Ad revenue down at ITV, Paddy Power getting into daily fantasy

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 12 points lower on Wednesday, after closing up 0.57% at 7,342.21 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Advertising revenue fell at ITV in the first quarter and is expected to remain down for the first half, though production sales from its Studios arm and online growth were both strong. Total external revenue shrank 3% to £731m in the three months ended 31 March, with net advertising revenue down 9% and expected to be down 8-9% for the first half.

Paddy Power Betfair announced its entry into the daily fantasy sports market in the United States on Wednesday, with the acquisition of an early-stage operator, DRAFT, The FTSE 100 company said DRAFT was mobile-led, had a differentiated product and a strong management team. Initial cash payable on consideration was $19m, with up to another $29m payable over the next four years, depending on performance.

After reporting 17% growth in adjusted operating profits for the year ending 31 March, TalkTalk's returned boss Charles Dunstone said he would cut the dividend next year as he focused on "growth, cash generation and profit - in that order".

Newspaper round-up

Consumer spending will have “effectively stalled” by next year as Britons respond to rising inflation, minimal wage growth and a slowdown in house prices, a leading think tank has warned. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research said that robust growth in consumption in 2016 was coming to an end as the fall in sterling pushed up the cost of imports and filtered through into the prices of everyday goods and services. - The Times

Standard Life and Aberdeen are preparing to lose around 800 jobs if their £11bn tie-up goes ahead, as the pair unveil further details of the blockbuster deal which is expected to close in mid-August. The two investment giants published their merger prospectus on Tuesday evening, confirming that a restructuring following the proposed tie-up will see almost 9pc of the combined 9,000 roles go "to maximise operational efficiencies and cost synergies". - Telegraph

Raising interest rates could have such a destabilising impact on Britain’s housing market that the Bank of England would have to abort the policy, a former Bank official has warned. Sushil Wadhwani, a member of the Bank’s rate-setting committee from 1999 to 2002, said that the UK, along with many other developed countries, was caught in a debt trap that threatened to paralyse central banks. - The Times

Shareholders in four of Britain’s biggest companies have been advised to vote against the pay of their senior executives by a leading investor group, which warned that bonuses had become excessive. BAE, Barclays, ITV and Prudential have been attacked by Pirc for paying their bosses too much, not attaching sufficiently testing performance criteria for long-term awards and failing to provide enough information on how bonuses are determined. - The Times

Insurers should be forced to make it easier for customers to opt out of automatic policy renewals, which can be hundreds of pounds more expensive than switching, it has been claimed. Moneysupermarket, the price comparison website, yesterday urged regulators to prevent insurers demanding that policyholders call them and go through several steps to stop policies rolling over from one year to another. - The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street finished mixed on Tuesday, after starting solidly amid a backdrop of renewed gains for big cap tech names and stock volatility at record lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.17% at 20,975.78 and the S&P 500 was off 0.1% at 2,396.92, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.34% to 5,678.31.

On Monday the market capitalisation of Apple briefly surpassed the $800m mark after Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet's investment vehicle, announced that during the first quarter it had increased its stake to nearly $20bn.

Come Tuesday, the shares were 0.62% higher.