Highlights of the Day
Asian Markets
Asian stock markets, with the exception of Japan, were in negative territory following the lackluster cues overnight from Wall Street and the plunge in crude oil prices. |
U.S. Markets
U.S. stocks were mixed, with the U.S.500 lower, as shares of energy companies fell alongside a decline in oil prices and as investors looked ahead to a busy week of corporate earnings results. |
Today's News
Theresa May faces a fresh Commons battle over Brexit just hours after Tory civil war pushed her customs legislation to the brink. The prime minister was hit by a late night ministerial resignation following a torrid day of Tory divisions when she “caved in” to Eurosceptic demands.
The French competition authority opened an inquiry into the strategic alliance between the UK’s biggest supermarket, Tesco, and French peer Carrefour SA. The Autorite de la councurrence launched an investigation into several jointly purchasing agreements, including Tesco’s deal with Carrefour.
Rio Tinto said its second-quarter production was “solid” across the majority of its commodities as it advanced growth projects despite labour disputes and suspended production, holding back aluminium and titanium output.
Bodycote said it would open a new heat treatment facility in the UK to support the aerospace and power generation markets in the UK and Europe. The new facility – in Rotherham, Yorkshire, – is expected to be fully operational in 2018, offering a number of heat treatment processes, with major OEM approvals expected to be secured along with Nadcap accreditation, the company said.
Dairy Crest said, its outlook for the full year remained unchanged, as trading in the first quarter had been in line with expectations. For the three months ended 30 June 2018, combined sales revenues of Dairy Crest’s four key brands – Cathedral City, Clover, Frylight and Country Life – were 6% higher than the same period last year.
Royal Mail said it was monitoring the impact of new data regulations on business customers after letter volume declines accelerated but the postal operator said on Tuesday that trading was in line with its expectations. Group underlying revenue rose 2% in the three months to 24 June.
Netflix shares plunged by more than 14% in after-hours trade, after the firm reported disappointing subscriber growth. Netflix said it added 5.2 million subscribers in the three months to the end of June, the same number it did during the period last year. The streaming service had forecast growth of 6.2 million.
British Land Group said its financial position remained ‘strong,’ as it further reduced loan-to-value to 26% but the retail market remained ‘challenging’. The company completed the sale of 5 Broadgate for £1bn, in line with book value and increased its share buybacks by £200m.
Galliford Try said it had achieved ‘strong’ performance across all three of its businesses, as expectations for the full-year remained unchanged. For the 12 months to 30 June, the company’s Linden Homes division is expected to deliver sales in line with expectations and significant margin improvements, with sales exchanged and reserved of £366m. Total completions are expected to increase 4.4% to 3,442 units from 3,296.
TalkTalk posted a jump in first-quarter revenue as customer numbers grew and the company said it was on course to add another 150,000 new customers this year. In the three months to 30 June, revenue rose 4.1% to £382m as the company added 80,000 net broadband customers
Oil Prices fell for a second day as worries about possible disruptions to supply eased and as investors focused on potential damage to global growth from the festering Sino-U.S. trade spat.
Gold Prices were steady, as the U.S. dollar remained largely unchanged ahead of U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first congressional testimony.
Companies Reporting this week
Day |
Companies |
Monday: |
– |
Tuesday: |
Galliford Try, Royal Mail, Talk Talk |
Wednesday: |
EazyJet, Severn Trent, GVC Holdings |
Thursday: |
Sports Direct, Unilever, Anglo American |
Friday: |
Acacia Mining, Beazley |
Early Market Movements
Market |
Index |
Change |
% Change |
UK 100 |
7,596.7 |
-3.8 |
-0.1% |
UK 250 |
20,796.9 |
-3.6 |
-0.0% |
GER 30 |
12,565.0 |
+4.0 |
+0.0% |
FRA 40 |
5,403.3 |
-6.1 |
-0.1% |
US 30 |
25,064.36 |
+44.95 |
+0.2% |
U.S. 500 |
2,798.43 |
-2.88 |
-0.1% |
OIL (Crude) |
71.66 |
-0.18 |
-0.3% |
GOLD |
1,242.09 |
+1.16 |
+0.1% |
UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)
Company |
Price |
Change |
% Change |
Kingfisher |
308.4 |
+3 |
+1.0% |
Persimmon |
2495 |
+21 |
+0.9% |
Talktalk |
113.95 |
+4.05 |
+3.7% |
British American Tobacco |
3843.5 |
-29 |
-0.8% |
Mediclinic |
523.6 |
-3.8 |
-0.7% |
Acacia Mining |
112.15 |
-2.1 |
-1.8% |
Latest Broker Views
Company |
Broker |
Recommendation |
Price |
Target |
Vodafone |
Deutsche Bank |
Buy |
180.86 |
275 |
Aviva |
Barclays |
Overweight |
489.4 |
581 |
St James’s Place |
Barclays |
Overweight |
1185 |
1387 |
Anglo American |
JPMorgan |
Overweight |
1640.8 |
2110 |
Forthcoming Economic Data
Time/Date |
Previous |
Forecast |
Outcome |
9.00am: BOE Governor Mark Carney Speaks |
– |
– |
– |
9.30am: U.K. Average Earnings Index 3m/y |
2.5% |
2.5% |
– |
3.00pm: U.S. Fed Chair Powell Testifies |
– |
– |
– |
Sources
https://www.reuters.com/article/global-precious/precious-gold-steadies-amid-firm-dollar-ahead-of-fed-speech-idUSL4N1UD161
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-global-oil/oil-prices-rise-from-three-month-low-as-more-norwegian-oil-workers-strike-idUKKBN1K703J
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/asian-markets-lower-japan-bucks-trend-20180716-01254
https://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-markets-shrug-off-weak-trade-in-asia-1531727850
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44854632
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-44820877
https://uk.webfg.com/news/news-and-announcements/royal-mail–3398665.html
https://uk.webfg.com/news/news-and-announcements/talktalk–3398747.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/6054835/Dairy-Crest-maintains-outlook-as-Q1-performance-meets-expectations.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/6054865/Bodycote-to-open-new-heat-treatment-facility-in-UK.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/6054823/Galliford-Try-full-year-outlook-unchanged-amid-strong-performance.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/6054891/British-Land-Group-says-financial-position-strong-but-retail-remains-challenging.html
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1531804788938103800.html
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1531805574808139600.html
https://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1531807133578210100.html