FTSE 100 steady above 7000 level with Wall Street set to open higher
Companies
FTSE 100 steady above 7000 level with Wall Street set to open higher
The index of UK-blue-chips in positive mood while US is set to make a positive start as investors await jobs and services data
FTSE 100 up 81 points
Dow to see early gains
Croda higher on restructuring talk
12.35pm: US market expected to recover
Wall Street is set to recover after Tuesday s caution as US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen rattled the cages with talk of interest rate rises.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which ended off its worst levels despite Yellen s comments, is expected to open 70 points or 0.22% higher at around 34,203 while the S&P 500 is forecast to rise by 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite, which bore the brunt of Tuesday s selling and fell 1.88% as growth stocks fell out of favour again, is set to recover by around 0.5%.
SIG shares jump as it forecasts a return to profit
A look at the major movers on the London market on Wednesday
SIG PLC (LON:SHI) has come in from the cold sooner than expected.
The insulation specialist said January and February had seen a solid start to the year, with sales volumes then picking up so that March and April traded ahead of expectations.
So it now expects to deliver an underlying profit in the first half, turning round its losses more quickly than expected.
It said: Whilst the evolving COVID-19 backdrop will continue to create uncertainty in the short term, more so in our EU markets than the UK, the strong demand across territories and sectors in the first four months of the year was encouraging and gives the board increased confidence for the full year performance.
Future in demand after update on GoCompare acquisition
A look at the major movers on the London market on Wednesday
1.11pm: Publisher pleases at presentation
Future PLC (LON:FUTR) has been lifted by a presentation to analysts this week on price comparison websites.
The company, which recently bought GoCompare, believes such websites can continue to add value for consumers and also product providers.
It said the integration of GoCompare was going well, according to Roddy Davidson of Shore Capital, who issued a buy note on the business.
Davidson said: We were encouraged by the positive points stressed in yesterday’s presentation and see good structural growth prospects for the price comparison website [PCW] market through attracting more consumers and increasing conversion rates – as an example only around 30% of switching activity in car insurance is via PCW’s, despite 40%-50% of customers using a PCW to research prices.