London pre-open: Stocks to nudge up as US celebrates Thanksgiving
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to nudge higher on Thursday on what is expected to be a relatively quiet day, with US markets closed for Thanksgiving.
The FTSE 100 was called to open nine points higher at 6,400.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "The US stock market will remain closed today as the country celebrates Thanksgiving. Some US-based traders and investors will be taking Friday off too. Yesterday, there was a sense that some dealers were winding down for the week, even though the NYSE will be open for limited trading on Friday. Any of the financial markets that are open today will probably experience low volatility."
Madden noted that minutes from the early November Federal Reserve meeting were posted overnight and said traders got the impression the central bank might look to give further support to the economy by altering its asset purchases - either by increasing the level of asset purchases or buying longer dated bonds.
"Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed, said it still has a lot of 'ammunition' in reserve to help the economy. Despite the mildly dovish nature of the update, the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 finished slightly lower last night as traders were content to square up their books ahead of the holiday. The NASDAQ 100 hit its highest level in over two weeks, but then again tech stocks have underperformed lately.
"Equity markets in Asia are showing small gains and European indices are tipped to open a little higher."
In corporate news, Aviva announced an interim dividend of 7p per share and a new payout policy as the insurer reported a 14% decline in new business for the first nine months of the year.
The group predicted it would pay a final dividend of 14p a share for 2020 and that after that year the payout would rise by mid-single digits. Aviva paid a total dividend of 15.5p a share in 2019 after scrapping its final dividend.
In the first nine months of 2020 the value of new business fell to £714m from £828m a year earlier. Aviva reported a capital surplus of £11.8bn.
Pub group Mitchells & Butlers revealed it had axed 1,300 jobs and said sales since the end of September had fallen 50%, driven by the latest Covid-19 lockdown in England as it swung to a full year loss of £123m.
The company, which owns the Harvester and All Bar One brands, said like-for-like sales since September 26 declined by 26.5% reflecting the heightened restrictions. The pre-tax loss compares with a £177m profit in 2019. Revenue fell 34.1% to £1.47bn.
Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest
The information, investment views and recommendations in this article are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this article should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engaging in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the writer but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. Vox Markets may receive payment from companies mentioned for enhanced profiling or publication presence. The writer may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.