| X1 Chatham Waters is a new waterfront buy-to-let opportunity in London's commuter belt, 45 minutes from London St Pancras. High-specification apartments start from £205,000. Pay only 10% on exchange. Enquire today! | | | London open: Stocks nudge lower ahead of EU summit; Kingfisher hit by downgrade | | | | | London stocks nudged lower at the open on Black Friday as investors eyed this weekend's EU summit in what was shaping up to be a fairly quiet end to a busy week. At 0835 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.1% to 6,954.04, while the pound was off 0.1% against the dollar at 1.2860 and 0.2% lower versus the euro at 1.1271, having surged on Thursday after the UK and EU agreed on a framework for the future trade relationship between the two. "As a result, the prospect of a special EU Summit remains on the table for this Sunday, however the potential for problems remains high given some vocal opposition to some elements of the deal from Spain, France and other EU countries," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson. "Irrespective of all that, none of it changes the fact that MPs on both sides of the Brexit divide in the House of Commons hate it, and for all the optimism of Prime Minister May about the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration, on the current arithmetic there still seems little chance of it getting voted through the UK Parliament." In terms of sectors, miners were the biggest drag, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto, Glencore and BHP all in the red as copper prices declined. With little going on in terms of corporate releases, broker notes provided much of the action. B&Q owner Kingfisher was hit by a downgrade to 'neutral' from Goldman Sachs, while education publisher Pearson retreated as Shore Capital cut it to 'hold'. Fashion retailer Ted Baker was the worst performer on the FTSE 250 as Jefferies slashed its price target to 1,950p from 2,700p. However, Ibstock surged to the top of the 250 as it announced the sale of its US brick making unit Glen-Gery to Brickworks Limited for an enterprise value of $110m and use the proceeds to pay off debt. The company also said it still expected to deliver adjusted operating profits of £121-125m for the year to end-December, assuming a full year 2018 contribution from Glen-Gery. Ibstock was also given a leg up from an upgrade to 'buy' at Peel Hunt. Hastings Group was a high riser after an upgrade to 'overweight' at Barclays, while CYBG was boosted by upgrades to 'buy' and 'neutral' at Citi and Credit Suisse, respectively and Vesuvius benefited from an upgrade to 'buy' at HSBC. Burberry was just a touch higher after an upgrade to 'hold' at Kepler Cheuvreux, after the fashion house's better-than-expected first-half earnings. Elsewhere, Indivior was little changed despite some much-needed good news, as it said regulators in Canada approved its new long-lasting treatment for opioid addiction. Health Canada gave the green light to Sublocade, an extended-release buprenorphine injection, for the management of moderate to severe opioid use disorder in adults. | | | | | Are you looking for a profitable trading strategy? Do you have 20 minutes a day to follow this strategy? Yes! Then you need to watch this session. In fact for the past 6 months this strategy has been averaging +1275 pips per month! Book A Free Place To Find Out More | | | | Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers| Sponsored by Interactive Investor | 
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| | | | | Trade the Way You Want, Hassle-Free Find out more on Stratton Markets and claim 200 FREE PlusOneCoins. Click here. | | | US close: Markets mixed as tech stocks take a breather | | | | | Wall Street finished Wednesday’s session on a mixed note, after a day in which the major US indices tried to bounce back from heavy losses witnessed earlier in the week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.004% at 24,464.69, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 2,649.93 and the Nasdaq 100 was 0.75% higher at 6,576.66. On Tuesday, the Dow slumped more than 550 points and the Nasdaq lost just under 120 points, adding to Monday's heavy losses and cementing the worst start to Thanksgiving week trading since 1973 for both indices. Losses were being sparked by a range of concerns including everything from the US-Sino trade tensions, the Federal Reserve's hiking interest rates quicker than some wanted, haemorrhaging oil prices and a sell-off in tech stocks, according to Jasper Lawler, a market analyst at London Capital Group. “Caught amongst all these fears is the bottom line that investors are bracing themselves for a significant slowdown in economic and corporate growth,” he said. “Whilst the economy is still doing well right now, particularly in the US, the phenomenal corporate results of previous years are expected to slow considerably.” On the data front, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, to