Today's Closing Update

U.S. Shares opened higher today after data showed U.S. employers hired more workers than expected in July and also raised wages, signaling labor market tightness.

 

European and U.K. Shares inched higher as investors focused on a raft of mixed company results with insurance firm Swiss Re hit after missing profit estimates.

 

US non-farm payrolls increased by 209,000 last month, with revisions to data for the previous two months adding 2,000 more people, according to the Department of Labor. The jobless rate fell to 4.3% even as the labour-force participation rate edged up from 62.8% to 62.9%. Economists had forecast 183,000 new jobs and a one tenth of a percentage point dip in the unemployment rate from 4.4% in June to 4.3%.

 

GlaxoSmithKline is studying a possible bid for US rival United Therapeutics. If the report isaccurate, the company would be up against rival suitors such as Gilead Sciences and Novartis. Four out of five of the products marketed by the US company were treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension, with the other designed for use by pediatric cancer patients.

 

British Airways and Easyjet have warned customers to expect longer queues at immigration control points across European airports. Both airlines told their customers departing from European airports on flights to the UK to “allow extra time” for their journey through the airports due to extra checks being carried out on arriving and departing customers. A spokesman for the airline lobby group, Airlines for Europe, told the BBC: “it seems the governments – especially in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium – underestimated the situation of many passengers going through tighter passport checks and have not provided a sufficient amount of border control officers.”

 

Petrofac said it had won a $2bn contract over just under four years from Oman’s Duqm Refinery & Petrochemical Industries. In a joint venture with technology giant South Korean Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, will work an a 47-month oil refinery project to provide engineering, procurement, construction and commission, training and start-up operations for all utilities and offsites at Duqm. The development in the Duqm economic zone in Oman occupies more than 2,000 acres of land and, when completed, the refinery will have a capacity to produce about 230,000 barrels of oil per day.

 

Jardine Strategic Holdings has reported that, for the six months to 30th June, underlying profit rose 19% to $787m, and underlying earnings per share were up 21% at $1.35. The revenue of the Group for the first six months of 2017 was 9% higher at $15.6bn, while revenue, including 100% of Jardine Matheson, associates and joint ventures, was up 10% at $38.1bn.

 

Oil Prices pared early losses to trade higher, with U.S. crude remaining below $50 per barrel, restrained by rising output from the United States as well as producer club OPEC.

 

Gold fell after better than expected U.S. jobs data boosted the beleaguered dollar, clearing the way for the Federal Reserve to announce next month a plan to start shrinking its balance sheet.

Market Close

Market Index Change % Change
UK 100 7,511.7 +36.9% +0.5%
UK 250 19,969.7 +61.5 +0.3%
GER 30 12,302.8 +148.1 +1.2%
FRA 40 5,203.8 +73.3 +1.4%
U.S. 30 22,065.92 +39.82 +0.2%
U.S. 500 2,476.5 +4.3 +0.2%
OIL (BRENT) 52.30 +0.29 +0.6%
GOLD 1,256.94 -11.66 -0.9%

UK Risers & Fallers

Company Price Change % Change
Petrofac 483.1 +38.9 +8.8%
Merlin 489.4 +26.6 +5.7%
Mediclinic International 756 +29.5 +4.1%
Centamin 155.1 -11.5 -6.9%
Barratt Developments 589 -29 -4.7%
Persimmon 2464 -102 -4.0%

Reported Economic Data

Time/Date Previous Forecast Outcome
1:30pm: U.S. Non-Farm Employment Change 222k 182k 209k
1:30pm: U.S. Unemployment Rate 4.4% 4.3% 4.3%

 

 

 

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