LONDON (SHARECAST) - 1630: Close In purely quantitative terms the long awaited monthly employment report has come in clearly better-than-expected, particularly as regards to the unemployment rate, which dropped by three tenths of a percentage point in September, to 7.8% (Consensus: 8.2%). Also abroad, Spanish Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, has insisted that his country doesn't need to be bailed out at all as he defended Spain’s progress on deficit reduction. In the UK, mining companies have performed well throughout the session, boosted by the US jobs data. KCom was a significant faller after saying that orders in its enterprise division have been below expectations. The FTSE 100 closed up 43 points at 5,871.
1614: Anglo American lays off 12,000 workers at its platinum unit.
1524: Analysts at Barclays Research have said that the solid US employment report is unlikely to alter the Federal Reserve’s plans for more quantitative easing (QE). ‘We think the unemployment rate would need to decline further from here in the October and November reports before the Fed would think about not fully converting its Treasury purchases under Operation Twist to open-ended purchases,’ said analyst Michael Gapen. FTSE 100 up 58 to 5,885.
1455: The FTSE 100 is now up nearly one per cent, trading 52 points higher at 5,879 after the US jobs report. ‘A firmer but fairly lacklustre morning in Europe was given fresh impetus this afternoon after the US September employment report, saw the unemployment rate slide under eight per cent for the first time since Obama became President, and a strong upward revision in the August number from 96k to 142k saw equity market retest their recent highs,’ explained analyst Michael Hewson from CMC Markets. Miners have extended gains in London with ENRC, Kazakhmys and Evraz trading over four per cent higher.
1330: Non-farm payrolls (NFP) have come in at an increase of 114,000 for September, while the unemployment dropped to 7,8% due to a rise of 873,000 in the number of employed. Revisions to previous months´ data have added 86,000 positions to NFP figures. Average hourly earnings rose by three tenths of a percentage point month-on-month (Consensus: 0.2%). Some economists are describing the numbers as solid but not great, even if they do not like the recent trend in the number of people that are looking for jobs and not being able to find any they are saying. As well, public sector employment surpassed expectations in jobs creation, but not so the private sector.
1147: The FTSE 100 is trading close to its best levels of the day, up 27 points at 5,855, in anticipation of the US payrolls data due out soon. Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital said this morning: 'European financial markets have produced mild gains today amid growing optimism that US non-farm payrolls out this afternoon will exceed market expectations. ADP and weekly jobless claims data this week both bode well for today’s payrolls report, raising expectations for a stellar figure today.'
1038: The FTSE 100 has extended gains, trading 22 points higher at 5,850, ahead of the key monthly jobs report due out in the US later today. Non-farm payrolls are expected to have increased by 111,000 last month, up from the previous gain of 96,000. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate is forecast to rise to 8.2 per cent from 8.1 per cent.
0958: The FTSE 100 is trading 12 points higher at 5,840, with strength in the mining sector providing a lift; ENRC, Vedanta and Kazakhmys are making decent gains. Supermarket giant Tesco is continuing to extend losses after disappointing with interim profit figures on Wednesday. Investec kept its 'sell' rating for the stock this morning, saying that the supermarket's giant needs a 'major overhaul'. Burberry is a high riser after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating to 'overweight', while Kingfisher fell after the same US broker downgraded the stock to 'equal weight'.
0903: Hull based telecoms group Kcom is getting a bashing this morning after it revealed its enterprise business has delivered year over year growth in its multi-year order backlog, albeit lower than previously anticipated due to the uncertain environment for business investment decision making. On the broker front, Credit Suisse has upgraded credit checking firm Experian to 'out-perform' and cranked up the target price to 1200p from 990p previously. FTSE 100 is up 12 at 5,840.
0809: Footsie has opened on the front foot, with miners leading the way. Gold has hit an 11-month high in Asian trading, with investors flocking to the traditionally safe investment as they worry about the effect of monetary easing measures on currencies. The dollar index, which represents the value of the US currency against a basket of other currencies, is close to a two-week low; gold is denominated in dollars, so a decline in the greenback makes gold cheaper in relative terms. Corporate news flow is fairly light this morning. A trading update from oilfield support services firm Wood Group has comforted the market but Smiths Group's 400m dollar bond offering, announced last night, has put a small dent in the shares of the technology outfit. At 13:30 today all eyes will be focused on the September US non-farm payrolls release. The market is expecting payrolls to increase by 111,000 after August's 96,000 increase. The US unemployment rate is seen rising to 8.2 per cent from 8.1 per cent in August. FTSE 100 is up 17 at 5,844.
LONDON (SHARECAST) - 1630: Close In purely quantitative terms the long awaited monthly employment report has come in clearly better-than-expected, particularly as regards to the unemployment rate, which dropped by three tenths of a percentage point in September, to 7.8% (Consensus: 8.2%). Also abroad, Spanish Minister of Economy, Luis de Guindos, has insisted that his country doesn't need to be bailed out at all as he defended Spain’s progress on deficit reduction. In the UK, mining companies have performed well throughout the session, boosted by the US jobs data. KCom was a significant faller after saying that orders in its enterprise division have been below expectations. The FTSE 100 closed up 43 points at 5,871.
