Sainsbury's sales fall over Christmas, Taylor Wimpey finishes year in line with forecasts

Stocks to watch

House builder Taylor Wimpey said it would report 2018 full year results in line with expectations as the housing market remained stable despite uncertainties caused by Brexit. “During the year, we saw good levels of demand, which converted into strong sales rates across the business.,” the company said in a trading statement. Total home completions increased by 3% to 14,947, including joint ventures.

Sainsbury's reported a fall in like-for-like sales over the past 15 weeks, which it blamed on cautious customer spending and the decision to reduce Black Friday promotions. Total sales fell 0.4% in the third quarter ending 5 January, with like-for-like sales excluding fuel down 1.1%. City analysts had expected a 0.3% rise in LFL sales after the 0.2% gain in the first quarter and 1.0% in the second.

Fresnillo confirmed the appointment of André Sougarret Larroquete as its new chief operating officer on Wednesday - a role, in which he would oversee the safe and efficient running of the company’s existing mines. The FTSE 100 firm said Larroquete was bringing a “significant” track record in the mining sector with him. Larroquete was joining Fresnillo following the retirement of Roberto Díaz.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s biggest financial adviser, Hargreaves Lansdown, has slashed the fund offerings on its highly influential buy-list, controversially excluding top manager Terry Smith while keeping faith with rival Neil Woodford. The Hargreaves Lansdown Wealth 150 list of funds is regarded as the most powerful buy-list in the asset management industry, driving huge flows in and out of fund firms. - Guardian

The North Sea predator circling Faroe Petroleum has bowed to pressure from its shareholders by raising the price of its hostile takeover bid. Norwegian oil giant DNO said it would pay 160p a share after failing to convince shareholders to turn their back on the Aberdeen-based company for 152p last week. - Telegraph

The pollution charge being introduced in London in April could affect almost 2.5 million cars and vans a year, official figures have suggested. Sadiq Khan has previously said that fewer than 60,000 vehicles a day would pay the £12.50 ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) fee but has not made clear the total number of vehicles that might be affected by the charge at some point during the year. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher for a third straight session on Tuesday as optimism surrounding the latest round of talks between the US and China boosted sentiment.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.09% higher at 23,787.45, while the S&P 500 gained 0.97% to 2,574.41 and the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.08% firmer at 6,897.00.

The Dow closed more than 250 points higher after losing some of its earlier momentum as a key report revealed job openings across the US had fallen to their lowest level since the beginning of summer.

Early reports out of Beijing state American and Chinese negotiators had reportedly made progress in talks, including on purchases of US goods and services, but the two sides were said to still not be ready to finalise a deal.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, citing sources, follow-up cabinet-level talks were expected later in January.

Earlier, the US President himself had tweeted: "Talks with China are going very well!"