Balfour Beatty expecting higher profits, AstraZeneca gets Imfinzi approval in China
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 12 points higher on Thursday, having closed up 0.04% at 7,216.25 on Wednesday.
Stocks to watch
Construction group Balfour Beatty said it expected full year profit from operations to be slightly ahead of expectations after additional infrastructure Investment disposals in the second half. The company on Thursday said profits would be “broadly” in line with 2018's £205m with revenue forecast to be around 5% higher than the prior year figure of £7.8bn.
AstraZeneca announced on Thursday that it has received marketing authorisation from China's National Medical Products Administration for ‘Imfinzi’, or durvalumab, for the treatment of patients with unresectable, stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer, whose disease had not progressed following concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the approval of Imfinzi was based on results from the primary analysis of progression-free survival, and supported by overall survival, from the phase 3 ‘PACIFIC’ trial. It said a post-hoc analysis of three-year overall survival results had since shown that consistent efficacy was maintained for treatment with Imfinzi after additional follow up.
Newspaper round-up
US regulators allowed Boeing’s 737 Max to keep flying even after their own analysis found the plane could have averaged one fatal crash about every two or three years without intervention. According to a report dated a month after a Lion Air 737 Max crashed in October 2018, killing 189 people, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concluded the plane could become involved in more fatal crashes without design changes. – Guardian
Lloyd’s of London has issued a guide to the inclusion of trans and non-binary people as part of a cultural overhaul at the insurance market after a damaging sexual harassment scandal. The 29-page document, published on the Lloyd’s website, offers advice and resources to people working in insurance about how to foster a “stable emotional work environment” for trans and non-binary colleagues. – Guardian
Neil Woodford’s former protégé has been sacked as the manager of the £1.3 billion Edinburgh Investment Trust after a prolonged period of underperformance. The sacking deepens the turmoil surrounding Mark Barnett, the Invesco stockpicker. Last month he was forced to publicly apologise for the poor performance of two other funds he runs at Invesco after Morningstar, an influential research firm, raised concerns about the portfolios. – The Times
A Big Four accountancy firm has reported a 14 per cent fall in profits and slowing revenue growth in Britain as it prepares for greater separation of its businesses because of increased regulatory scrutiny. KPMG is feeling the pain from its decision to stop providing consulting and tax advice to all the large listed companies that it audits, after claims that the practice compromised its independence. Its bottom line has also been hit by £45 million of investment to improve its audit quality in the year to September 30. – The Times
US close
Wall Street stocks recorded some small gains on Wednesday as market participants digested the latest policy announcement from America's central bank.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.11% at 27,911.30, while the S&P 500 was up 0.29% at 3,141.63 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.44% firmer at 8,654.05.
The Dow closed 29.58 points higher on Wednesday after stocks finished below the waterline, following a choppy session on Tuesday, that saw investors remain glued to their screens for any hint of fresh developments in the ongoing US-China trade war.
Stocks pared some earlier losses after policymakers at the US Federal Reserve voted unanimously on Wednesday to keep policy unchanged, nodding to still "solid" labour market conditions, but pointing out that business fixed investment and exports remained weak and that its preferred measure of inflation continued to run below target.
As expected, the members of the Federal Open Market Committee voted to keep the target range for the Fed funds rate at between 1.5-1.75%, arguing that the decision was "appropriate" in order to sustain the economic expansion and keep inflation near the committee's 2.0% target.
Elsewhere, there continued to be no clear indication as to whether or not Washington and Beijing will reach an agreement over trade that could stop or reduce the current level of tariffs. The White House was set to slap fresh duties on another $156bn-worth of Chinese goods on Sunday.