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Oct 29, 2018

Morning Euro Markets Bulletin

 
ADVFN  Morning Euro Markets Bulletin
Daily world financial news Monday, 29 October 2018 10:21:24
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London open: HSBC leads the gains ahead of Budget
FTSE 100
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London stocks rose in early trade on Monday, buoyed by a solid set of earnings from HSBC as investors eyed the Budget.

At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% to 6,980.17, while the pound was down 0.1% against the dollar at 1.2815 and flat versus the euro at 1.1253.

CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, will deliver the budget later today and dealers will be listening out for any potential change of policy regarding housing, business rates, VAT, and pension contributions. Some traders are wondering if the help-to-buy scheme will be extended, and there is chatter of higher stamp duty on foreign investors looking to purchase a property in the UK.

"There is speculation Mr Hammond could help out high street retailers by reducing business rates. Off-shore gaming companies could be targeted by higher tax. This will be the last budget before Brexit, and Mr Hammond confirmed that a 'no-deal’ Brexit would require a new budget."

Ahead of the Budget at around 1530 GMT, net lending to individuals, consumer credit and mortgage approvals are at 0930 GMT.

In corporate news, HSBC was the standout gainer as it reported stronger profit growth than expected for the third quarter as all three of the bank's main businesses enjoyed good growth and progress was made with cost cutting efforts. Profit before tax for quarter of $5.9bn was 28% higher than the same quarter last year, with adjusted PBT up 16% to $6.2bn.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: "HSBC has seen its share price decline by 19% over the last year, as compared to a 7.5% dip for the wider FTSE 100, and by 17% in the last three months alone.

"By definition, to establish sustained growth into a group of this size will be a marathon rather a sprint, but the initial reaction to these numbers suggest some signs of optimism from investors. It may require further confirmation of a positive direction, however, before the current market consensus of the shares as a hold is subject to material upgrades."

Elsewhere, Rio Tinto ticked up after saying that a non-binding 2016 agreement for Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) to acquire the company’s stake in the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea had lapsed. The miner holds 45.05% of the project, with Chinalco (39.95%) and the Guinea government 15%.

IWG was also in the green following a report that the serviced offices provider has held talks with Guy Hands - the owner of private equity firm Terra Firma - about a potential spin-off its Spaces co-working brand.

Transport operator Firstgroup advanced following a weekend press report that some of its shareholders are pushing for a breakup of the company.

On the broker note front, Just Eat was under the cosh as Peel Hunt cut its stance on the stock to 'sell' from 'buy', pointing to recent speculation of a tie-up between Uber and Deliveroo.

Metro Bank was a high riser, however, as Citi recommended buying the challenger bank after the selloff, saying growth was "still excellent".


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Market Status
 
 
change pct
-1.50%
 
cur price
6,898.91
 
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-105.19
 
 
change pct
-1.06%
 
cur price
18,335.90
 
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-195.63
 
 
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-1.16%
 
cur price
3,218.29
 
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-37.65

Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers

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# NameChange PctChangeCur Price
1International Consolidated Airlines Group +2.55%+15.00602.40
2Mediclinic International plc+1.73%+5.90346.40
3Randgold Resources+1.00%+62.006,260.00
4Marks & Spencer+0.70%+2.00286.70
5Rentokil Initial+0.48%+1.40295.20
6British American Tobacco+0.32%+11.503,619.50
7Easyjet Plc+0.30%+3.501,173.00
8Next Plc+0.19%+10.005,144.00
9Paddy Power Betfair+0.16%+10.006,395.00
10Relx Group+0.06%+1.001,553.00

Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers

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# NameChange PctChangeCur Price
1Royal Bank Of Scotland-4.22%-9.90224.60
2Johnson Matthey-4.22%-122.002,770.00
3Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust-3.43%-16.35460.10
4WPP Plc-3.40%-31.00879.80
5Micro Focus International-3.21%-40.001,205.50
6TUI AG-3.14%-41.001,265.50
7Babcock International Group-3.11%-18.60579.60
8Prudential-2.89%-43.501,463.00
9Smurfit Kappa Group-2.79%-70.002,442.00
10British Petroleum-2.76%-14.80520.70

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US close: Stocks pumeled again as tech slide contiues

Although at on point it looked like Friday's slightly better than expected US GDP reading would ease Wall Street's losses, a tech-slide – driven by Thursday night's disappointing earnings from Alphabet and Amazon – ensured that Wall Street's woes extended into another session.

