20th Jan 2021 08:06
(Alliance News) - Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president of the US on Wednesday, capping off a chaotic election season in a country still divided by Donald Trump's unfounded claims of voter fraud.
The inauguration ceremony will start at 10:30 am in Washington - 1530 GMT - with Biden and incoming vice president Kamala Harris sworn into office at noon.
Hundreds of thousands of people usually attend the ceremony, but this time around there will only be a small crowd due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 400,000 Americans. Security precautions have also been bolstered after rioters supporting outgoing president Trump stormed the Capitol earlier this month.
In a break with tradition, Trump will not attend Biden's swearing-in and subsequent gathering of all living presidents. Vice President Mike Pence will be in attendance.
Trump will leave the White House early and plans to hold a small ceremony at a nearby military base before heading to Florida, where he is expected to take residence at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Biden's first day is expected to be packed, with aides saying recently he would sign perhaps a dozen executive orders that could address the pandemic, the ailing US economy, climate change and racial injustice in America.
"Markets benefited yesterday from the strong support of [US Treasury secretary nominee] Janet Yellen, speaking at the Senate Finance Committee, for Joe Biden's USD1.9 trillion (9% of US GDP) fiscal stimulus. However, Biden will still face challenges to get his enormous spending package approved by Congress and may use today's inauguration speech to up the pressure to get his plans approved quickly," commented Davy Research.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.2% at 6,723.78
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Hang Seng: up 1.0% at 29,950.98
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.4% at 28,523.26
DJIA: closed up 116.26 points, or 0.4%, at 30,930.52
S&P 500: closed up 30.66 points, or 0.8%, at 3,798.91
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GBP: up at USD1.3664 (USD1.3616)
EUR: up at USD1.2155 (USD1.2127)
Gold: up at USD1,853.98 per ounce (USD1,839.70)
Oil (Brent): up at USD56.31 a barrel (USD55.93)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
0930 GMT UK ONS house price index
1100 CET EU harmonised CPI
1200 EST Joe Biden sworn in as 46th US president
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UK inflation beat expectations for December, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed, as the pace of price increases doubled from November. UK consumer prices rose 0.6% year-on-year in December, double the 0.3% rate seen in November. On a monthly basis, prices rose 0.3% in December, rebounding from November's 0.1% decline. Annually, consensus had expected the inflation rate to come in at 0.5% and the monthly reading at 0.2%, according to FXStreet, with the figures beating forecasts on both counts. In a separate release, the ONS said output inflation for goods leaving the factory gate was negative 0.4% year-on-year in December, improving from deflation of 0.6% in November. Input prices grew 0.2% in December versus a fall of 0.3% the month before.
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The UK coronavirus strain has been detected in at least 60 countries, the World Health Organization said, 10 more than a week ago. With the global death toll now well past two million, and new variants of the virus causing deep concern, countries across the world are grappling with how to slow infections until vaccines become widely available. The South African strain, which like the UK one is believed to be more infectious, has now been reported in 23 countries and territories, the WHO also announced in its weekly update. It added that the number of new deaths climbed to a record high of 93,000 over the previous seven days, with 4.7 million new cases reported over the same period. The arrival of mass vaccination campaigns in the US and Europe had brought hope that the end of the pandemic was in sight; the EU said Tuesday it was aiming to inoculate 70% of its adult population before the end of August.
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Parts of the UK could see two months' worth of average rainfall in just two-and-a-half days as Storm Christoph moves in. Weather warnings for heavy rain are in force across the country, and the unsettled conditions could also bring significant flooding, high winds and snowfall as the storm engulfs the country through the middle of the week. The Met Office's most serious weather warning – amber for rain – has been in place across parts of the Midlands and northern England since Tuesday morning, while a less serious yellow warning is in place across the rest of England, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland. Simon Partridge, a Met Office forecaster, explained: "It's not a traditional sort of storm, it's going to be windy but it's not based on the wind strength at all, it's really down to the disruption that's being caused by rain.
