Morrisons enjoys bumper Christmas, Persimmon expects modestly gain
London open
The FTSE 100 was being called 18 points higher on Tuesday, having lost ground to finish at 7,696.51 the day before.
Stocks to watch
Supermarket group Morrisons reported on a much stronger than expected Christmas period, boosted by the roll-out of its new wholesale operations. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose 2.8% in the ten weeks to 7 January, with the retail business growing 2.1% and wholesale adding 0.7%.
House builder Persimmon said it expected full year pre-tax profits would be “modestly ahead” of market consensus. In a trading update, the company said revenues for 2017 of £3.42bn were up 9% year on year with legal completion volumes up 6% to 16,043. The Group's average selling price increased by 3% to around £213,300.
Cigarette maker British American Tobacco said 2018 earnings would get a 6% boost from the recent US tax cuts “supporting our commitment to high single digit earnings growth and increased investment in the roll out of next generation products”.
Newspaper round-up
The number of retailers going into administration has risen for the first time in five years as falling consumer confidence and rising costs take their toll on businesses. Figures compiled by Deloitte show that 118 retailers became insolvent last year, a 28 per cent increase on 2016, when 92 firms filed for administration. - The Times
Theresa May’s new year reshuffle was thrown off course when senior members of the cabinet refused to move and Justine Greening quit the government after turning down a job as work and pensions secretary. Earlier, Jeremy Hunt rejected a new position as business secretary and instead persuaded the prime minister to allow him to remain at health in a beefed-up role taking on more responsibility for social care. - Guardian
The former boss of the Automobile Association, who was ousted for assaulting a colleague, is challenging his sacking in an employment tribunal. Bob Mackenzie was dismissed as executive chairman last July after he attacked a fellow AA executive in a hotel bar, which was captured on CCTV. He is understood to have lodged a claim alleging his sacking was mishandled and contravened company procedures. - Telegraph
US close
Wall Street finished on a mixed note come Monday, following a solid performance last week as traders debated on the outlook for equities and, somewhat strikingly, despite a top Federal Reserve official coming out in favour of modifying the central bank's policy framework and dovish comments from some of his peers.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was 0.05% lower at 25,283.00, while the S&P 500 was 0.17% higher to 2,747.71 and the Nasdaq Composite managed to add 0.29% to see the day out at 7,157.39.
In a nod to worries in some corners of the market that investors (especially so those from the retail segment) may have gotten ahead of themselves, JP Morgan told clients: "HF beta is elevated, MSCI World RSI appears stretched and the Bull-Bear index has just printed the highest level since 2010."