By the end of trading, the Dow Jones Industrials was down by 1.19% or 296.24 points to 24,688.31, while the S&P 500 had fallen 1.73% or 46.88 points to 2,658.69 and the Nasdaq Composite was off by 2.06% at 7,167.21.

In parallel, the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was down by four basis points to 3.08%.

For the week as a whole, investors in the S&P 500 were left nursing a loss of 3.94%.

Brent also finished the week sharply lower, losing 2.9% to finish at $77.45 a barrel by the end of the trading day in London, although it was 0.142% higher for the day.

Losses for crude oil materialised as several well-known equity strategists cautioned clients that another leg lower for US stocks might lay ahead as the Federal Reserve continued to tighten policy. Nevertheless, in the case of Brent, several top-ranked analysts, including Sova Capital's Head of Quantitative Investment Strategies Group, Konstantin Brownstein, believed that it might yet set fresh highs over the course of the first half of 2019.

SpreadEx analyst Connor Campbell, said: "Dropping 400 points, the Dow Jones found itself dipping under 24,600, in doing so striking a fresh 3 and a half month low. In the end, the fact the US Q3 GDP number came in at 3.5% against the 3.3% expected meant little to investors, especially since that beat still sees growth down from Q2's 4.2%."

Earnings from tech giants Amazon and Alphabet were the main focus of the session.

Although Amazon topped analysts' earnings per share forecast for the third quarter, it fell short on revenues and guidance, while Google parent Alphabet surpassed quarterly earnings per share estimates but missed those for revenues.

Amazon's shares fell 7.82%, while those of Alphabet ended the session 2.20% lower, having managed to claw back much larger earlier losses.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "Risk aversion is alive and kicking on Friday, as weaker than expected tech earnings trigger the latest stampede and those still buying the dips once again get burned.

"Tech companies have raised the bar so high in recent years that the numbers reported by Amazon and Alphabet just weren't quite spectacular enough, not at a time when investors are a nervous wreck and fleeing for safety at the first sign of danger."

Elsewhere on the corporate front, Snapchat parent Snap Inc tumbled 11.59% at the opening bell after it said late on Thursday that users dropped more than analysts had expected in the third quarter, with daily active users set to fall again next quarter.

Shares in Colgate-Palmolive were 4.87% in the red after the release of its third-quarter numbers.

On the data front, America's economy slowed a tad less than expected in the third quarter, but investment was weak, according to some economists.

According to a preliminary estimate from the Department of Commerce, US gross domestic product expanded at a quarterly annualised pace of 3.5% over the three months to September, down from a clip of 4.2% over the previous three months.

Economists had pencilled-in growth of 3.3%.

The government said a reduction in export sales, together with increased purchases of goods and services from abroad, and a deceleration in non-residential fixed investment were the main drags on levels of activity, partly offset by a faster pace of inventory builds.

Non-residential fixed investment meanwhile, which includes outlays on equipment, structures and intellectual property, added just 0.12 points to GDP, down from 1.1% points over the three months to June.

On that note, Pooja Sriram at Barclays Research said: "The weak spot in today’s report was business fixed investment, with structures, equipment and residential investment all slowing considerably in Q3. This suggests that the corporate tax cuts have not induced much capital accumulation."

Elsewhere, US consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated a little in October, according to a final reading from the University of Michigan.

The consumer sentiment index fell to 98.6 this month from 100.1 in September and 100.7 in October 2017. It was also down from the preliminary reading of 99.0.

Meanwhile, the index of current economic conditions declined to 113.1 in October from 115.2 last month and 116.5 in October of last year.

The index of consumer expectations nudged down to 89.3 from 90.5 last month and last October.


