17th Jan 2014 07:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are called to open flat to slightly higher Friday, shrugging off the mixed close in the US. However, just ahead of the UK equity market open, blue-chip Royal Dutch Shell has released a significant profit warning.
Both IG and CMC Markets indicate the FTSE 100 to open flat to slightly higher.
US equities closed mostly lower Thursday, weighed upon by disappointing earnings reports from both Citigroup, Best Buy and CSX as well as mixed economic reports. Profit taking following two sessions of strong gains dragged the Dow index down about 0.4%, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite and the S&P 500 closed roughly unchanged.
Significantly, the US Senate voted overwhelmingly in favour of a massive government spending bill late Thursday that will avoid another damaging government shutdown until at least October.
The USD1.1 trillion bill, which eases tough spending cuts in place since March 2013, was passed by the House of Representatives and will now go to US President Barack Obama to be signed.
In a relatively quiet economic calendar Friday, the UK economy is in focus. Following the recent raft of retailers' trading updates for the Christmas period, retail sales figures for December are released at 0930 GMT. Month-on-month, retail sales are expected to show a rise of 0.4% in December, and up 2.6% year-on-year.
In the US, building permits and housing starts information are scheduled for 1330 GMT.
However, "perhaps most important today for markets is the Michigan consumer confidence series for January," says Rabobank Analyst Michael Every. Economists' expectations are for the reading, which is released at 1455 GMT, to edge up to 83.5 in January, from the 82.5 seen in December.
In the corporate calendar, FTSE 100-listed William Hill and FTSE 250-listed Spectris, amongst others, have released trading statements, while global mining and minerals company Evraz has published its full-year operational results.
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell has issued a profit warning. The oil and gas giant has announced that its fourth quarter 2013 figures are expected to be significantly lower than recent levels of profitability. Shell now expects its fourth quarter CCS earnings to come in at USD2.2 billion, with full-year CCS now forecast to be USD16.8 billion.
In other news, Aviva has revealed that it has entered into a joint venture with Indonesia?s largest publicly listed company PT Astra International Tbk to create a life insurer - Astra Aviva Life - in Indonesia.
By James Kemp; [email protected]; @jamespkemp
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
AvivaWMH.LEvrazSpectris