Easyjet traffic ticks higher, Synthomer on track
London open
The FTSE 100 was being called around nine points lower by City traders on Monday, having finished at 7,560.35 the previous week.
Stocks to watch
EasyJet passenger numbers rose 9.9% in October as the load factor ticked higher. Traffic at the budget airline increased to 7.5m last month from 6.8m in October 2016, as the load factor – which gauges how the full the planes are – edged up to 92.5% from 90.2%.
Challenger bank Aldermore reported 12% growth in net loans by end of the third quarter, in which it received and recommended a bid from South Africa's First Rand bank. Aldermore lent £8.4bn in the first nine months of the year, up from £7.5bn last year, driven by £2.4bn of new lending and with net interest margin remaining unchanged from the first half of the year at 3.5%
Plastics maker Synthomer said volumes of sales in the third quarter remained flat on last year and that it continued to hunt for acquisition opportunities. Targets for the full year 2017 were unchanged from the interim results in August, underpinned by resilient trading in Europe and the Asian Nitrile market continuing to evolve in line with our expectations.
Newspaper round-up
Campaigners called for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate Glencore, one of the largest companies quoted on the London Stock Exchange, after leaked documents showed it secured the services of a controversial Israeli diamond trader to negotiate with an African government. The Swiss-based mining group, which operates two copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has a longstanding business partner in the shape of Dan Gertler, an Israeli tycoon and friend of President Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo. - The Times
Soaring stock market valuations on both sides of the Atlantic are stoking fears of a looming correction as valuations hit levels not seen since the dotcom bubble and the eve of the Wall Street crash. Stocks are trading at levels only previously reached in the run-up to Black Tuesday and the tech collapse of 2000, fuelling concerns among economists that markets are destined for a devastating reversal that would throw world economic growth off track. - Telegraph
More than 150,000 workers will get an inflation-beating pay rise on Monday as the UK living wage, which is paid voluntarily by more than 3,600 employers, is increased against a backdrop of rising transport, food and housing costs. The pay rate will rise 3.6% to £8.75 per hour around the UK and 4.6% to £10.20 in London, giving a wages boost to workers at companies which have adopted the measure, including Google and IKEA. - Guardian
US close
Wall Street stocks closed at record highs on Friday helped by an Apple bounce and after a mixed set of US labour market data.
The Dow Jones added almost 23 points or 0.1% to close at 23,539.19, while the Nasdaq composite reached an all-time high of 6,764.44 after rising 0.7% and the S&P 500 gained 0.3% to 2,587.84.
While Apple rose 2.6% on the back of strong quarterly earnings and guidance for the final quarter, traders were also mulling a Department of Labor non-farm payrolls report that showed 261,000 new jobs were added last month, short of the consensus 313,000.