their highest level since June, according to data from the Labor Department. US initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 from the previous week's revised level to 224,000, versus expectations for a drop to 215,000. The previous week's level was revised up by 5,000. Meanwhile, the four-week moving average came in at 218,500, up 2,000 from the previous week's level, which was revised up by 1,250 to 216,500. The four-week average is considered more reliable as it smooths out sharp fluctuations in the more volatile weekly figures, giving a more accurate picture of the health of the labour market. Elsewhere, orders for goods made to last more than three years plummeted in October amid sharp drops in those for both civilian and military aircraft, although the underlying data was stronger. According to the US Department of Commerce, total durable goods orders fell in October by 4.4% month-on-month to reach $248.52bn, compared to consensus expectations for a 2.1% drop. They were weighed down by a 21.4% fall in non-defense aircraft and parts to $10.5bn and a 59.3% drop in defence aircraft and parts to $4.71bn. Home sales rose a touch in October, snapping a six-month decline, but a continued weakness in the housing market left realtors begging the Federal Reserve to pump the brakes on its interest rate hikes. The National Association of Realtors revealed that existing home sales had risen 1.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.22m units last month. Although that figure was a slight improvement on the 5.15m-unit pace recorded back in September, it remained 5.1% lower year-on-year, making it the sharpest 12-month drop since July 2014. "Demand is being choked off by higher interest rates," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said. "Maybe the Federal Reserve can take a little pause in their interest rate hikes to give the chance for the housing market to be on firmer ground." Finally, US consumer sentiment dropped more than expected in November, with Americans' views about the economy deteriorating amid rising interest rates and slumping stocks. The sentiment index dropped to 97.5, the lowest level since August, from the prior month’s 98.6, according to a University of Michigan report Wednesday. Economists expected a reading of around 98.3. In corporate news, Deere picked up 2.43% despite the machinery maker's fourth-quarter earnings and revenue missing expectations. Meanwhile, Apple reversed earlier gains to fall 0.11% after it attempted to stem recent falls to its stock price, following a report that Foxconn Technology - the biggest assembler of iPhones - was planning to cut 20 billion yuan from its expenses next year. Bloomberg cited an internal company memo as saying that the company faces "a very difficult and competitive year". "Apple's valuation now looks impressively discounted given its growing Services revenues," said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com. Foot Locker leapt 14.91% after it beat the Street on third-quarter profits and Autodesk shares surged 9.74% after its earnings, sales and outlook all came in ahead of expectations. | | | | | THE DOWNTURN MILLIONAIRE MASTERCLASS Master the skill to making money in a market crash... in less than 60 minutes ***Attendance is FREE for a limited time*** GO HERE TO GET YOUR TICKET NOW
Capital at risk. Results are not guaranteed. | | | Friday newspaper round-up: Brexit, BoE, Flybe, Berkeley, water companies | | | | | Theresa May warned MPs that the public wanted Brexit “settled” as she faced bitter opposition from her own party to her EU exit deal yesterday. The prime minister presented the draft agreement on a future relationship with Europe to a largely hostile Commons after closing a 17-month negotiation earlier than expected. - The Times ...Iain Duncan Smith, Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab led the demands for a rethink as May faced MPs in a two-and-half-hour session on Thursday, in which the prime minister insisted that a final Brexit deal “is now within our grasp”. But in Europe, Germany said it was time to “put a lid on this pot” and conclude the deal at Sunday’s Brexit summit, while the EU prepared to lay out future negotiating demands over fisheries. - Guardian The UK has been accused by Spain of “treachery” and acting “under the cover of darkness” in an escalation of a war of words over the future of Gibraltar that risks derailing Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Marco Aguiriano, Spain’s secretary of state for the EU, said on Thursday that his government could “stop the clock” on the negotiations and force May and the other EU leaders to come back in December unless it gets its way in the next 48 hours. - Guardian Virgin Atlantic has opened talks with the ailing regional airline Flybe, which recently put itself up for sale amid mounting losses, according to reports last night. The transatlantic airline backed