CMC Markets inks NZ deal, retail footfall falls in October

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 16 points higher on Friday, having closed down 0.61% on Thursday at 8,110.10.

Stocks to watch

CMC Markets announced a long-term partnership with New Zealand bank ASB on Friday, to provide ASB's clients with a customised trading platform, integrating CMC's technology with the bank’s existing systems. The FTSE 250 company said the platform integration with ASB - owned by Australia’s Commonwealth Bank - was expected to complete within 12 to 18 months. It said the deal would also see CMC established as a full trading, settling, and clearing participant of the NZX exchange.

Retail stocks will be in focus after UK retail footfall declined in October, industry data showed on Friday, reversing much of September’s surprise uplift. Footfall jumped 3.3% in September, the first rise in over a year and a notable improvement on August’s 0.4% dip. But according to the latest data from the British Retail Consortium and Sensormatic, total UK footfall decreased 1.1% in October, dampening hopes for the start of a more positive trend. High streets recorded a 3.6% slide, compared to September’s 0.9% uptick, while shopping centre footfall was down 1.6%. In September, it rose 2.3%.

Newspaper round-up

Striking Boeing workers will vote on an improved contract offer on Monday, which includes a 38% pay rise over four years and a bigger signing bonus, their union said on Thursday. More than 30,000 factory workers who produce Boeing’s strongest-selling 737 Max commercial jet and other planes have been on strike since 13 September and have rejected two earlier offers from Boeing. – Guardian

Amazon became the latest of the “magnificent seven” tech giants to report quarterly earnings on Thursday, with all eyes once again on cloud computing and any sign of a return on vast AI investments. Shares in the e-commerce giant rose in after-hours trading. The company reported revenue of $158.9bn against analyst expectations of $157.2bn, and earnings per share of $1.43, compared to $1.16 expected by Bloomberg analysts. – Guardian

Carmakers including Honda and BMW have temporarily halted sales to customers in recent days as the industry grapples with a motor finance scandal that lawyers have warned will be “bigger than PPI”. Honda last weekend ordered showrooms not to deliver vehicles bought via financing deals following a shock court ruling on commissions paid to car salesmen. – Telegraph

The fallout from the car loans scandal has widened after it emerged that Metro Bank had temporarily halted its asset finance lending to review the ramifications of a shock court ruling. Several lenders have frozen their motor finance operations in recent days, causing chaos in the car loans market, following a Court of Appeal judgement last Friday that set a much higher bar for the disclosure of commission arrangements between credit brokers and lenders than had been required by existing regulations. Lenders were found to be liable for brokers’ lack of transparency. – The Times

Harland & Wolff’s leading executive has failed to meet an administrator-imposed deadline to provide a statement of affairs at the troubled shipbuilder, which is now not expected to be able to repay creditors. Russell Downs, the group’s executive chairman, has asked administrators at Teneo to extend the deadline to November 5. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday as market participants were again zeroed in on Q3 earnings and a number of key data points.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.90% at 41,763.46, while the S&P 500 lost 1.86% to 5,705.45 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.76% weaker at 18,095.15.

The Dow closed 378.08 points lower on Thursday, extending losses recorded in the previous session after a preliminary GDP reading showed the US economy had grown at a 2.8% annualised clip in Q3, falling short of the 3.1% print expected by analysts.

Corporate earnings were again in focus on Thursday, with Meta Platforms trading lower after missing expectations for user growth and warning that capital expenditures would increase in 2025, while Microsoft issued revenue guidance that disappointed investors.

After the bell, tech earnings were again in focus, with Apple posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings but said earnings had been impacted by a one-time charge related to the reversal of European General Court decision that will require it to pay €13.0bn in back taxes to the Irish government, while Amazon also said quarterly earnings beat expectations after its cloud and advertising units showed strong growth.