13th Feb 2014 13:09
LONDON (Alliance News) - Major European equity markets continue to trade lower early afternoon Thursday, while Wall Street is expected to follow suit and the dollar is softer across the board ahead of the latest US retail sales data.
Disappointing earnings guidance from blue-chip UK stocks have weighed on the FTSE 100 Thursday, with Rolls-Royce now down almost 18% and Tate & Lyle down more than 15%. Shire announced its full-year results at midday, and said it expects its strong growth to continue in 2014, reporting a 23% rise in earnings for 2013. The pharmaceutical company's shares are up 1.5%.
By early-afternoon the FTSE 100 is down 0.6% at 6,636.20, the FTSE 250 is down 0.6% at 15,983.70, and the AIM All-Share is continuing to perform better, up 0.2% at 872.77.
In Europe the CAC 40 is down 0.3% and the DAX 40 is down 0.2%.
Corporate news is also in focus in the US ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. Cable company Comcast Corp has agreed to acquire Time Warner Cable for about USD45.2 billion in equity value. Time Warner shares have been up as much as 10% in pre-market trading.
Cisco Systems Inc, the world's largest computer networking gear maker, said Wednesday after the markets closed that its second quarter profit fell 55% from last year. Cisco shares are amongst the biggest fallers in pre-market trading.
The US markets overall are expected to follow Europe lower, with the DJIA and the S&P 500 expected to open about 0.3% lower, while the Nasdaq is expected to open down almost 0.5%.
Janet Yellen was due to meet the Senate Banking Committee Thursday, but due to bad weather in the US, the testimony has been postponed. Forecasters are expecting 8 to 12 inches of snow in New York City.
That leaves the afternoon focus on the release of US data at 1330 GMT, when both initial jobless claims and retail sales are due.
Initial claims are expected to have fallen by just 1,000 in the week ended February, to 330,000. Retail sales are expected to have remained flat in January, after rising by 0.2% in December. Analysts are suggesting that there is risk of the retail sales being on the low side due to the recent poor weather.
Ahead of the numbers, the dollar remains softer across the board. The euro is up 0.5 cent against the greenback Thursday at USD1.3665, while the pound continues to test recent highs, currently trading at USD1.6640.
By Jon Darby; [email protected]; @jondarby100
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