouncing off a near two-month low helped by a dovish Bank of Canada policy statement. Shares in IBM, one of the deposed monarchs of the tech sector, were the main cause of the Dow's down-day as they finished down 7.5% creating a major drag for the Dow, after profit margins at 'Big Blue' shrank and underlying revenue flatlined in the first quarter, suggesting slow progress in its shift towards more profitable businesses. Although IBM's revenue rose 5% to $19.1bn, a second quarter of growth after more than five years of declines, revenue was unchanged when adjusted for currency movements. Furthermore, adjusted gross profit margin declined to 43.7% from 44.5% the year before, while analysts had expected margins to widen to 45.1%. IBM attributed the drop to significant one-time charges. Pre-tax profit fell 20% to $1.1bn, undershooting analysts’ average forecast. In other corporate news, Morgan Stanley posted a 40% rise in first-quarter profit, with revenue at a record level, thanks in part to a jump in trading revenue on the back of market volatility, sending its shares higher by 1.85%. Shares in the bank finished almost flat. Airline United Continental stock climbed after its first-quarter earnings released overnight beat expectations. Southwest Airlines was, surprisingly, up almost 3% in spite of the death of a female passenger on a flight from New York to Texas as debris from a blown jet engine smashed a window at 32,000 feet. The airline has now launched an investigation into the accident. Emerson was up 1.43% after it announced it would buy Textron's tools and test equipment business for $810m. Textron was up 6.74% shortly after the bell. Taking a macro view, the Federal Reserve's Beige Book reported economic activity across America remained at “a modest to moderate pace” in March and early April, no different from a year earlier, though one change was concerns about the White House's trade policy expressed by three-quarters of regions. Overall wage growth was said to be modest, and price gains seen as moderate. Wage pressures “did not escalate,” the report said. Labor markets were seen as tight, with continued reports of labor shortages for high-skilled workers. Among the Fedspeak on Wednesday, William Dudley, the outgoing New York Fed chief, said there "is still some distance to go" before monetary policy gets tight, with uncertainties over trade and the federal budget the main challenges for the FOMC's rate setters. "Uncertainty about trade policy and the fact that we are now on an unsustainable fiscal path… have raised the longer-term risks." After the US central bank hiked its rates target to 1.5-1.75%, Dudley said he viewed the neutral real interest rate to be around 1%, suggesting rates would need to rise to around 3% for monetary policy to reach a neutral level that is neither overly stimulative nor restrictive. |
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| | Thursday newspaper round-up: Housing, Porsche, Bank of England, oil | | Rogue landlords should have their properties confiscated by local councils, according to a cross-party report from MPs into Britain’s private rented sector. Current financial penalties are “meaningless” in deterring the worst, criminal offenders among landlords, according to the housing, communities and local government committee. - Guardian A Labour government would rip up the government’s definition of affordable housing and instead bring in a measure linked to people’s incomes, Jeremy Corbyn will say on Thursday. A report, Housing for the Many, accuses ministers of stretching the term affordable to breaking point to include homes let at up to 80% of market rents - more than £1,500 a month in some areas - and homes for sale up to £450,000. - Guardian Amazon revealed it has exceeded 100 million paid Prime subscribers, the first time the internet giant has provided a figure for users of the service. Chief executive Jeff Bezos, in his annual shareholder letter, said Amazon shipped more than five billion items with Prime worldwide last year and said more people were signing up for its paid-for service than ever before. - Telegraph German police carried out raids at Porsche on Wednesday as investigations into the “dieselgate” emissions rigging scandal widened to include senior figures at the performance car maker. Three suspects targeted in the raids have not been named but prosecutors said that they included a Porsche board member, a senior manager and an ex-employee. German press this evening said that the car maker’s R&D chief, Michael Steiner, was the executive being investigated. - Telegraph The Bank of England was “three months late” in cracking down on consumer credit, one of its most senior policymakers said yesterday. Martin Taylor, who is on the Bank’s financial policy committee and is a former chief executive of Barclays, revealed to MPs how he had been more hawkish than his colleagues over the rapid rise in credit card debt, car loans and personal loans in 2016. - The Times Cotton buds, plastic drinking straws and other single-use plastics could be banned from sale in England next year in the next phase of the campaign to try to halt the pollution of the world’s rivers and oceans. Theresa May hopes to use the announcement to encourage the Commonwealth heads of government to join the fight as the meeting opens formally on Thursday. - Guardian The price of oil hit its highest level in three and a half years yesterday, after American figures showed that the market had tightened more than expected and Saudi Arabia signalled that it wished to see prices rise to $80 or $100 per barrel. The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international benchmark contract, rose by 2 per cent to $73.12, up more than $1.54, after figures from the US Energy Information Administration showed an unexpectedly big fall in American stockpiles of oil. - The Times Small businesses providing childcare may need the government’s help to stay afloat. Providers are suffering a financial shortfall from a government scheme that provides 30 hours of free care for eligible three and four-year- olds, a report by the Federation of Small Businesses concluded. - The Times Creditors of Ariadne Capital, the investment business founded by Julie Meyer, have been asked if they would be willing to fund a possible legal action to challenge allegedly suspicious transactions involving the business. Administrators of the investment firm, which collapsed in December, are seeking legal advice to explore “potential claims” concerning the sale of Ariadne Capital assets to a related party in 2016 and possible discrepancies in the company’s finances. - The Times A financial technology company backed by billionaire Sir Richard Branson has become the first non-bank to gain access to a crucial part of the UK's payments infrastructure as it battles to compete with big banks. Money transfer start-up TransferWise, which is also backed by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin and has protested against the "wrongness" of hidden bank fees in the past, was granted access to the Bank of England's real-time payment systems on Wednesday. - Telegraph Metro Bank is facing a growing shareholder rebellion over payments made by the lender to an architecture firm run by its chairman’s wife. Investment adviser Glass Lewis has joined asset manager Royal London in setting out their opposition to the re-election of the bank’s chairman Vernon Hill at next week’s annual general meeting. - Telegraph Hammerson and Intu are both facing bills of upwards of £10m after a deal to combine the two companies in a £3.4bn tie-up collapsed on Wednesday. The two companies are understood to have spent a substantial amount on fees for advisors, lawyers and bankers, although the true cost of the deal is only likely to be known in the coming months. - Telegraph | | | | To advertise in the Euro Markets Bulletin please contact advertise@advfn.com |
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