by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is interested in Britain’s biggest regional airline in an attempt to better connect long-haul operations with smaller UK airports. - Telegraph The Bank of England’s policy armoury may become blunter as the population ages because older people with little debt are less affected by changes in interest rates, a ratesetter has warned. Michael Saunders, an external member of the nine-strong monetary policy committee, said that the Bank would need to be “more active” on rates in future as the transmission mechanism becomes “less powerful”. - The Times One of the most powerful figures in the housebuilding industry was accused of bribing a partner at a leading estate agency, according to legal documents in a claim brought by a former finance boss. The allegations against Tony Pidgley, the founder and chairman of Berkeley Group, were made by Nicolas Simpkin, who was dismissed as finance director in September 2014. - The Times Consumers face paying half a billion pounds more than expected for the rollout of smart meters and the programme has no chance of hitting its deadline, the UK’s spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office said that with 39m old-fashioned meters yet to be replaced, there is “no realistic prospect” of meeting a goal of all homes and businesses being offered one by the end of 2020 as planned. - Guardian The water regulator has put four of the largest suppliers on notice over their plans to prevent customers from being cut off for days on end over the winter. Thames Water, Severn Trent, Southern Water and South East Water were named by Ofwat as being under scrutiny after 200,000 customers were cut off during the “beast from the east” storms in March. - The Times An “astonishing” number of IT meltdowns at banks and other financial institutions has prompted MPs to launch an inquiry. The Treasury committee is publishing a call for evidence on the common causes of computer and systems failures at financial services businesses, which can affect millions of customers and put their earnings, savings and investments at risk. - The Times Struggling retailers are hoping for a boost from this year’s Black Friday, with as much as £1.5bn expected to be spent online alone on one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Britons are expected to spend £10.4bn in total over the US-inspired event which for some retailers now lasts almost a fortnight - 3.1% more than in 2017, according to analysts at GlobalData. - Guardian Advertisers should boycott technology companies such as Facebook and Google until they show they are serious about tackling the “scandal” of online terrorist material, MPs said yesterday. The abundance of extremist content online was a “disgrace” and had been a key factor in atrocities including the Manchester bombing, the intelligence and security committee concluded. - The Times Jaguar Land Rover has unveiled an updated version of its Range Rover Evoque that will be built in Britain, in what the company said was a demonstration of its "commitment" to UK manufacturing. The new “baby” Range Rover will be built at the company’s Halewood plant on Merseyside, and the company said it has invested £1bn into the vehicle across its design, R&D, engineering and manufacturing. - Telegraph Merlin Entertainments has opened its first Dungeon attraction in China — but without the blood, gore and torture usually associated with the brand. The new openings lift Merlin’s Chinese presence to 11 attractions and further expansion is in the pipeline. - The Times The number of young Britons not in education, employment or training has fallen to its lowest level on record. Official figures for “Neets”, a group once branded as “dropouts”, fell to 760,000 in the three months to September, according to the Office for National Statistics. This was the lowest level since records began in 2001. They accounted for 10.9 per cent of all Britons aged between 16 and 24, a historic low. - The Times As any saver knows, interest rates can go up as well as down. But they normally do so in conjunction with the economic cycle, and not with the physical activity of the account holder. Now, a Ukrainian bank is offering better rates of interest to customers who prove they are taking 10,000 steps every day, as part of efforts to make its clientele not just richer, but healthier at the same time. - Guardian The United Arab Emirates has said it wants to reach an amicable conclusion to the dispute over the British academic Matthew Hedges, who was jailed for life on espionage charges this week. The apparent change in tone, viewed as a possible precursor to an act of clemency, came after the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, warned of serious diplomatic consequences if Hedges was not released, and followed a torrent of cross-party British criticism accusing the UAE courts of a miscarriage of justice. - Guardian | |
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