Greggs gobbles up sales, Dignity takes turn for worse

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The FTSE is forecast to rise 34 points on Monday morning, from its front-foot finish at 6,125.70 at the end of last week.

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With hot food in its belly, Greggs got off to a strong start of the year with a 5.7% rise in like-for-like sales in spite of the tepid conditions on British high streets. As the food-on-the-go group continues is major investment programme, it improved trading at its own stores to 3.7% from the 2.3% growth reported in the fourth quarter of last year despite the modest footfall reported elsewhere.

Sales took a turn for the worse at Dignity in the first quarter, with the funeral services provider seeing profits fall 13% and sales by 5%. Management said the first quarter results were consistent with their expectations for the full year after the abnormally high death rate of 2015 is expected to reverse this year.

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Oil prices climbed more than 2% on Monday morning in Asia as traders weighed the impact of wildfires continuing to rage in Canada’s top oil-producing province and a change at the top in Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose as much as 2.5 per cent to $46.68 a barrel while West Texas Intermediate, the US marker, gained as much as 2.9 per cent to $45.94. - Financial Times

One of the British motor industry’s most senior executives has warned that volume carmaking will disappear from the country if the steelmaking crisis is not resolved. Nick Reilly, the former president of General Motors Europe and the man who saved Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port and Luton plants from closure during the financial crisis, says that the effect across industry of Tata Steel’s decision to quit Britain is being badly underestimated by ministers and officials. - The Times

The prospect of train companies fighting a price war on the main line between London and Edinburgh has drawn closer after a report commissioned by the rail regulator said there was “irrefutable” proof that competition would bring significant economic benefits. Within days of deciding whether two companies will be allowed on the east coast main line to take on existing services operated by Virgin Trains [and Stagecoach], the Office of Rail and Road has been told that passengers would benefit from lower fares. - The Times

US close

Wall Street edged higher on Friday despite a worse than expected non-farm payrolls report for April, which led several top brokers to push back their calls for the next Fed rate hike to September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tacked on 0.45% or 79,92 points to 17,740.63, while the S&P 500 nudged higher by 0.32% or 6.51 points to 2,057.14 and the Nasdaq added another 19.06 points or 0.40% to 4,7360.16.

Nonetheless, the S&P 500 was dragged lower for a second consecutive week. That came as the exodus of investors from equity funds continued, with the asset class registering a 13th consecutive week of outflows that brought the year-to-date tally to $27bn, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch said citing data from EPFR Global. Commodities, fixed income and credit were among the main beneficiaries of the shift in investors' preferences.