-
Published on 7 Feb 2017
The
European markets are mixed this Tuesday with declines in France due to
concerns surrounding the prospect of a far-right win in France's
presidential election this spring as well as tensions brewing once again
over Greece's debt. The FTSE 100 witnessed gains for the housing sector
as the government prepares to unveil plans to build more affordable
houses. The new housing strategy for England includes forcing councils
to plan for their own needs and giving them powers to pressurize
developers to start building on land they own. This news sent shares
such as Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey higher. The fallout from
Brexit is yet to impact the sector, despite sharp gains after the
initial EU referendum result.
Another key company report
impacting the UK markets on Tuesday was that of BP which published
numbers lower than expectations in the fourth quarter and annual
earnings that dipped to at least a 10-year low. However, profits were
still double in the last three months of 2016 on the back of slightly
higher oil prices and more cost-cutting. BP's shares dropped in response
to the report. Profit adjusted for one-time items and inventory changes
totaled $400m dollars, falling short of the $567m dollars which was the
average expectation. Although this is still up $196m a year earlier.
Sterling
dropped to a 2-week low versus USD today as Brexit and economic growth
concerns return and as the dollar rises on talk of an earlier than
expected rise in US interest rates which sent the US dollar higher. A
voting member of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Patrick Harker said a rate
rise on March 14th was 'on the table'. This comes after the last meeting
of the US central banks said a rate move was not likely until summer.
Looking
ahead to Wednesday – there's lots of key corporate news to watch with
mining giant Rio Tinto, Tullow Oil and GlaxoSmithKline. And Washington
will be watching Time Warner as well as EIA oil inventories results.
No comments:
Post a Comment