The first shots were fired overnight and responded to this morning. $68bn worth to be precise; $34bn in US tariffs on Chinese goods around midnight, and a reciprocal amount from China, just a few hours later, in retaliation. The question now is whether these opening salvos prove to be the first in a series of…
Next week sees the start of quarterly reporting season in the US, which means that it won’t be long until companies begin reporting results here in Europe too. Why so important? Because a certain key sector, namely the Banks, is first up. And this can offer a great indicator of economic health and thus a…
AB Foods sits firmly at the bottom of the UK 100 this morning, its shares down 4.1%, back around June lows, following a disappointing Q3 trading update. Revenues +3% was only really +2% once the flattery of currency movements was stripped out. This might be no worse than what was reported at the half-year stage,…
It may be a mixed trading update from Sainsbury this morning but traders like it nonetheless. The result is the shares +1.2%, in silver medal position on the UK 100 . Q1 like-for-like retail sales (ex-fuel) of 0.2% was in-line with Bloomberg consensus, however, groceries +0.5% was well down on Q4’s +2.1% and missed +0.7%…
Shares in household and personal care products supplier McBride slumped up to 18% this morning after the company said full year 2017/18 adjusted pre-tax profits would be “marginally below the lower end of analyst expectations”. The trouble is that “marginally below” is still worse than even the most pessimistic of number crunchers. And traders don’t…
Not even two months after Sainsbury and Asda proposed a merger that could further consolidate an already concentrated UK grocery market, #1 Tesco today announces its intention to form a strategic alliance with France’s Carrefour, France’s #3 behind System A (Auchan/System U partnership) and Leclerc. The aforementioned merger has understandably generated concern about how promised…