TUI still expecting 10pc earnings growth, Workspace buys Fitzrovia office building

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 29 points higher on Wednesday, after closing up 0.68% at 7,343.42 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Holiday tour operator TUI said said winter 2016/17 and summer 2017 were trading in line with expectations and reiterated its guidance of at least 10% growth in group underlying EBITA in 2016/17. Winter and summer revenues were both up 9%, TUI said in a trading statement.

Passenger transport operator Stagecoach Group published a trading update in respect of its financial year ending 29 April 2017 on Wednesday, ahead of a series of meetings with analysts. The FTSE 250 company said expectations for the group's adjusted earnings per share for the year had not changed from when we announced our interim results in December 2016. It said like-for-like revenue for the 44 weeks to 4 March was down 1.7% in UK regional bus, 0.9% in London bus and 2.2% in North America, while like-for-like revenue was up 1.6% for UK rail and 5.3% for the Virgin Rail Group.

Investor Workspace Group said it has bought an office building in Fitzrovia, London for £98.5m from Arup Group, an design and engineering firm. The FTSE 250 company bought 13-17 Fitzroy Street at £1,063 per square foot and a net yield of 4.6%.

BHP Billiton iron ore chief Edgar Basto has warned that the supply of low-cost seaborne iron ore is expected to grow faster than demand, but assured that company is well-positioned to continue to grow value and shareholder returns. With its Yandi mine in central Pilbara due to be depleted over the next five to 10 years, he said the company's preferred long-term solution replacement was a mine at South Flank.

Newspaper round-up

Fruit and vegetables, flowers and olive oil will all become more expensive once the UK leaves the EU, no matter what trade deal is struck, City analysts have calculated. The price of food imported from the EU is likely to rise by up to 8% by the end of any transitional period as Britain is forced to impose extra border controls, making it more difficult to bring in foods that we cannot produce ourselves. – Guardian

The government has written to the chief executives of the biggest UK-listed companies urging them to improve diversity and echoing a call to publish a breakdown of their workforce by race and pay band. The business minister Margot James said all FTSE 350 companies should take up key recommendations from a recent government-backed review into race in the workplace by the businesswoman Ruby McGregor-Smith. – Guardian

One of Sir Philip Green's key lieutenants is leaving her job running Topshop for the same job at The White Company. Mary Homer, who has been managing director of the fashion retailer for 11 years and has worked for the billionaire since 1987, is to replace outgoing White Company boss Will Kernan, who left in February to run online sports specialist Wiggle. Sir Philip will now begin a search for a replacement for Ms Homer, who resigned a week ago but has yet to fix her departure date. – Telegraph

US close

US equity markets finished in the green on Tuesday as investors dealt with the uncertain legislative future under the Trump administration and eyed more speeches by Fed officials.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.73% to 20,701.50, the S&P 500 ended 0.73% higher at 2,358.57, and the Nasdaq 100 was 0.61% firmer at 5,407.21.

“While yesterday’s late rebound in US markets was predicated that US lawmakers would be more determined to deliver something tangible on tax reform in order to offset the healthcare failures, anything quick and tangible is likely to remain a remote prospect,” Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets said.

On the data front, the US international trade deficit fell sharply to $64.8bn in February from $68.8bn the month earlier and better than the $66.4bn consensus forecast.

Exports fell just $0.1bn from January, while the value of imported goods decreased $4.2bn.

The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city house price index rose 5.9% in January from 5.7% the month before and is 31-month high.