| | | | | Q2's Top 10 Stock Picks | | What trading opportunities do the next 3 months hold? Our latest quarterly stocks report unveils our Top 10 Stock Picks for Q2 as well as a review of the key Q1 stories & preview of the coming quarter's pivotal events, and analysis of the best, and worst, FTSE share price performances year to date. Losses can exceed deposits. Download Report | | |
| | London open: BP and Just Eat lead gains ahead of manufacturing data |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London stocks nudged up in early trade as investors eyed the latest reading on the manufacturing sector, although Tuesday's session was expected to be fairly quiet, with most European markets closed for Labour Day. At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was up 0.1% to 7,519.29, while the pound was 0.1% firmer against the euro at 1.1407 and flat versus the dollar at 1.3760. On the data front, Markit's manufacturing PMI is due at 0930 BST, along with the Bank of England's consumer credit, mortgage approvals and M4 money supply report at the same time. Investors will also be digesting news US President Donald Trump has given the EU, Canada, Mexico and other allies another 30-day reprieve from new steel and aluminium tariffs. The exemptions will now last until 1 June, giving the US and the exempted nations more time to work out deals. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said the May Day holiday will mean the main market reaction to Trump’s decision will be seen on Wednesday. "Meanwhile, today’s focus will be on the UK in the wake of last week’s disappointing Q1 GDP data and the latest manufacturing PMI numbers for April," he said. "This has been one area where the UK economy has been doing well in the past few months. For the last nine months we haven’t seen a reading below 55, reinforcing how resilient the sector has been. Estimates are for a modest slowdown from 55.1 in March to 54.8." He said the BoE lending data is likely to show a slight softening in the March numbers, with consumer credit slipping to £1.4bn from £1.6bn. "Mortgage approvals and net lending is also likely to have slowed given the cold weather in March, given its not exactly optimum weather for viewing properties. With the pound already under pressure ahead of next week’s Bank of England meeting and inflation report, traders in the pound will want to see some encouragement of a pick-up in the April PMI numbers this week," Hewson said. In corporate news, BP shares rose after the oil titan posted a 71% jump in profit for the first three months of 2018 as its upstream business reported its strongest quarter for more than three years. Online takeaway food marketplace Just Eat rallied as revenues rose 49% in the first quarter, fuelled by the recent acquisition of HungryHouse and its new delivery offering as it looks to outrun competition from Deliveroo and UberEats. Aviva edged higher after saying would start a £600m share buy-back as it plans to spend £2bn of excess capital. Aviva also announced plans to cut debt by £900m and spend £500m on bolt-on acquisitions. National Grid ticked up after agreeing to sell its 25% stake in Cadent Gas holding company Quadgas for £1.2bn. One of the Quadgas consortium, alongside the Qatar Investment Authority and Chinese state owned CIC Capital, is International Public Partnerships, which also said that it should incur a cost of no more than £1.5m from the collapse of Carillion on its portfolio and that there had been "no impact" on the availability at the 24 public sector facilities affected. DS Smith gained ground as the packaging business said trading in its recently-ended financial year was in line, with strong volume growth, while Jardine Lloyd Thompson advanced after saying it had made a good start to the year Challenger bank Virgin Money was on the front foot after it reported a jump in first-quarter mortgage balances, deposit balances and credit card balances, while PrimeLocation and Zoopla owner ZPG was in the black as it agreed to sell Hometrack Australia for AUD130m (£71m) in cash. British American Tobacco was under the cosh after being cut to 'neutral' from 'overweight' at Piper Jaffray and CMC Markets fell as Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to 'equalweight' from 'overweight'. Intu Properties was cut to 'underperform' from 'outperform' by Exane and Tullow Oil was downgraded to 'sector perform' from 'outperform' at RBC Capital Markets, but Compass was lifted by an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' at Jefferies. |
| | Market Analysis 01/05/2018 | | Trade Markets Your capital is at risk Today's highlights: Global markets mostly higher Wall Street closes nearly flat: The tech market pulled back on Friday, as... Read More.. |
| | Market Status | Top 10 FTSE 100 RisersTop 10 FTSE 100 Fallers |
| | Europe open: Stocks edge up in quiet trade as most markets closed for Labour Day |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | With stock markets in France, Germany, Italy and Spain all closed for the Labour Day holiday, volumes in Europe were pretty thin and trade was quiet on Tuesday. At 0930 BST, the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 index was up 0.2% to 385.32. Investors were digesting news that US President Donald Trump has given the EU, Canada, Mexico and other allies another 30-day reprieve from new steel and aluminium tariffs. The exemptions will now last until 1 June, giving the US and the exempted nations more time to work out deals. London Capital Group analyst Jasper Lawler said this is encouraging news and supports the notion that the tariffs are just a negotiating stance by Trump, who in fact has no intention of implementing them. "That said, there is still plenty of uncertainty over the US - China trading relations and the US - Iran nuclear deal to keep investors on edge. "Many markets across the globe are closed for Labour Day so trading is expected to be a trickle out of the blocks rather than anything more high impacting. Commodities are expected to remain in focus with oil prices hovering around 3 ½ year highs as Trump threatens to pull out of the international nuclear deal with Iran, unless it is renegotiated by 12th May." Corporate news was scarce, although oil giant BP was a bright spot, rising 0.7% after posting a 71% jump in profit for the first three months of 2018 as its upstream business reported its strongest quarter for more than three years. Elsewhere, Danish brewer Carlsberg was a touch higher despite saying sales in the first quarter fell 5% due to a negative currency impact and lower volumes in its key Russian market. |