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Outgoing US President Trump has pardoned former chief strategist Steve Bannon as part of a late flurry of clemency action benefiting nearly 150 people. The pardons and commutations for 143 people, including Bannon, were announced after midnight on Wednesday in the final hours of Trump's White House term. Bannon had been charged with duping thousands of investors who believed their money would be used to fulfil Trump's chief campaign promise to build a wall along the southern border. Instead, he allegedly diverted over a million dollars, paying a salary to one campaign official and personal expenses for himself. Trump has already pardoned a slew of long-time associates and supporters, including his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort; Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law; his long-time friend and adviser Roger Stone; and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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CITIGROUP CUTS STANDARD CHARTERED TO 'NEUTRAL' ('BUY') - TARGET 530 (580) PENCE
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CREDIT SUISSE CUTS GLAXOSMITHKLINE TO 'UNDERPERFORM' (NEUTRAL) - PRICE TARGET 1,400 (1,580) PENCE
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RBC RAISES CMC MARKETS PRICE TARGET TO 450 (395) PENCE - 'OUTPERFORM'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Burberry reported a decline in third quarter revenue, though it did manage to score growth in Asia. The luxury fashion house said retail revenue fell 4% to GBP688 million in the 13 weeks to December 26, and was down 5% at constant exchange rates. Retail comparable store sales declined 9% as planned reductions in markdown and reduced tourist traffic offset high single-digit full-price sales growth. Positively, though, Asia Pacific comparable store sales grew 11%, helped by mainland China and Korea. Europe, the Middle East, India & Africa comparable sales fell 37%, due to fewer tourists and Covid-19 store closures, while Americas sales fell 18%.
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Pearson said sales and profit were in line with expectations for the full-year, hit as Covid-19 shuttered schools and cancelled exams, but the company noted a helpful shift to online learning. The educational publisher said sales declined by 10% in 2020, and it expects to report adjusted operating profit in the range of GBP310 million to GBP315 million. Covid-19's hit has been felt "most acutely" across International and Global Assessment amid school closures and exam cancellations, Pearson said. However, it has accelerated demand for digital learning and performance in Global Online Learning has been strong.
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BHP Group upped its annual guidance in some areas for 2021 following mixed production results for the first half of its financial year. In the six months to end December, the Australian blue-chip miner saw petroleum production fall 12% year-on-year to 50.5 million barrels of oil equivalent from 57.4 million barrels of oil equivalent. Copper production was down 5.0% to 841,000 tonnes from 885,400 tonnes a year prior. Iron ore production increased 5.8% year-on-year to 128.4 million tonnes from 121.4 million tonnes. Metallurgical coal production was down 5.4% to 19.2 million tonnes from 20.3 million tonnes a year before. Chief Executive Mike Henry said: "BHP delivered strong safety and operational performance in the first half of the 2021 financial year, including record production at Western Australia iron ore and concentrator throughput at Escondida."
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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WH Smith said its Christmas performance was better-than-expected even as sales fell. The books and stationery retailer said High Street revenue in December approached 2019 levels, standing at 92% of sales a year ago. For the 20 weeks to January 16, total revenue was 59% of 2019 revenue for the same period. WH Smith said it expects monthly cash burn for the January to March period to be around GBP15 million to GBP20 million per month, which, following the good performance in November and December, will leave the group in "approximately the same liquidity position" at the end of March 2021 as it had expected at its results in November. "We are not anticipating any material change to the current situation in the UK prior to the end of March 2021," WH Smith noted.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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PureCircle said it has reached an amicable settlement in a US patent dispute over Almendra's Steviarome. Stevia sweetener producer PureCircle and Almendra voluntarily resolved the litigation and all claims and counterclaims have now been dismissed. Under the settlement, Almendra signed a licence agreement with PureCircle, allowing it to keep selling Steviarome flavour ingredients worldwide. PureCircle said all other terms of the agreement are confidential.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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ASML Holdings said it rounded off 2020 with a guidance-topping sales rise in the final quarter, with the semiconductor firm adding that it will raise its payout by 15%. ASML - based in Veldhoven, Netherlands - said its fourth-quarter net sales rose 5.3% year-on-year to EUR4.25 billion from EUR4.04 billion. Pretax profit rose 18% to EUR1.50 billion from EUR1.27 billion a year earlier and net income climbed 19% to EUR1.35 billion from EUR1.13 billion. "Our fourth-quarter sales came in at EUR4.3 billion, which is above our guidance," Chief Executive Officer Peter Wennink said. For the whole of 2020, net sales jumped 18% to EUR13.98 billion from EUR11.82 billion. Pretax profit surged 45% to EUR4.02 billion from EUR2.77 billion and net income was up 37% at EUR3.55 billion from EUR2.59 billion.
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Wednesday's Shareholder Meetings
Diploma PLC - AGM
Prairie Mining Ltd - AGM
Sabien Technology Group PLC - GM re acquisition, restoration of trading on AIM
Topps Tiles PLC - AGM
WH Smith PLC - AGM
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By Tom Waite; [email protected]
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