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Monday newspaper round-up: Brexit, debt, BT, LandSec, Tesla

American companies were among consultancies paid more than £1.5 million last month to advise officials drawing up plans to implement Brexit. Figures released by the Cabinet Office reveal the extent of spending on project management fees by the teams co-ordinating the government’s response to leaving the EU. - The Times

The government is to explore the idea of zero-interest loans to help the millions of people trapped in a cycle of problem debt caused by borrowing from high-cost providers such as payday lenders. Campaigners welcomed the development, which will be unveiled by the chancellor, Philip Hammond, in the budget on Monday, but they called on the government to go further to protect low-income households from exploitative lending practices. - Guardian

Ministers would be forced to review public spending after a no-deal Brexit, Philip Hammond said yesterday as he hinted that austerity could only end if Britain remained closely tied to the EU. In provocative remarks that infuriated Brexiteers before the budget, the chancellor claimed that he would have to tear up his plans for the economy and propose a new settlement in the event of no deal in March. - The Times

The new chief executive of BT participated in a notorious “wheeze” that was used by sports stars, celebrities and financiers to illegally avoid paying £700m in tax, The Daily Telegraph can reveal. Official records show that Philip Jansen was a member of Ingenious Film Partners 2 LLP for five years between 2006 and 2011. - Telegraph

One of Britain’s biggest listed property companies is drawing up plans to build flats above and around its shopping centres in an attempt to counteract the pressure on retail property valuations. Landsec, which owns Trinity Leeds and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, is working on a rental housing strategy to see how it can increase the income at its 16 shopping centres around the country with an initial focus on its London sites. - The Times

UK ministers will face intense pressure this week to explain continued support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen in the wake of the revelations about the premeditated murder of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by allies of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Middle East minister, Alistair Burt, and the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will be separately cross-examined about Britain’s relations with Saudi Arabia in the Commons, amid reports in British newspapers that UK intelligence may have known in advance that the Saudis were preparing to kill or capture Khashoggi. - Guardian

Tesla’s second largest shareholder has said that it would be willing to plough more cash into the electric car maker, despite the controversy surrounding its founder. Baillie Gifford, the Scottish fund manager that owns nearly 8 per cent of the Silicon Valley giant, threw its weight behind Elon Musk, who recently settled a fraud case with America’s financial watchdog. - The Times

Computing giant IBM has leapfrogged rivals Amazon and Microsoft to become the largest hybrid cloud provider with a $34bn deal to buy software company Red Hat. The 107-year-old US company will pay Red Hat’s shareholders a 62pc premium for their shares in a bid to accelerate its growth into the emerging $1 trillion growth market for cloud-based computing systems. - Telegraph

The company behind the Fortnite video game has been valued at almost $15bn (£11.7bn) after receiving a $1.25bn cash injection led by the private equity firm KKR. The game, which has been described as a cross between The Hunger Games and Minecraft, has proved hugely popular since its release last year by Epic Games. - Guardian

Paperchase has plunged into the red and its earnings have halved after fewer people visited its British shops. The stationery chain’s accounts filed at Companies House show a statutory pre-tax loss of £6.3 million, compared with a profit of £613,000 the year before. Underlying earnings fell from £9 million to £4.5 million on sales up by 5.6 per cent to £131.2 million in the year to February 3. - The Times

Ryanair will come under increased pressure this week to bring in fresh leadership, as investors call for its chairman, David Bonderman, to stand down after more than 20 years. As well as calling for Bonderman to be replaced, the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF) has told the Irish airline to start planning for a successor to Michael O’Leary, who has been chief executive since 1994. - Guardian

A group of major pension funds have challenged some of the world’s biggest companies to rethink their funding of trade bodies that lobby in favour of high-polluting fossil fuels. The Church of England Pensions Board, Legal & General Investment Management, Robeco and Swedish national pension fund AP7, which together manage £2 trillion in funds, have written to 55 multinationals asking them to review their association with groups whose “lobbying positions are inconsistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement”. - Telegraph

A government health adviser who wrote a report stating that reusable containers could increase the risk of food poisoning had accepted money from plastic packaging lobbyists. David McDowell was paid by Pack2Go, a group representing convenience food packaging makers across Europe, to report on the risk from reusable coffee cups and other products. His findings have been used to lobby the government before today’s budget, which could impose a tax on single-use plastic cups. - The Times

A leading Tory donor yesterday pledged to fund an attempt by Boris Johnson to replace Theresa May as prime minister if she were to be unseated by her party. Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager, said that Mr Johnson would be an excellent leader and added that he had discussed prospects for taking over from Mrs May with the former foreign secretary. - The Times

A British start-up which helps brands to tailor mobile adverts to individual viewers using artificial intelligence has raised $17m (£13m), in the latest show of growing investor interest in the space. LoopMe operates a video software platform that inserts video adverts into mobile websites or apps based on when a consumer is most likely to be interested in or wants to buy something. - Telegraph


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