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| | US close: Markets finish last day of April in the red | | Wall Street finished on a downbeat note on Monday, despite opening in the green after a profit beat at fast food giant McDonald's helped boost early sentiment, with investors spending the afternoon digesting a mixed bag of data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 0.61% at 24,163.15, while the S&P 500 lost 0.82% to 2,648.05 and the Nasdaq 100 shed 0.76% to 6,605.57. Deal news was in focus early in the day, as T-Mobile US and Sprint agreed a $26bn merger that would reduce the major US wireless providers to three from four. However, RBC Capital Markets said regulatory approval for the deal was likely to be challenging. "We believe Department of Justice staff feel vindicated in blocking the AT&T/T-Mobile merger several years ago and would want to maintain a four-player market to preserve competitive behaviour, whereas a three-player market may be susceptible to coordinated effects," RBC said. Elsewhere, refiner Marathon Petroleum agreed to buy rival Andeavor for more than $23bn in a deal that is expected to produce synergies of $1bn. Walmart was up 1.34% as its UK unit, Asda, agreed to merge with London-listed supermarket retailer Sainsbury's. David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB, said that while the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has already stated that the merger will "likely be subject to review", it appears unlikely that the deal will be blocked. "A market share in the low 30-percents is a long way from monopolistic and given the intense competition in the sector, aptly highlighted by the emergence of Lidl and Aldi, as well as the fact that the new market share will not be that much more than the one currently enjoyed by the market leader Tesco, the CMA are unlikely to stand in the way and scupper the arrangement." McDonald's gained 5.77% after menu price increases fueled higher first-quarter earnings. Arconic tanked 20.63% after cutting its full-year profit forecast, and AK Steel Holding lost 3.37% despite posting better than expected earnings. On the data front, economic activity in the Chicago area improved a touch less than expected in April, according to figures released on Monday. The MNI Chicago business barometer rose to 57.6 from 57.4 in March, snapping a three-month downward trend but still coming in below expectations for a reading of 57.9. Elsewhere, a key measure of US inflation rose to the Federal Reserve's target for the first time in a year, lifting market expectations for future US interest rate rises. Growth in March's personal consumption expenditures index picked up to 2% compared to a year ago, from a 1.7% pace in February, as economists expected. This was despite no change movement month-on-month between the headline PCE index. Core PCE inflation, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, reached 1.9% from 1.6%, in line with the market forecast, as the core PCE deflator rose 0.2% on the month. Lastly, contracts to buy previously owned homes rose less than expected in March as a lack of properties for sale held back activity for another month, according to the National Association of Realtors. The pending home sales index nudged higher to a reading of 107.6, up 0.4% from February and the second consecutive monthly rise. January's index was slightly downwardly revised to 107.2. |
| | Tuesday newspaper round-up: TSB, HBOS, Conviviality, Shire | | The embattled TSB chief executive is to face intense questioning from MPs as the bank stumbled into its second week of chaos following its catastrophic IT failure. Paul Pester, along with the bank’s chair Richard Meddings and a representative from Spanish parent group Sabadell, will be hauled in front of the Treasury committee on Wednesday to explain how TSB’s IT systems collapsed more than a week ago, and how they will compensate affected customers. – Guardian The National Crime Agency is launching a fresh probe into a multimillion-pound banking fraud at HBOS to decide if there should be a new, full-blown criminal investigation. The announcement is a setback for Lloyds Banking Group, which bought HBOS in 2008. Six individuals, including two former HBOS employers, were jailed in 2017 for committing the fraud, which centred on the Reading branch of the bank. It was described by the judge as an “utterly corrupt scheme” that left small business owners cheated, defeated and penniless. - Guardian Property investment company Urban Exposure will launch a £150m listing on London’s junior market today after shelving its previous plans to float in 2014. The Aim listing will enable the company to raise money to increase both the amount it is able to lend to housing developers, and to pick up more clients for its asset management division which looks after companies’ finances, it said. It will offer 150 million shares to investors at £1 each. - Telegraph Collapsed retailer Conviviality rejected an 11th-hour rescue deal that would have secured the final £18m needed to save the Bargain Booze owner, an investor has revealed. Crystal Amber, the Aim-listed activist investor, made a written offer to the company to help complete Conviviality’s £125m fund-raise in the days leading up to its collapse, but was rebuffed by the firm’s management. - Telegraph The former finance boss of Autonomy was facing jail last night after he was convicted of using accounting tricks to flatter the company’s finances before it was bought by Hewlett-Packard. A jury in San Francisco found Sushovan Hussain guilty on 16 counts of wire fraud in connection with allegations that he and others had duped HP and its investors before the £7 billion takeover. - The Times The founder of Shire has come out in support of a proposed takeover by a Japanese rival. Harry Stratford, 70, who launched the pharmaceuticals company from an office above a village off-licence near Basingstoke in the mid-1980s, said that a £46 billion proposal from Takeda represented a “fair price”. - The Times | | | | To advertise in the Euro Markets Bulletin please contact advertise@advfn.com |
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