Market overview: Miners follow gold lower, StanChart drops
1630:Close As is often the case, the last hour of trading in New York tends to provide reliable signals as to the direction of trading on the next day. That was the case on Wednesday; in the last 60 minutes of the session US stocks began to climb back from their intraday lows, following the Fed’s policy decision, to close nearly unchanged. That recovery continued on Thursday and fed through into UK equities. Smith&Nephew was at the top of the leader-board following its latest quarterly results. Miners were weakest, weighed down by strength in the US dollar and prospects for the first rate increase in the Fed funds rate in over eight years to arrive at some point in 2015. StanChart was a standout faller on the back of reports that US authorities have re-opened an investigation into allegations the lender broke the international sanctions regime against Iran. FTSE 100 up 10 points to 6,464.
Barclays
185.84p
16:40 19/04/24
BT Group
105.40p
16:40 19/04/24
FTSE 100
7,895.85
16:59 19/04/24
Legal & General Group
244.60p
17:05 19/04/24
Randgold Resources Ltd.
6,546.00p
17:00 28/12/18
St James's Place
423.00p
16:40 19/04/24
Standard Chartered
666.80p
16:40 19/04/24
1538: Gold futures for December delivery are down by 2.28% to $1,197 per ounce on COMEX. Acting as a backdrop, analysts are beginning to weigh in with their forecasts for next Friday’s US non-farm payrolls report. Barclays thinks that September’s reading of 248,000 reflected the resolution of a grocery strike. Hence, it expects a modest easing in the rate of jobs creation. Capital Economics is more aggressive, projecting an acceleration in the rate of job gains to reach 275,000 in October.
1529: “The turbulence in financial markets in the middle of October won’t have a major impact on monetary policy in developed economies. We do not think it is a sign that the world is heading for another recession,” Capital Economics wrote on Thursday afternoon in a research note to clients.
1315: Shares in StanChart are falling for a fourth day after reports that US prosecutors have re-opened investigations into whether the lender withheld information into the possible violation of the sanctions regime on Iran.
1230: US gross domestic product grew at a 3.5% pace in annualised and seasonally adjusted terms over the three months to September, according to the latest figures from the US Commerce Department. Initial weekly unemployment claims meantime rose by 3,000 to stand at 287,000 at the end of last week (consensus: 285,000).
1154: US equity futures are pointing to falls of between 0.5 and one percentage point on average at the start of trading in New York for the main market gauges. Traders the world over are still digesting yesterday evening's modestly more hawkish Fed policy statement. It opens up the prospect of a rate increase by the Fed sometime in 2015 - the first in over eight years no less.
1141: Oil and gold stocks are continuing to trade at the bottom of the pile as commodity prices slip in the aftermath of last night's Fed rate decision. Gold futures for December delivery are 1.71% lower at $1,204 per ounce on COMEX. Front month Brent crude futures meanwhile are off by 0.857% to $86.3 per barrel on the ICE.
1105: Barclays stock has moved into the red after having started the day in the blue. Market commentary is honing in on the bank's £670m provision against fines for rigging forex and PPI mis-selling.
1016: Eurozone economic confidence in October grew unexpectedly, according to data. The sentiment index rose to 100.7 from 99.9 in September, more than the 99.7 predicted by analysts.
0915: London stocks are slipping a tad in the early going, weighed down by miners. St.James’s Place, Barclays and Legal&General are doing best on the top flight index. The fund manager reported record funds under management in the third quarter, while Barclays managed to trounce profit forecasts for the three months to September. Shares of BT Group are also lower following its latest quarterly results. US GDP data is due out at 12:30. British home prices rose by 0.5% on the month in October and by another 9% year-over-year. Economists had been expecting a gain of 0.3% (8.5%). FTSE 100 down 30 points to 6,424.
0855: German unemployment fell 22,000 in October, more than the 4,000 gain predicted by analysts. It followed a 12,000 increase a month earlier. The unemployment rate held at 6.7%, as expected.