What you need to know before the open
After a day out of the loop yesterday, the FTSE will be playing catch up with European markets, which saw a strong session yesterday.
The European and Ukraine elections don’t appear to have affected equities too much. Several bourses saw encouraging gains, with the Dax posting a record high.
Eyes are still on European Central Bank president, Mario Draghi, after his comments yesterday that a “pernicious negative spiral” of weak lending and low inflation were impacting credit flows in the euro area.
Corporate news
Lloyds has confirmed plans to list TSB Banking Group subsidiary at some point next month. 25 per cent of TSB will float initially, with Lloyds selling down the rest of the retail bank by the end of next year.
Drinks maker A.G. Barr has announced that its chairman, Ronnie Hanna, is stepping down at the end of this year. Board member John Nicolson will take over the role.
In a management update, the firm also confirmed its sales rose 5.2 per cent year-on-year in the 15 weeks to May. The soft drinks market as a whole saw growth of 1.9 per cent.
And AstraZeneca’s released a statement following the shelving of Pfizer’s £69bn takeover bid, saying it’ll continue to focus on its strategy and growing pipeline.
Data in focus
- 9.30am: UK April BBA mortgage approvals
- 1.30pm: US April durable goods
- 2.00pm: US March house price index
- 2.00pm: US March S&P/Case-Shiller home price index
- 2.45pm: US May Markit services PMI
- 3.00pm: US May consumer confidence
- 3.30pm: US May Dallas Fed manufacturing business index