Nasdaq posts record close as Facebook and Netflix rise to all-time highs
June 20, 2018Energy, transport stocks lift Wall Street, IBM drags
June 21, 2018Alice Young
The Footsie looks set to open higher this morning, building on the previous session’s modest gains, with worries over a trade war between the US and China subsiding. Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) will take the centre stage on the corporate front today, amid reports that it is set to axe 450 jobs.
benchmark index will start today’s session 0.45 percent higher at 7,661 points. The Footsie is likely to take cues from the US where shares found support in M&A activity with Disney raising its bid for Twenty-First Century Fox’s assets.
“Anytime you get news like that, the market takes it as a positive,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, as quoted by CNBC. “We’re also ready for a rebound, […] but I think the market will stay volatile until we focus again on earnings.” Asian shares meanwhile have been mixed this morning.
At home, the Footsie added 23.55 points to end the session 0.31 percent higher at 7,627.40, with investors shrugging off worries related to the ongoing trade tensions between the US and China.
Thursday’s calendar
The main event in today’s macroeconomic calendar is the BoE’s rate decision which is scheduled to be announced at 12:00 BST. In the US, the Federal Reserve will publish bank stress test results at 21:30 BST.
On the corporate front, Carnival (LON:CCL) is due to post results this morning. In other company news, Reuters reports that Lloyds would axe 450 mainly back office roles, in its latest round of job cuts.
Blue-chips, whose shares will be trading without the attraction of their latest dividend in today’s session, include Compass Group (LON:CPG), Experian (LON:EXPN), Land Securities (LON:LAND) and United Utilities (LON:UU). Reuters’ calculations suggest that ex-divs will knock 2.6 points off the FTSE 100.