Highlights of the Day
Asian Markets
Asian markets declined on Wednesday as a sell-off in U.S. and European markets weighed on sentiment during the Asian trading session. The political crisis in Italy took center stage, with investors concerned over its implications for the rest of the euro zone. |
U.S. Markets
U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday, with the US 30 down nearly 400 points as traders reacted to fresh political drama in Italy after a three-day weekend. |
Today's News
Evraz said it will seek shareholders’ approval in order to guarantee its unit obligations under a contract and avoid paying fees. Evraz Mezhdurechensk, a unit of the company, is currently incurring penalties of RUB1 million per day, approximately $16,000, for each of the nine contracts it signed in December, due to its inability to guarantee contract obligations.
Bodycote forecasted better-than-expected full-year profit and said it would pay a special dividend of 25 pence after growth at its automotive and industrial business helped it post a 7% rise in revenue for the first four months of 2018. The company, which heat-treats a wide range of metals from jet engine turbine blades to car parts, said group revenue rose 7% to £243m for the four months to April 30, with an 9% increase at its automotive and industrials-focused business, AGI.
Phoenix Group Holdings launched a £950m capital raising to help fund its £1.97bn purchase of Standard Life Aberdeen’s insurance arm. Seven new shares for every 15 existing shares in the company would be issued at 518p each. The issue price represented a 25.1% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price of 691p share, calculated by reference to their closing price yesterday, the company said.
B&M European Value reported a 25% rise in full-year profit, saying its good valued products were wining over customers in a difficult economic environment. The fast-growing company, which finished the year with 576 B&M stores, reported profit before tax of £229.3m for the 53 weeks to end-March on sales of £2.98bn, up 22.4%.
Cash Shell Derriston Capital PLC confirmed the acquisition of an investment vehicle of former WPP PLC boss Martin Sorrell, with Sorrell to be executive chairman of “a company that aims to build a multi-national communication services business focused on growth”, with more than £200m at its disposal.
Royal Bank of Scotland said its chief financial officer has resigned from his role and that it will start looking for a successor immediately. The effective date of departure for Ewen Stevenson, who is also resigning as executive director, will be confirmed in due course. Stevenson resigned to take up an opportunity elsewhere, the bank said.
AstraZeneca’s first respiratory biological medicine Fasenra failed to meet its main target in a second clinical trial treating patients with moderate to very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However AstraZeneca, received more positive trial data for its Imfinzi cancer treatment earlier on this week which continues to send the share price higher. The company said that there was a “clinically-meaningful improvement” in patients receiving Imfinzi compared to those on the placebo.
Oil Prices inched down on Wednesday amid concerns that Saudi Arabia and Russia will pump more crude in the second half of the year in response to falling global crude inventories and rising consumer prices.
Gold Prices fell Wednesday as US stocks turned in one of the worst performances of the year. Political turmoil in Italy is generating concerns about the long-term health of the euro zone. European markets were hammered, leading to big losses on Wall Street.
Companies Reporting this week
| Day |
Companies |
| Monday: |
– |
| Tuesday: |
– |
| Wednesday: |
Telford Homes |
| Thursday: |
FirstGroup * Johnson Matthey |
| Friday: |
– |
Early Market Movements
| UK 100 |
7,634.1 |
+1.4 |
+0.0% |
| UK 250 |
20,728.8 |
-18.0 |
-0.1% |
| GER 30 |
12,692.2 |
+25.7 |
+0.2% |
| FRA 40 |
5,419.7 |
-18.4 |
-0.3% |
| U.S. 30 |
24,361.45 |
-391.64 |
-1.6% |
| U.S. 500 |
2,689.86 |
-31.47 |
-1.2% |
| OIL (Crude) |
75.30 |
-0.09 |
-0.1% |
| GOLD |
1,296.37 |
-2.4 |
-0.2% |
UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)
| Company |
Price |
Change |
% Change |
| NMC Health |
3696 |
+66 |
+1.8% |
| Johnson Matthey |
3417 |
+38 |
+1.1% |
| Bodycote |
978.5 |
+53.5 |
+5.8% |
| Glencore |
364.5 |
-6.35 |
-1.7% |
| London Stock Exchange Group |
4428 |
-52 |
-1.2% |
| Go Ahead Group |
1762.5 |
-76.5 |
-4.2% |
Latest Broker Views
| Company |
Broker |
Recommendation |
Price |
Target |
| Royal Mail |
Barclays |
Overweight |
516.8 |
630 |
| Centamin |
RBC Capital |
Outperform |
121.05 |
160 |
| Dunelm |
JP Morgan |
Neutral |
545 |
620 |
| Greencore |
Berenberg |
Buy |
180.9 |
230 |
Forthcoming Economic Data
Forthcoming Economic Data
| Time/Date |
Previous |
Forecast |
Outcome |
| All Day: German Prelim CPI m/m |
0.0 |
0.3 |
– |
| 1.15pm: US ADP Non-Farm Employment Change |
204k |
191k |
– |
| 1.30pm: US Prelim GDP q/q |
2.3% |
2.3% |
– |
|
Sources:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-astrazeneca-fasenra/astrazeneca-drug-fasenra-fails-to-achieve-main-goal-in-copd-trial-idUKKCN1IV0M3
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-rbs-cfo/royal-bank-of-scotlands-chief-financial-officer-resigns-idUKKCN1IV0IR?il=0
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/5989812/Phoenix-Group-launches-pound950m-capital-raising-for-Standard-Life-Aberdeen-deal.html
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1527662003335410300.html