Market Buzz
Market buzz: GKN shareholders say 'yes please', Barclays settles with DoJ
1757:Close Far from a quiet sort of day suitable for an Easter egg hunt ahead of the long weekend, Thursday’s session was choc-a-bloc. There was the tense conclusion of the soap opera-style GKN/Melrose will-they-won't-they drama, while a deluge of economic data and regulatory decisions to kept investors gripped down to the wire.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Brexit workforce crisis, Nex, Shell, City passport
British businesses have been warned to brace for a severe workforce crisis triggered by Brexit, with the number of workers entering employment expected to fall behind the rate of population growth for the first time in half a century. According to employment consultant Mercer, the size of the British workforce is expected to rise by just 820,000 by 2025, marking a dramatic slowdown from the previous decade, when almost 2 million people entered employment. – Guardian.
Market buzz: Conviviality to call in administrators, Amazon feels Trump wrath
1758:Close Reports of Conviviality's demise were somewhat exaggerated, it seems, with the Bargain Booze owner saying it's still in talks with its lenders after failing to drum up the full amount of its attempted emergency cash call.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Philip Green, China, Tesla, Lloyds
Sir Philip Green has escaped a ban from serving as a company director by the Insolvency Service over the deal to sell BHS for £1 in 2015, a year before the retailer collapsed. However, Dominic Chappell, who led the consortium that bought BHS, faces a lengthy boardroom ban after a government inquiry into the collapse of the retailer in 2016, which led to the loss of 11,000 jobs. – Guardian.
Market buzz: European stocks rebound, dollar surging
1500: The Conference Board's consumer confidence gauge for March slipped from 131. 0 for the preceding month to 127. 7, versus economists' forecasts calling for a reading of 131. 0.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: House prices, Facebook, Deutsche Bank, gambling
House prices are falling in almost half of all London postcodes, according to new figures showing the most widespread collapse in property values across the capital since the 2008 financial crisis. The latest signs of distress will stoke concerns that sliding prices are far from confined to the most expensive homes in central London, with the figures showing a ripple effect spreading into the suburbs. - Guardian.
Market buzz: Gains in Oil&gas, Autos offset by pound strength
1730:Close Stocks have finished the session just off their session lows, with the renewed weakness in Facebook shares on Wall Street having apparently unnerved what traders remained at their desks, coming as it did alongside another move higher in Sterling. Oil&Gas and Autos&Parts led to the upside, mimicking the broader sector action on the pan-European Stoxx 600, with the latter benefiting from Brent at 52-week highs and the latter from more positive remarks on trade Stateside.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Brexit, Aviva, Rio Tinto, Hammerson, Facebook
The autumn Budget could be delayed if MPs are successful in pushing for an independent economic forecast of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. MPs from across the House of Commons have called for the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to offer its verdict on how leaving the EU will affect the UK economy, based on the exit terms set to be agreed between the UK and EU in late October, production of which would have to be combined with work on costing the Budget.
Market buzz: Vlieghe adds to May rate hike expectations
1700:Close The top flight index went into the holiday-shortened Easter week nursing a greater than 3% fall and firmly in 'correction' territory, having retreated by more than 10% from the record highs it hit earlier in the year.
Friday newspaper round-up: China, Brexit, Unilever, Glencore, Facebook
China has retaliated against Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium by signalling that it will hit US goods such as pork, apples and steel pipe with higher duties. As Asian stock markets plunged at the prospect of a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies, China’s commerce ministry urged Washington to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible but set no deadline. - Guardian.
Market buzz: May BoE hike 'not set in stone', FTSE 100 enters correction
1700:Close Global trade concerns sent stocks lower as traders debated the implications of the Bank of England's latest communications and that of its US central bank's counterpart overnight, with a global trade war brewing.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Tariffs, Pfizer, Facebook, Cambridge Analytica
America and the European Union have pledged to reach an agreement on President Trump’s steep steel and aluminium tariffs “as rapidly as possible”. Donald Tusk, the European Council president, expressed “cautious optimism” that the EU would persuade the US to offer an exemption from the duties. “Everything will be clear tomorrow,” he said. - The Times.
Market buzz: FOMC, China tariffs in focus
1700:Close Stocks have finished the session a shade lower, weighed down by Sterling's move back towards its pre-referendum highs against the US dollar ahead of Thursday's MPC meeting. Buoying the pound was a stronger-than-expected print on average weekly earnings for January. Miners and Big Oil paced gains on the FTSE 350, with the latter benefitting for a large jump in crude futures after the US Department of Energy reported an unexpected decline in the country's oil inventories during the latest week.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Carillion, Cambridge Analytica, Aviva
Partners from PricewaterhouseCoopers will be questioned by the work and pensions committee on Wednesday about the accounting firm’s role in the collapse of Carillion, with PwC accused of attempting to “milk the Carillion cow dry”. The committee said the correspondence between the Pensions Regulator and Carillion exposed the regulator’s weak position and the key role played by PwC. Most of the regulator’s negotiations were conducted via PwC, which advised Carillion’s directors on managing their pensions liabilities from 2012 to 2017.
Market buzz: UK inflation drops, FTC said to be probing Facebook
1539: Facebook down 5. 57%, Google off by 0. 68%. Commenting on the company's current predicament, analysts at Macquarie are telling clients: "We are not lowering our near-term revenue or earnings estimates based on these headlines. However, we are very much concerned that the systemic risk around data-driven online advertising and specific concerns about FB's data are rising quickly. While difficult to quantify in a meaningful way, this increased risk will manifest itself financially in the discount rate.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Consumers, Amazon, UK tourism, Facebook
The most important driver of UK economic growth is likely to slow further this year as PWC predicts that consumers will continue to scale back their spending in the face of higher inflation and squeezed incomes. The accountancy giant has forecast that consumer spending growth will slow to 1. 1 per cent this year, down from 1. 8 per cent in 2017, before edging up only slightly to 1. 3 per cent in 2019. - The Times.
Market buzz: Pound pops on EU transition deal, Facebook falls
1700:Close The top tier index started the week on a weak note amid a near perfect storm of pound strength, soft base metals' prices, a twitter-storm on Capitol Hill at the weekend and ongoing trade and geopolitical frictions. Somewhat ironically, the chief trigger behind the downdraft in London-listed stocks was a relative 'positive' for the economy, in the form an understanding between Brussels and Westminster on the broad contours of the post-Brexit transition deal.
Monday newspaper round-up: FOBTs, advertising, crypto, RBS
The Gambling Commission is to recommend that the government reduce the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs), known as the “crack cocaine of gambling”, to £30 or less. However, in a move likely to come as a relief to bookmakers, the watchdog will not explicitly back a maximum £2 stake, instead suggesting measures to combat the risk of harm. - The Times.
Market buzz: Tullow increases debt fundraise, and what's NEX worth?
1701: Tullow Oil has increased its bond offer to $880m from $650m. It's raising cash from debt by issuing senior debt notes offering 7%, due 2025 at par.
Market buzz: NEX receives approach from CME, Unilever picks Rotterdam
1748: NEX Group, Icap as was, has confirmed (in an announcement at 1737 GMT) that it has received a preliminary approach by CME Group regarding a potential acquisition of NEX. "Discussions are at an early stage and there can be no certainty that an offer for NEX will be made, nor as to the terms of any offer, if made. " .