At the open: FTSE 100 picks up where it left off with positive start to the week July 4, 2016 Stock markets are still on the up at the beginning of the second week of trading after the UK voted to leave the EU. After hitting 10-month highs at the end of last week and climbing 600 points in five days, there is little sign of profit-taking this morning, with the bluechip index jumping anther [...]
Companies aim away from junior market flotations amid Brexit uncertainty July 4, 2016 The London Stock Exchange’s alternative investment market (Aim) has shrunk by 60 companies in the last year, according to new research. In the year to June, there were 40 new entrants onto the market, while 100 exited. In the same period across 2014 and 2015, there were 70 new listings and 100 delistings. UHY Hacker Young’s research [...]
Customers could be offered O2 shares as Telefonica nears IPO July 3, 2016 Customers of O2 could be in with a chance of buying shares in the firm if its stock market float goes ahead. O2 Priority, which normally provides customers with early access to things like concert tickets, is being considered as a vehicle for a customer share offering, it was reported in the Sunday Telegraph. O2’s Spanish [...]
Gutterball: Bowling alley firm postpones flotation plans after Brexit July 3, 2016 A bowling alley firm has pushed back its plans to float on the stock market following last month’s Brexit vote. Hollywood Bowl had planned to launch an initial public offering (IPO) this month. But the plans have now been pushed back towards the end of the summer. Elsewhere, Sky News reported that NewDay, which provides store cards [...]
At the open: Yields getting killed as investors seek Brexit shield July 1, 2016 Stock markets have opened with their typical Friday morning calm today, despite frantic trading since last week's vote to leave the EU. The FTSE 100 climbed 0.4 per cent in the first chunk of the session to build on yesterday's impressive gains. The index is standing at a 10-month high of 6,530. With no company [...]
Premier Oil expects to reach debt agreement this quarter July 1, 2016 Premier Oil announced this morning that it has reached an agreement to allow more time for the company to discuss new debt arrangements with its lenders. The FTSE 250 oil group has been forced to renegotiate its financial covenants due to the prolonged oil price rout – earlier this year the group signed up Rothschild [...]
Oil and gold emerge triumphant from first half market turmoil June 30, 2016 Oil and gold emerged alive and kicking from the financial market turmoil which characterised the first half of this year. Markets have yo-yoed so far this year due to global growth concerns, speculation about another US interest rate rise and more recently Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Brent crude is on course for a 30 per cent [...]
Why Goldman thinks its $50 oil forecast could be wrong June 30, 2016 Most oil market pundits will tell you how hard it is to predict where the black stuff is heading. And while Goldman Sachs is the most influential commodities bank, like pretty much every forecaster, it has been known to get things wrong. Now it's said that crude could trade below its $50 forecast in the second half [...]
Crack out the Jack Daniel’s: Sterling bond issuance lives after Brexit vote June 30, 2016 Two sterling-denominated debt deals launched today, a week after the UK voted to leave the European Union. British American Tobacco (BAT) is reportedly selling a five-year benchmark bond totalling £500m. And US drinks company Brown-Forman, which makes Jack Daniel’s and Finlandia vodka, is in the market with a £300m, 12-year deal. It also announced a €300m [...]
Did Boris Johnson just move the currency markets? June 30, 2016 Traders have managed to keep a cool head today, despite the fallout from the UK's vote to leave the EU continuing to shock the political world, and many clamouring to link the two. The FTSE 100 was down, then up, then flat in the first half of the day's trading, standing unchanged at 6,357 at lunchtime. [...]