Market Pulse
US close: Dow dips ahead of non-farm payrolls
US stock indices lost a sliver of ground on Thursday, squeezed between Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's gently chilling reminder that a December rate hike remained a possibility and Friday's looming non-farm payroll report.
Amec Foster Wheeler slashes dividend, sees long oil weakness
Shares in Amec Foster Wheeler tumbled after the oil and gas engineering services company announced it was cutting its dividend by half and lifting its cost-savings target for the year amid tough market conditions.
Commodities: Oil plummets, copper drags base metals lower
Oil futures endured a volatile Thursday dogged by oversupply concerns, while a copper selloff sent base metals tumbling.
Sector movers: Natural resource stocks hammer London market
Declines in metal and oil futures saw commodities linked stocks drag the London lower on Thursday, as extractive industries associated with copper were left feeling the heat in particular.
Market overview: FTSE down despite dovish MPC
1630:Close Another large drop in copper prices and a dip in oil weighed on the top flight index despite a dovish set of MPC minutes and Inflation Report. Carney&Co. pointed to downside risks for growth arising from emerging markets and signaled they are in no hurry to lift Bank Rate. Their prognosis was echoed at the company level by management at Amec, which cited risks of an extended slowdown in oil and gas as the reason why they were slashing their dividend. Analysts at Numis also took down their target price for Hunting on expectations for a slow recovery in capex in the oil field services space.
London close: Copper prices weigh on Footsie despite dovish MPC
Equities ended near their worst levels of the day despite a dovish set of minutes from the Bank of England's last Monetary Policy Committee meeting, weighed down by a further drop in commodity prices.
Friday preview: October US jobs report critical for Fed hike expectations
All eyes will be on the US non-farm payrolls report on Friday as investors look for clues on the timing of the next rate hike, particularly after Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s hawkish comments on Wednesday.
FX Roundup: Yellen comments sustain dollar rally
The dollar posted upticks against major currency crosses in European trading on Thursday, extending overnight gains further on comments about a possible US interest rate hike by Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
Europe close: Stocks waver amid disappointing earnings, euro surges against pound
European equity markets struggled for direction on Thursday, as investors weighed up some upbeat corporate results against disappointing data releases and digested the latest comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.
New Barclays chief backs bank to the tune of GBP6.5m
A month before starting his new job, Jes Staley is already stumping up his own cash to back his new employer Barclays.
Fed Dudley says more work is needed to improve culture within big banks
William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, said more work was needed to improve the work culture within big banks.
Amphion Innovations announces m2m merger
Amphion Innovations has signed a memorandum of understanding to merge its partner company m2m Imaging Corp with an undisclosed pulmonary imaging technology.
Hunting to be hit by slower capex recovery at clients, Canaccord says
A slow recovery in capital spending by the oil field services majors will have a greater than expected impact on Hunting´s ability to rely on them to drive a pick-up in its pricing, hitting its margins hard in the medium-term and wreaking havoc on its earnings per share, analysts at Canaccord Genuity said.
FTSE 100 movers: Anglo American falls to 16-year lows
The FTSE 100 was down for most of the day on Thursday, with the market going into the black briefly after the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged.
Thousands of tourists trapped at Sharm El-Sheikh, Thomas Cook drops
Thousands of tourists were stranded at the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh after the government asked that all flights departing from the UK to and from the holiday destination be delayed until British aviation experts could assess the security arrangements at the Egyptian airport.
Spirent spirals back towards seven-year low
Weakness in wireless has sent Spirent shares spiralling back down towards the seven-year low they set almost a year ago, though directors still were confident underlying results would remain in line.
US open: Equities edge higher after jobless data
US stocks edged higher early on Thursday, as investors awaited more indications from the Federal Reserve over the timing of a first interest rates hike.
US labour productivity beat forecasts in the third quarter
US labour productivity was far stronger in the third quarter than economists had expected, figures released on Thursday showed.
FTSE 250 movers: Amec tumbles as it slashes dividend; Supergroup shines on strong sales
London’s FTSE 250 was down 0. 4% to 17,120. 80 at 1440 GMT, as investors digested the Bank of England’s decision to stand pat on interest rates and its asset-purchase programme.
Diageo sells more wine assets and agrees Argentinian spirits partnership
Diageo has sold off more of its wine assets for an amount described as "not material" after deciding earlier this year that wine was "no longer core".