Market buzz: Trump's UK trip pencilled in, Twitter dumped after calling a top

1646: The FTSE rallied a little towards the close but still finished down 46.08 points or 0.62% at 7,379.32.

Not long ago Persimmon was given a very bloody nose at its AGM, with a 48.5% vote against director remuneration plans that would see the CEO get a £75m bonus.

Major City institutions very rarely express their anger with a FTSE 100 company in public. The fact that Aberdeen Standard have said this about the housebuilder Persimmon shows how unimpressed the City is with the CEO getting a £75 million bonus pic.twitter.com/IASSXTy89B

— Tom Knowles (@tkbeynon) April 25, 2018

1551: You don't see this every day, market appears to be giving a big 'thumbs-up' to Comcast's Sky bid, pushing stock in the former higher by 4%. 21st Century Fox shares are also heading higher and are now trading up by 2%, as are those of Walt Disney.

1526: Twitter's share price has been sent into a nosedive after the company cautioned that "sequential growth rates for total revenue for the remainder of 2018 will resemble the sequential growth rates for total revenue in 2016."

Tweet this: Before the opening bell, stock in the $23bn market cap firm was at one point quoted to open higher by 14%, for an even bigger intra-day reversal than Caterpillar's on Tuesday, before being sent lower by flak from analysts.

Talking of topping out, but at the macro level, on Wednesday morning Rabobank pointed out cautious talk from China's politburo that the first quarter might mark the highwater mark for the country's growth in 2018. One must be careful not to exaggerate, but it is Rabobank after all.

The Dutch broker also points out China's whopping 13% government deficit as a proportion of GDP. A good reason to have a lifetime leader in place?

1535: Facebook shares are 1.22% lower as investors wait on a financial update from the social media giant later in the day.

Ahead of those figures, Simon Migliano at Top10VPN claims there are already early indications that the embattled firm might struggle to maintain already sluggish quarterly growth in terms of the amount of time users spend on their pages.

"[...] The backlash was even more pronounced in the all-important US market (132%), where we found that monthly searches exceeded the unwanted one million milestone for the first time.

"[...] Whatever tonight's results reveal, it's hard not to think that the rot has started to set in."

1442: Boeing posts Q1 EPS of $3.64 (FactSet: $2.58), sales at $23.38 (FactSet: $22.28bn), shares up 3%.

Texas Instruments posted Q1 EPS overnight of $1.37 (FactSet: $1.11), sales at $3.79bn (FactSet: $3.65bn), shares up 3%.

Northrop Grumman posts Q1 EPS of $4.21 (FactSet: $3.62), sales at $6.74bn (FactSet: $6.63bn), shares down 3%.

1343: Donald Trump will visit the UK in mid-July, with a full announcement expected in the next day or so, according to Sky News.

1340: The ECB will follow the Fed's sequence of policy normalization: taper first, raise rates later, and reduce the balance sheet last, say economists at S&P Global, though they add that the timing will be different "since the ECB's mandate focuses more on inflation, and the eurozone economic expansion is still in its infancy".

A report just out from the credit agency suggests the ECB will look at the output gap, inflation expectations, and the resilience of the eurozone economy before raising rates.

"We expect the first rate hike in third-quarter 2019."

1311: Comcast's bid for Sky is no surprise to George Salmon at Hargreaves, as part of the reason the value of the deal is significantly higher than Fox's originally offer is that Sky has since secured three more years of rights to Premier League football at a reduced cost.

"As far as the value of Sky goes, that’s a game-changer," he says.

"The rights may come with multi-billion pound price tags, but Sky has proven the Premier League deals are well worth the outlay. The group looks on course to deliver operating profits of £1.5bn this year, double what it earned ten years ago.”

1220: Interesting report from Which? out earlier suggesting that most high street banks have given savers a raw deal by not passing on last year’s BoE 0.25% interest rate rise in full. Research found this cost households an estimated £600m a year in lost interest - what would you have done with your extra 15 quid?

1214: The London midday market report finds stocks further into the red, despite higher takeover offers boosting Sky and Shire. The FTSE 100 was down 0.7% to 7,369.40, while the pound was off 0.2% against the dollar at 1.3947 and flat versus the euro at 1.1430.

1154: Sky is withdrawing its recommendation of Fox's December offer, and said it will not have to pay a break fee of £200m. Sky said Comcast's commitments in relation to Sky News, "should comprehensively address any potential public interest concerns".

1128: Fox says it is considering its options but "remains committed" to its recommended cash offer for Sky.

1105: Comcast says it intends to make a cash offer for Sky of 1,250p cash per share, or £22bn for the lot. This is 16% more that the 21st Century Fox offer of 1075p.

Plus Comcast says Sky shareholders will be entitled to receive any final dividend for the current year ended 30 June, up to an amount of 21.8p per share

0943: The latest PwC/IAB spending figures show a record £11.6bn of internet advertising advertising last year.

Data from YouGov released alongside the figures shows podcasts, social media stories and learning new skills are smartphone activities seeing biggest surge in popularity, with the IAB finding smartphone advertising grew 37.4% to account for 45% of internet ad spend and video ads on smartphones the fastest-growing format, up 69%.

“People are spending more time online and doing a wider variety of things, particularly on smartphones, be it learning a new skill, listening to podcasts or following stories on the likes of Snapchat and Instagram,” says IAB boss Tim Elkington. “Digital is enhancing people’s lives, and the ad community is responding by developing new ad experiences that fit seamlessly into their environment, particularly within mobile and video.”

0849: The negative tone carried over from the US session is dampening down the responses to some major FTSE 100 updates, says market analyst Connor Campbell at Spreadex.

He points to Lloyds Banking slipping 0.2% even as it posted a 23% jump in Q1 profit, Persimmon rising only slightly after stating its total forward sales revenue for the year to date was up 8%.

"And in arguably the biggest news of the morning, Whitbread announced that it would indeed be spinning off Costa Coffee, a well-telegraphed reveal that didn’t generate much traction for the firm’s stock price."

If you want a big reaction, look to Boohoo.com, up 16% after putting out its final results showing sales had nearly doubled to £579.8m, with pre-tax profit surging 40% to £43.3m

"Margin pressure had left the AIM online fashion retailer in a real sorry state, the stock plunging 41% in the 7 months since last September’s half year results," notes Campbell. "Yet its annual figures, and the fact the company was lurking near a 16 month nadir, helped investors set aside their margin concerns, for now at least."

0839: Wednesday's London open market report finds stocks down in early trade on Wednesday, taking their cue from a tech-led selloff on Wall Street. At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.6% to 7,380.64, despite the pound falling 0.3% versus the dollar to 1.3937 but staying flat against the euro at 1.1430.

0830: Shares in Shire and Whitbread are bucking the downward trend, after Shire directors said they "would be willing" to recommend the latest takeover proposal from Japan's Takeda of roughly £49 per share, "subject to certain terms". The pair have a new 8 May deadline to sort things out.

Whitbread, meanwhile, said it plans to spin off its Costa coffee chain into a separate listed business within the next two years following pressure from activist investors. Shore Capital analyst Greg Johnson reckons Costa's valuation would be a "mid-to-high teens post tax profit multiple, or 8-10x EBITDA".