THE FTSE is down in early trading this morning, dropping 5 points as visitor attraction operator, Merlin Entertainments warned of a difficult summer, blaming terror attacks and unfavourable weather, losing 20% of its share price since the open.
Pearson is the morning’s top performer, up 6% on news that earnings are set to be within the upper range of their forecast for the full year representing a positive turnaround following their profit warning earlier in the year.
The Pound will be in focus this morning ahead of the UK inflation figures release as expectations rise for an interest rate hike next month.
ADS Securities analyst, Konstantinos Anthis commented “”Given the importance of this potential policy shift today’s inflation figures will be key in gauging how likely this scenario is: a strong reading in the Consumer Price Index report would confirm that prices in Britain are trending higher threatening to overshoot BoE’s desired levels.”
A bullish printing will provide a boost for the Pound while the FTSE, whose recent performance has been dependent on a weaker Sterling, is likely to bear the brunt. A weaker printing is likely to see the reverse.
Over in the US, equity markets once again closed at all-time record highs as the Financial sector led market sentiment. Accendo Markets analyst, Mike van Dulken noted “The Dow Jones closed 85pts higher thanks to JP Morgan and Apple strength, the latter after a broker upgrade, while the S&P 500 rose 0.2% as Telecoms rallied alongside the Financial sector.”
“Note Netflix saw continued subscriber growth in Q3, beating analysts’ estimates by almost 1m to trade a fresh all-time high after hours.”
