Domino's serves up solid quarter, Fresnillo turnaround slower than hoped

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 7 points lower on Wednesday, after closing down 0.38% at 7,070.88 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Domino’s Pizza said on Wednesday that it continued to trade well in the third quarter, building on the company’s “very strong” first half. In a trading update for 27 June to 25 September, Domino’s reported an 11.5% jump in system sales to £237m, with sales in the UK up 10.5% to £220.9m. Chief executive David Wild said: "The business continues to trade well with a strong sales uplift across the group during the period. As highlighted at our interim results in July, we face tough comparatives in the second half of the year, but our continued investment in e-commerce, our international expansion and the launch of our new Italiano range taking us to new customers, will help to drive performance for the remainder of the year."

Miner Fresnillo reported a 7% increase in silver production and 21% rise in gold production at its Mexico mines in the third quarter, while the turnaround plan at the company continues to progress but not at the pace originally planned. Chief executive Octavio Alvídrez said the company expects an increase in silver grades and production for the full year compared to 2015, however, recent volumes processed have come under pressure due to equipment availability and personnel issues, but he maintained that it remains “on track to meet our full year production guidance of 850-870 thousand ounces gold and 49-51m ounces of silver, including Silverstream.”

Property, residential, construction and services company Kier Group announced on Wednesday that it has completed the disposal of Mouchel Consulting to WSP Global for a total consideration of £75m, satisfied in cash. The FTSE 250 firm said Mouchel Consulting, acquired in June 2015 as part of Kier's acquisition of Mouchel, provides engineering, environmental and asset management consultancy services, principally to infrastructure markets. The disposal is expected to result in an immediate profit of approximately £40m, subject to post-completion adjustments.

Newspaper round-up

Motorists are set to feel the pinch on petrol station forecourts after new figures showed that British fuel prices have hit the highest level in more than a year. The slide in the value of the pound has already sent the average price of unleaded petrol surging to 112.35p a litre, the most expensive since August 24 last year, according to figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. - The Times

The buy-to-let market is showing early signs of recovery after the number of investors crashed in April. Online property portal Rightmove reported that inquiries for buy-to-let properties had jumped 30pc since May following a sharp fall in transactions and a short-term dip in interest after stamp duty was hiked by 3pc for buy-to-let properties and second homes. - Telegraph

The British economy will be hit by a “permanent cost” of more than £25bn a year if it decides to withdraw from the EU customs union, a new government adviser on Brexit has said. Raoul Ruparel, who has been hired by David Davis to provide expertise on the process of leaving the EU, said he believed there was no question of the UK staying in Europe’s free-trade bloc. - Guardian

Facebook is fighting back against US tax authorities, which the social network says are asking for too much information over allegations that the company undervalued assets when it transferred them to Ireland. The world’s largest social network has accused the IRS of being “extraordinarily broad” when it issued summonses to obtain documents that may help it establish if Facebook’s accountants undervalued the assets by billions of dollars. - Financial Times

PureGym sent jitters through the new issues market yesterday, after Britain’s biggest fitness club operator put plans to raise £190 million on ice because of fresh post-Brexit volatility. Bankers who had been looking forward to an IPO bonanza as markets stabilised last month are nervous again as prospects for a hard Brexit and currency fluctuations create uncertainty. - The Times

US close

Wall Street's main stock market averages fell back in the wake of the latest dose of Fedspeak and following disappointing results from aluminium maker Alcoa on Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was last down 1.09% to 18,128.66, the S&P 500 lost 1.24% at 2,136.73 and the Nasdaq 100 was off 1.47% at 4,821.91.

Speaking in Sydney, Chicago Fed president Charles Evans said progress on inflation had been unsatisfactory thus far.

On the subject of the next potential interest rate hike, he added that “one move isn’t that big of a deal either way”.

That was enough to send US Treasuries lower and spark selling in the equity space, pushing the yield on the benchmark up by three basis points to 1.75% early in the session.

Evans's remarks were made ahead of the release of the minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting and speeches from two more Fed speakers scheduled for Wednesday.