Stock Market News (European Open) – FTSE declines on rising sterling; Coca-Cola and Boeing to release results before US open
October 25, 2017 10:28 am
Asian markets projected a mixed picture today with movements from major benchmarks being fairly limited. The Japanese Nikkei 225 and Topix indices finished the day lower by 0.45% and 0.3%, ending a 16- and 12-day streak of positive closes respectively (the longest on record for the Nikkei) that brought them to multi-year highs. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite rose by 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.1%.
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was down by 0.05% at 0942 GMT, giving a fairly good indication of the overall picture projected by major European indices. Most indices were in negative territory, though losses were not considerable. The blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 was up by 0.05%.
The FTSE 100 was trading lower by 0.5%, recording losses after UK third quarter GDP figures came in slightly above expectations and boosted the British currency relative to major counterparts. The UK blue-chip index usually moves in the opposite direction to sterling as its component stocks heavily rely on overseas markets for their revenues (a weaker pound is seen as putting them at an advantage and vice versa). The German DAX was down 0.1% and the CAC 40 up by 0.1%.
Tomorrow’s ECB meeting will be closely watched with most attention falling on banking stocks. The central bank is expected to announce a reduction of its monthly asset purchases starting next year. The duration of the program as well as by how much purchases will be cut, is not yet completely clear. The Stoxx 600 Banks sub-index was last up by 0.5%.
International luxury group and Gucci owner Kering (up 7.3%) led gains within the Stoxx 600 (and the CAC 40) with its stock touching record highs after Q3 sales beat analysts’ forecasts. A slew of brokerage houses including UBS, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley also raised their price target for the company. Peer LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (widely known as just LVMH) also benefitted to last trade up by 1.0%. Its stock price reached an all-time high as well.
Ballpoint pen and razor maker Société BIC (commonly referred to as BIC) was the worst underperformer within the Stoxx 600, being last down by 9.5%. It’s Q3 results came in worse than expected.
Major Wall Street benchmarks finished yesterday’s trading higher with the Dow Jones advancing the most (0.7%) to post a record-high close. Caterpillar and 3M finished yesterday’s trading higher by 5% and 5.9% respectively, boosting major benchmarks (they’re both Dow and S&P component stocks) after their quarterly results beat analysts’ estimates.
Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures contracts were last trading lower by 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.2% respectively.
Coca-Cola and Boeing will be among companies releasing quarterly results before today’s market open in the US.
Asian markets projected a mixed picture today with movements from major benchmarks being fairly limited. The Japanese Nikkei 225 and Topix indices finished the day lower by 0.45% and 0.3%, ending a 16- and 12-day streak of positive closes respectively (the longest on record for the Nikkei) that brought them to multi-year highs. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5% and the Shanghai Composite rose by 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.1%.
In Europe, the pan-European Stoxx 600 was down by 0.05% at 0942 GMT, giving a fairly good indication of the overall picture projected by major European indices. Most indices were in negative territory, though losses were not considerable. The blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 was up by 0.05%.
The FTSE 100 was trading lower by 0.5%, recording losses after UK third quarter GDP figures came in slightly above expectations and boosted the British currency relative to major counterparts. The UK blue-chip index usually moves in the opposite direction to sterling as its component stocks heavily rely on overseas markets for their revenues (a weaker pound is seen as putting them at an advantage and vice versa). The German DAX was down 0.1% and the CAC 40 up by 0.1%.
Tomorrow’s ECB meeting will be closely watched with most attention falling on banking stocks. The central bank is expected to announce a reduction of its monthly asset purchases starting next year. The duration of the program as well as by how much purchases will be cut, is not yet completely clear. The Stoxx 600 Banks sub-index was last up by 0.5%.
International luxury group and Gucci owner Kering (up 7.3%) led gains within the Stoxx 600 (and the CAC 40) with its stock touching record highs after Q3 sales beat analysts’ forecasts. A slew of brokerage houses including UBS, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley also raised their price target for the company. Peer LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (widely known as just LVMH) also benefitted to last trade up by 1.0%. Its stock price reached an all-time high as well.
Ballpoint pen and razor maker Société BIC (commonly referred to as BIC) was the worst underperformer within the Stoxx 600, being last down by 9.5%. It’s Q3 results came in worse than expected.
Major Wall Street benchmarks finished yesterday’s trading higher with the Dow Jones advancing the most (0.7%) to post a record-high close. Caterpillar and 3M finished yesterday’s trading higher by 5% and 5.9% respectively, boosting major benchmarks (they’re both Dow and S&P component stocks) after their quarterly results beat analysts’ estimates.
Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures contracts were last trading lower by 0.1%, 0.2% and 0.2% respectively.
Coca-Cola and Boeing will be among companies releasing quarterly results before today’s market open in the US.
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