Whitbread makes strong start, new Shire drug gets FDA tick

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 23 points lower on Wednesday, after closing down 0.68% at 7,472.71 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Whitbread booked in a strong start to its new financial year, with revenues at its Premier Inn hotels accelerating and Costa coffee shops sales returning to like-for-like growth. Total sales for the 13 weeks to 1 June were up 7.6% and LFL sales were up 2.9%, with Premier Inn LFLs up 4.7% and Costa up 1.1%.

Shire announced on Wednesday that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Mydayis - mixed salts of a single-entity amphetamine product - which the company’s board described as a once-daily treatment comprised of three different types of drug-releasing beads for patients 13 years and older with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The FTSE 100 firm said it expected to make Mydayis commercially available in the United States in the third quarter of 2017.

Newspaper round-up

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick resigned from his position as chief executive of the $68bn ride-hailing app on Tuesday, following a tumultuous six months of scandal. Kalanick stepped down in the face of pressure from five of Uber’s largest investors, according to the New York Times, which first reported Kalanick’s exit. – Guardian

High prices and hefty stamp duty bills have resulted in a near one-third drop in house moves in some parts of the country over the past year, according to research by Lloyds Bank. The number of home sales in England and Wales fell by 7% in 2016 to 848,857, but dropped most heavily in London, by 18%, and 10% in the south-east. Brent in north London and Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire saw falls of 30% in the number of transactions. – Guardian

Pallinghurst Resources has lowered the acceptance condition of its takeover offer for ruby and emerald miner Gemfields, after Chinese conglomerate Fosun earlier in the day confirmed a bidding war. Pallinghurst lowered the acceptance condition to 60pc from 75pc, meaning the offer would now be unconditional. On Monday, it said it had acceptances for its bid from Gemfields shareholders holding a 61.25pc stake. – Telegraph

The former boss of Barclays faces a maximum 22 year prison sentence after he and three other ex-directors of the lender became the first British bankers to face criminal charges for actions taken during the financial crisis. Barclays was plunged into turmoil on Tuesday after the Serious Fraud Office charged the bank with fraud and unlawful financial assistance over its dealings with Qatari investors, including former prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, in 2008 when Britain’s banking system was on the verge of collapse. - Telegraph

US close

Falling oil prices weighed on Wall Street to drag stocks indices back from their record highs as a septic stock environment was created amid a higher dollar and mixed remarks from top US central bank policymakers.

By the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrials had lost 61.85 or 0.29% to finish at 21,467.14, alongside a 0.67% dip for the S&P 500 to 2,437.03 and a decline of 0.82% in the Nasdaq Composite to 6,188.03.

Oil equipment and exploration stocks were at the bottom of the pile as traders continued pushing crude oil futures lower.

Front month West Texas Intermediate was down by 2.2% at $43.23 a barrel on NYMEX amid bearish comments from some analysts and continued noise around steadily increasing oil supplies from Libya.

"The old fear of falling oil prices has gripped investors, and inflation in the US is slipping already, and if oil keeps tumbling, it could be a problem for the economy," said market analyst David Madden at CMC Markets.