Highlights of the Day
Asian Markets
Asian stock markets were mixed amid cautious trades following the negative lead overnight from Wall Street and as investors awaited the final votes on the U.S. tax reform bill. |
U.S. Markets
U.S. stocks fell as excitement over the likelihood of a tax code revamp was offset by concern over its effect on years of monetary policy stimulus and the future of interest rates. |
Today's News
The UK competition regulator gave final clearance to Tesco’s £3.7bn takeover of food wholesaler and cash-and-carry operator Booker Group. Tesco agreed in January to buy Booker in a cash and stock deal, a move that is hoped to bring significant savings for the grocery chain. The Competition & Markets Authority on Wednesday said that Tesco’s purchase of Booker does not raise competition concerns. It provisionally approved the deal last month.
Theresa May faces a barrage of Brexit questions as the prime minister appears before a powerful Commons committee while the government hopes to avoid fresh defeats on key EU withdrawal legislation. May is being quizzed by the Liaison Committee, which is made up of the chairmen and chairwomen of select committees, on Wednesday for the first time since the UK general election, with Brexit preparations dominating the agenda.
Senate Republicans have passed the most sweeping rewrite of the country’s tax laws in decades, but the bill is to be sent back to the House of Representatives for one more vote before it can be signed by US President Donald Trump. An early Wednesday vote by senators saw the controversial bill passed 51 to 48, as all Republicans voted in favour and all Democrats opposed. Republican Senator John McCain did not take part in the vote due to ill health.
Following an unplanned outage on the rail unloading facilities at Drax Power Station, Drax Group confirmed that biomass deliveries are currently restricted and, in order to optimise available supplies, generation on the two renewable obligation certificate (ROC) units has been reduced. The company said the two units would then be taken offline for a short period.
United Arab Emirates-focussed integrated healthcare provider NMC Health updated the market, reporting that operations during the second half have continued to perform in line with expectations.
Micro Focus International said John Schultz had left its board and would be replaced by an independent non-executive director. The business software company said Schultz had stepped down immediately. After his recent appointment as chief legal officer at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) he needs to concentrate on his new job and Micro Focus requires a more independent director, Micro Focus said.
Embattled Carillion has negotiated an earlier start date for new chief executive, Andrew Davies, who will now begin work more than two months before he was expected. The construction and outsourcing company, which last month released its third profit warning this year, had anticipated the former BAE Systems executive to start work on 2 April when it announced his appointment in late October.
Gold inched higher in quiet trade as the dollar held steady on expectations the U.S. government would pass the country’s biggest tax overhaul in 30 years.
Oil Prices inched up, supported by expectations of a fall in U.S. crude inventories and by the ongoing outage of the North Sea Forties pipeline system.
Companies Reporting this week
Day |
Companies |
Today: |
No Companies Reporting |
Tomorrow: |
No Companies Reporting |
Friday: |
No Companies Reporting |
Early Market Movements
Market |
Index |
Change |
% Change |
UK 100 |
7,540.8 |
-3.3 |
-0.0% |
UK 250 |
20,328.0 |
-13.5 |
-0.1% |
GER 30 |
13,247.1 |
+31.3 |
+0.2% |
FRA 40 |
5,374.2 |
-8.7 |
-0.2% |
U.S. 30 |
24,754.75 |
-37.45 |
-0.2% |
U.S. 500 |
2,681.5 |
-8.7 |
-0.3% |
OIL (BRENT) |
63.96 |
+0.16 |
+0.3% |
GOLD |
1,263.86 |
+2.16 |
+0.2% |
UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)
Company |
Price |
Change |
% Change |
Easyjet |
1439 |
+23 |
+1.6% |
Next |
4306 |
+68 |
+1.6% |
Carillion |
17.125 |
+0.9 |
+5.4% |
Barratt Developments |
640.5 |
-5.5 |
-0.9% |
CRH |
2581 |
-19 |
-0.7% |
Drax |
256.45 |
-19.95 |
-7.2% |
Latest Broker Views
Company |
Broker |
Recommendation |
Price |
Target |
Burberry |
Societe Generale |
Hold |
1761 |
1845 |
Carnival |
UBS |
Buy |
5015 |
5500 |
Sainsbury (J) |
Kepler Cheuvreux |
Hold |
237.3 |
252 |
Whitbread |
Berenberg |
Buy |
3887.4 |
4900 |
Forthcoming Economic Data
Time/Date |
Previous |
Forecast |
Outcome |
2:15pm: Bank of England Governor Carney Speaks |
– |
– |
– |
4:00pm: U.S. Existing Home Sales |
5.48m |
5.53m |
– |
4:30pm: U.S. Crude Oil Inventories |
-5.1m |
-3.6m |
– |
Sources
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/asian-markets-mixed-amid-cautious-trades-20171219-01153
https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-stocks/us-stocks-wall-st-eases-as-investors-look-past-tax-revamp-idUSL1N1OJ1X8
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-global-oil/oil-edges-up-on-north-sea-pipeline-outage-lower-u-s-crude-stocks-idUKKBN1EE03T
https://in.reuters.com/article/global-precious/gold-prices-edge-up-in-quiet-trade-idINKBN1EE04H
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1513756263962735200.html
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1513752645302459400.html
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1513751839742442100.html
https://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/carillion-wangles-earlier-start-for-new-ceo–3038830.html
https://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/drax-group-to-take-10m-hit-amid-unplanned-power-station-outage–3038796.html
https://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/nmc-health-expands-strategy-as-growth-continues–3038794.html
https://www.digitallook.com/news/news-and-announcements/micro-focus-says-hpes-john-schultz-has-quit-board–3038816.html