Highlights of the Day
Asian Markets
A day after Asian stocks sank after the Trump administration announced $200 billion in new tariffs against Chinese goods, markets strongly rebounded in early trading, with investors around the region apparently gaining optimism from a 1%-plus bounce by Chinese indexes. |
U.S. Markets
U.S. stocks plunged after President Donald Trump unveiled new tariffs on Chinese goods. President Trump published a list of Chinese goods he will give a tariff of 10% on, which are worth a total of £151 billion. |
Today's News
Glencore faces at least two lawsuits by U.S. shareholders accusing the big Anglo-Swiss mining company of having made false and misleading disclosures before it received a subpoena in a corruption probe, and its stock tumbled. The lawsuits were filed on Monday with the U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey, and on Wednesday after market hours with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Dart Group has reported a 49% jump in full-year profits and said its current year profit will substantially exceed market expectations as holiday demand has strengthened in the UK. The owner of airline and tour operator Jet2 saw its pre-tax profit increase to £134.6mln for the year ended March 31 2018, up from £90.1mln a year earlier boosted by foreign exchange gains and as it took more people on holiday.
Computacenter said it expects full-year performance would be ‘comfortably’ ahead of previous expectations following a ‘strong’ start to the year. The company said momentum had continued in the second quarter of the year within its supply chain business across all geographies, led by solid performance in Germany. Adjusted profits improved in the six months of trading to 30 June 2018, the company added.
Dunelm said total like-for-like sales were broadly flat in the final quarter of the last financial year, rising just 0.1% as like-for-like store sales fell 4.6% amid weak footfall. For the 12 months to 30 July, store like-for-like sales rose 1% to £805m and online sales grew 37.9% to £105.4m, resulting in total like-for-likes of £910.4m, up 4.2 %.
ASOS said it was on track to make analysts’ forecasts for full-year profit, although sales growth for its latest trading period came in short of market expectations. While ASOS and online peer Boohoo continue to report robust sales growth, Britain’s traditional bricks and mortar clothing retailers like Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and House of Fraser are struggling and closing stores.
Capita expects to raise more than £400m ($528m) from non-core asset disposals in 2018, £100m ahead of its previous target. The company, which raised £701m from investors in May after a series of profit warnings, agreed on Thursday to sell its parking management business, ParkingEye, for £235m.
Premier Oil’s board has approved its Tolmount gas project in the UK North Sea ahead of a final investment decision in the third quarter and the company also expects to start drilling on a first well in Mexico in the fourth quarter. Both projects are crucial to Premier’s future output growth as it has been focussing on reducing its debt pile which stood at $2.65bn (£2.01bn) at the end of last month. It expects to reduce debt by between $300m-$400m by the end of the year.
Comcast Corp raised its all-cash offer for Britain’s Sky to $34bn, topping a raised bid of $32.5bn for the pay-TV group from Rupert Murdoch’s Twenty-First Century Fox. Fox, which has been trying to buy the pan-European group since December 2016, offered to pay £14 per share, a 12% premium to Comcast’s earlier offer.
Oil Prices suffered steep falls on Wednesday after Libya said it would boost supply, even as investors fear that trade tensions will hit demand.
Gold Prices were lower and near their daily lows, the precious metal sold off in sympathy with a slumping raw commodity sector after the U.S. hit China with another volley of trade sanctions.
Companies Reporting this week
Monday: |
Centamin |
Tuesday: |
Ocado Group, Kier Group |
Wednesday: |
Micro Focus, Burberry Group, Barratt Developments |
Thursday: |
Dart Group, ASOS, Premier Oil, Dunelm Group |
Friday: |
Experian, Workspace Group |
Early Market Movements
UK 100 |
7,606.5 |
+14.5 |
+0.2% |
UK 250 |
20,669.8 |
+27.6 |
+0.1% |
GER 30 |
12,462.5 |
+45.3 |
+0.4% |
FRA 40 |
5,366.2 |
+12.3 |
+0.2% |
US 30 |
24,919.66 |
+143.07 |
+0.6% |
U.S. 500 |
2,793.84 |
+9.67 |
+0.4% |
OIL (Crude) |
74.57 |
+1.17 |
+1.6% |
GOLD |
1,244.99 |
+3.03 |
+0.2% |
UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)
Sky |
1530.5 |
+36.5 |
+2.4% |
Burberry |
2046 |
+30 |
+1.5% |
Computacenter |
1472 |
+98 |
+7.1% |
Kingfisher |
303 |
-2.8 |
-0.9% |
Smurfit Kappa |
3144 |
-20 |
-0.6% |
SIG |
125.7 |
-6.2 |
-4.7% |
Latest Broker Views
Anglo American |
HSBC |
Hold |
1659.2 |
1940 |
Reckitt Benckiser |
Jefferies |
Hold |
6451 |
6660 |
Shire |
Barclays |
Equal Weight |
4334 |
4100 |
BHP Billiton |
HSBC |
Hold |
1649.2 |
1830 |
Forthcoming Economic Data
9.30am: BOE Credit Conditions Survey |
– |
– |
– |
12.30pm: ECB Monetary Policy Meeting Accounts |
– |
– |
– |
1.30pm: US CPI m/m |
0.2% |
0.2% |
– |
Sources:
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/6049502/Dunelm-sees-profit-below-prior-year-amid-flat-life-for-like-sales-in-Q4.html
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-asos-outlook/asos-sales-growth-slows-sees-year-profit-in-line-with-forecasts-idUKKBN1K20JV?il=0
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-capita-divestiture/capita-raises-asset-sales-target-to-above-400-million-pounds-idUKKBN1K20M4?il=0
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-premieroil-results/premier-oil-approves-tolmount-gas-project-idUKKBN1K20M0?il=0
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-sky-m-a-fox/comcast-raises-bid-for-sky-to-34-billion-tops-foxs-offer-idUKKBN1K10KU