Barclays profits dip, LSE income grows

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to fall 20 points on Wednesday morning.

Stocks to watch

Barclays reported a dip in profit in its first quarter, with group profit before tax at £793m in the three months to 31 March, down from £1.06bn a year earlier. The FTSE 100 bank said this reflected an 18% increase in core profit before tax to £1.6bn, though that was more than offset by an increased non-core loss before tax of £815m.

London Stock Exchange delivered a 9% increase in total income in the first quarter as it battled to keep its merger with Deutsche Börse on track and neared completion of sale of Russell Investment Management. Despite expressions of interest from US-based rivals, the LSE said it was "advancing" the recommended merger with its German peer, preparing shareholder documents on the deal as well as preparatory work on approvals needed for the transaction.

Buildings materials firm CRH said a positive trading backdrop in its major markets resulted in a 9% increase in first quarter sales compared with pro-forma 2015. It said trading in the Americas was up 22% and Asia 12% with Europe “in line”.
“Group EBITDA for the seasonally less significant first half of the year is expected to be close to €1bn. We expect to continue to make progress in the second half of the year on a Group EBITDA basis.”

Newspaper round-up

The World Bank has boosted its forecast for global oil prices by 10pc for 2016 but at the same time warned that commodity prices will remain well below last year’s levels inflicting further pain on resource-rich countries. In January the World Bank pointed to a price of $37 a barrel for the benchmark oil price but in its latest quarterly report raised the forecast to $41 due to “improving sentiment and a weakening dollar”. - Daily Telegraph

Growing confidence in the markets that Brexit will be avoided has sent the pound to a 12-week high against the dollar, taking it back to levels last seen in early February before Boris Johnson decided to back the “leave” campaign. Sterling reached $1.4640 at one point yesterday, a rise of nearly two cents, before it slipped back to $1.4580 to close the day in London one cent higher. - The Times

A publicity-shy retail billionaire is leading a pack of bidders that has ­begun circling the carcass of failed department store BHS. Philip Day, the entrepreneur behind the Edinburgh Woollen Mill and Peacocks chains, is understood to be weighing a bid for a chunk of the retailer’s stores, and could even keep the BHS name alive. - Daily Telegraph

US close

Markets in New York ended mixed on Tuesday, with energy leading as oil prices climbed, and investors waited ahead of a number of corporate results and major central bank meetings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.07% at 17,990.32, the S&P 500 was up 0.19% at 2,091.70, and the Nasdaq Composite finished 0.15% lower at 4,888.31, its first four-day losing streak for the Nasdaq since 11 January.

Healthcare and information technology were the two big losses on the S&P 500, with tech closing 0.4% lower on the day, joining healthcare and financials as the negative sectors year-to-date.