Dido Harding steps down from TalkTalk, BT builds up Openreach board
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 31 points higher on Wednesday, after closing down 0.27% at 7,099.15 on Tuesday.
Stocks to watch
Mondi chief executive David Hathorn will retire from the paper and packaging company in July, with longtime fellow board member Peter Oswald promoted to replace him. Oswald has been CEO of the Europe & International division since 2008 and worked for the company since 1992.
TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding is to resign after seven years at the helm and Charles Dunstone will become executive chairman after stepping down as chairman of Dixons Carphone, from 1 May. From 30 April, Lord Livingston will become the new chairman of Dixons Carphone after Sir Charles, who will remain a senior adviser to the company, leaves.
BT announced on Wednesday that Openreach had appointed Sir Brendan Barber and Edward Astle as independent members of its newly formed board, created as part of an Ofcom-guided strategy to improve autonomy and independence at the telecoms infrastructure firm. The FTSE 100 company said Barber, former general secretary of the Trades Union Congress and current chair of Acas, and Astle, a former board member of National Grid, attended the inaugural meeting of the Openreach board on Tuesday. Mike McTighe was appointed independent chairman of Openreach in December 2016, and a fourth independent non-executive was due to be announced imminently with a specific focus on customer service.
Newspaper round-up
Pressure on the government to help struggling Britons has intensified after a leading think tank warned that falling living standards for the poor threatened the biggest rise in inequality since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister. The Resolution Foundation said Theresa May would need to make good on her pledge to support “just about managing” households as it released a report showing that rising inflation and an end to recent strong jobs growth would hit the least well-off hardest. - Guardian
The surprising resilience of consumer spending in the months since the Brexit vote has forced one of the UK’s leading economic think tanks to revise up its growth forecasts for the second time since the referendum. In its quarterly health check of the economy, the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said it now expected growth of 1.7% this year – only slightly down on the 2% recorded in 2016. – Guardian
Britain’s aerospace and defence companies are in “rude health” but their continued success is dependent on the Brexit deal the government thrashes out, the president of the industry’s trade body has warned. Speaking at the annual dinner of the sector which also encompasses space and security businesses, ADS president Paul Kahn said that while industry did not want Brexit, the UK is leaving the EU and it is up to the trade group’s members to “make a success of it”. – Telegraph
Apple posted record iPhone sales on Tuesday night, returning the world's largest public company to growth after last year's uncharacteristic fall in revenues. High demand for the new iPhone 7 model released in September meant Apple sold 78.3m iPhones in the crucial Christmas quarter that comes after the release of its latest products. – Telegraph
Investors fear that the Co-operative Bank may be forced to wind down, leaving bondholders with heavy losses. The price of its most risky bonds has fallen as much as 30 per cent this week, with some trading as low as 57p in the pound, after the bank’s admission last Thursday that its capital strength would be weaker than expected, which triggered weekend reports that the Bank of England could intervene. – The Times
The splurge in consumer borrowing showed signs of moderating in December as Britons went only £1 billion further into the red on credit cards, personal loans and overdrafts. This was the lowest month-on-month increase since May 2015 and may start to ease regulators’ fears that the UK has embarked on an uncontrolled borrowing binge and that individuals are getting perilously into debt. – The Times
US close
US stocks were mostly lower on Tuesday as investors erred on the side of caution following President Donald Trump’s controversial executive orders and as the Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meetings.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.54% to 19,864.09 points, the S&P 500 dropped 0.09% to 2,278.87 points and the Nasdaq rose 0.02% to 5,614.79 points.
The dollar weakened on worries about Trump’s policies, including a travel ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Trump has fired acting US attorney general Sally Yates after she questioned the legality of his immigration ban.
The greenback fell 0.93% versus the euro, dropped 0.72% versus the pound and slid 0.80% against the yen.
Amid concerns about Trump, US consumer confidence fell more than expected in January. The Conference Board’s consumer confidence index fell to 111.8 in January after reaching a 15-year high of 113.7 in December, driven by a less optimistic outlook for business conditions, jobs and consumers' income prospects. Economists had expected the index to fall marginally to 113 in January.
Meanwhile, the Labor Department revealed US employment costs rose less than forecast in the fourth quarter due to steady wage growth and the smallest increase in benefits in more than a year. The employment cost index climbed 0.5% after a 0.6% gain in the previous three months, missing forecasts for an unchanged 0.6%.
Wages and salaries edged up 0.5% for a second straight quarter, while benefits costs eased to 0.4%.