Highlights of the Day
Asian Markets
Asian shares were weaker as investors stayed on the sideline before the release of a raft of economic data due later this week. Markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Taipei were closed on a holiday.
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U.S. Markets
U.S. futures posted mild gains in holiday-thinned trade on Monday, ahead of a heavy week on the data front including consumer-confidence and nonfarm-payrolls numbers. |
Today's News
The RBS Shareholders Action Group confirmed that it had reached a settlement deal with the bank’s legal representatives, following claims RBS had misled the group about its financial well-being during the financial crisis of 2008. The investors group, which is made up of 9,000 shareholders, accepted an offer of 82p per share, which is nearly double the original offer made by the bank.
Anglo American said it had completed the sale of its 83.33% interest in the Dartbrook coal mine located in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia, to Australian Pacific Coal. Dartbrook consists of an underground thermal coal mine and associated processing infrastructure that has been on care and maintenance since 2006, Anglo said.
British Airways is now operating a full flight schedule after an IT failure saw the airline cancel thousands of flights over the bank holiday weekend. “Our IT systems are now back up and running and we will be operating a full flight schedule at Heathrow and Gatwick,” the airline said. But it warned it “may take some time” to reunite travellers with their bags. BA chief executive Alex Cruz earlier blamed a power surge for the disruption which affected 75,000 people.
London Stock Exchange Group has struck a deal to buy a fixed income analytics platform and family of fixed income indices from US bank Citigroup’s for $685m (£535m) cash. Looking to strengthen its information services division, the LSE Group said buying The Yield Book and Citi Fixed Income Indices would improve its fixed-income range and offer deeper data and analytics services.
BT is considering closing its defined-benefit pension scheme, the latest former state-owned business to close – or move to close – so-called “gold-plated” retirement plans for existing employees. It comes as the telecoms group prepares to enter negotiations with pension trustees about the future funding of the scheme from next month.
Ryanair expects its fares will fall further this year, although the drop will be less steep than in 2016. The airline said fares would fall by between 5% and 7% in the year to the end of March 2018, down from a fall of 13% in the past financial year.
Despite the weaker pricing, it reported a record net profit of €1.316bn euros for 2017, as passenger numbers rose.
CLS Holdings said it had bought a multi-let office property in Dortmund, Germany, for €35.6m (£30.8m) after costs from an unnamed US investment manager. The property has a diversified tenant base which provides a stable income from 15 tenants and a weighted average unexpired lease term of 3.3 years. The transaction will be financed with existing cash resources and debt from a local German bank, CLS said.
Oil prices were steady as strong start to the summer driving season in the United States supported U.S. crude prices, but persistent concerns about oversupply continued to fester.
Gold up to touch a one-month high, with investors turning to the safe-haven asset as geopolitical tensions sapped their appetite for risk
Companies Reporting this week
Day |
Companies |
Today: |
Ryanair Holdings * Kainos Group * Horizon Discovery Group * Renold |
Tomorrow: |
Telford Homes * LondonMetric Property |
Thursday: |
Johnson Matthey * Firstgroup * Watkin Jones * Immupharma |
Friday: |
KCOM Group |
Early Market Movements
Market |
Index |
Change |
% Change |
UK 100 |
7,502.1 |
-45.6 |
-0.6% |
UK 250 |
19,961.9 |
-63 |
-0.3% |
GER 30 |
12,582.1 |
-46.9 |
-0.4% |
FRA 40 |
5,280.6 |
-51.9 |
-1.0% |
U.S. 30 |
21,080.28 |
-2.67 |
-0.0% |
U.S. 500 |
2,415.8 |
+0.8 |
+0.0% |
OIL (BRENT) |
52.05 |
-0.24 |
-0.5% |
GOLD |
1,268.58 |
+0.48 |
+0.0% |
UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)
Company |
Price |
Change |
% Change |
Countryside Properties |
335.8 |
+9.7 |
+3.0% |
Whitbread |
4265 |
+23 |
+0.5% |
TUI |
1174 |
+5 |
+0.4% |
International Consolidated Airlines Group |
588.5 |
-25.5 |
-4.2% |
Mediclinic |
785 |
-31 |
-3.8% |
Euromoney Institutional Investor |
1175 |
-32 |
-2.7% |
Latest Broker Views
Company |
Broker |
Recommendation |
Price |
Target |
Brewin Dolphin Holdings |
Peel Hunt |
Buy |
331.65 |
390.00 |
Lonmin |
Peel Hunt |
Sell |
85.75 |
70.00 |
Legal & General Group |
Deutsche Bank |
Hold |
242.65 |
255.00 |
RPC Group PLC |
Credit Suisse |
Outperform |
840.75 |
1,175.00 |
Forthcoming Economic Data
Time/Date |
Previous |
Forecast |
Outcome |
12:30pm: U.S. Core PCE Price Index m/m |
-0.1% |
0.1% |
– |
12:30pm: U.S. Personal Spending m/m |
0.0% |
0.4% |
– |
2:00pm: U.S. CB Consumer Confidence |
120.3 |
120.1 |
– |
Sources:
https://www.digitallook.com/news/m-a/cls-holdings-buys-dortmund-property-for-euro356m–2695064.html
https://uk.reuters.com/article/global-precious-idUKL3N1IW0HE
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil-idUSKBN18Q01B
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-inch-higher-ahead-of-packed-data-week-2017-05-29
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/world-shares-muted-investors-await-raft-economic-data-477003
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/30/bt-considering-closing-defined-benefit-pensions-scheme-for-existing-staff
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-40090360
https://www.digitallook.com/news/m-a/anglo-american-completes-sale-of-australian-coal-mine-stake–2695007.html
https://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/lse-to-buy-citis-fixed-income-analytics-platform-and-index-family–2695084.html
https://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/rbs-shareholders-agree-to-settle-legal-dispute–2694219.html