Cheese and butter boost Dairy Crest; new chairs announced for IP Group, St. Modwen
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 19 points lower on Monday, having closed up 0.31% at 7,304.04 on Friday.
Stocks to watch
Dairy Crest said strong sales from its largest cheese and butter brands will mean first half revenues will churn higher than last year. The FTSE 250 group expects half-year profit will be "slightly ahead" of last year but expectations for the full year remain thus-far unchanged.
St. Modwen Properties announced the appointment of Danuta Gray as chair designate and a non-executive director on Monday, with effect from 1 October. The FTSE 250 company said that on appointment, Gray would join the remuneration and nomination committees, and would work closely with current chairman Bill Shannon over the coming months in preparation for his handover of the chairmanship at the end of the next annual general meeting next March.
IP Group has appointed Sir Douglas Flint as non-executive chairman and director of the company. Flint, who succeeds Mike Humphrey, will become chairman elect with immediate effect and will assume the role of chairman from 1 November.
Newspaper round-up
The European Union is secretly preparing to accept a frictionless Irish border after Brexit in a move that raises the prospect of Theresa May striking a deal by the end of the year. In a concession to British concerns, EU negotiators want to use technological solutions to minimise customs checks between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. - The Times
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has downgraded its prediction for UK growth this year and the following, joining a growing number of forecasters that warn Brexit uncertainty has sapped the economy’s strength. Looking ahead to the end of the year, economists at the BCC said GDP growth will fall to 1.1% from a previous forecast of 1.3% while next year it will hit only 1.3%, down from 1.4%. - Guardian
The world’s major economies are skating on dangerously thin ice and lack the fiscal, monetary, and emergency tools to fight the next downturn. A roster of top crisis veterans fear an even more intractable slump than the Lehman recession when the current ageing expansion rolls over. The implications for liberal democracy are sobering. - Telegraph
US close
Wall Street finished a volatile session of trading higher as investors investors reacted, first to a weaker-than-expected reading on US retail sales for August and then to reports that the US administration was intent on moving ahead with further tariffs on China, even as the US Treasury Secretary was reportedly leading an effort to restart trade talks
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had edged higher by 0.03% or 8.68 points to 26,154.67, alongside a dip of 0.05% or 3.67 points to 8,010.04 for the Nasdaq Composite and an advance of 0.03% or 0.80 points to 2,904.98 on the S&P 500.
From a sector standpoint, the best performing segments of the market were: Marine transportation (6.54%), Aluminium (2.44%), Life insurance (2.25%), Recreational services (1.78%) and Aerospace (1.41%).
In parallel, the CBoE's volatility index was off by 2.43% to 12.07 points.
Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "US markets have returned to their winning ways this week, and even a shift towards a more hawkish view from policymaker Lael Brainard has not unduly disturbed equities. As CPI cools and wages rise, the US seems set to continue is economic outperformance, though the ongoing outflows in US equities suggests we are not at the ‘irrational exuberance’ phase of this rally just yet."
Shortly after the open, reports surfaced that President Donald Trump supported levying tariffs on a further $200.0bn-worth of Chinese goods, despite efforts led by Steve Mnuchin to bring Beijing back to the negotiating table - sending stocks tumbling lower.