Shares in advertising giant WPP (WPP) are struggling, down 6% this morning as investors baulk at the nasty combo of a Q4 slowdown and disappointing outlook. Q4 revenue growth at its slowest since Q3’12 (2.1% year-on-year, organic) is blamed on a tough comparable period and both US and UK clients spending less; understandable, given the…
After what has already been a trying six months for the UK Index outsourcing company, today the company is facing the four horsemen of the Capit-apocalypse. Total Capita-lation. A steaming pile of… you get the picture. The highlights (or lowlights) of the company’s earnings report include pretax profits tumbling by 33%, while a series of one-off…
The announcement made by the FCA this morning that claimants of mis-sold PPI will have until August 2019 to bring forward their cases could have both bullish and bearish connotations for UK banks. The PPI scandal is the largest of its kind in UK history and aside from stemming a multitude of annoying television adverts…
On a cold winter evening in Vienna, members of OPEC confounded the world. The group, notorious for its internal disputes and questionable compliance record, agreed to its first production cut in 8 years despite some disagreement between Iraq, Iran and Saudi Arabia continuing into the 11th hour. Furthermore, OPEC convinced non-members, including Russia, to take part in the cuts, themselves hoping…
Today we have seen a significant uptick in the probability the the US Federal Reserve hikes interest rates at their next policy meeting on 14-15 March, as hawkish testimony from a crucial voter on the committee keeps the door open for an imminent rate hike. Fed fund futures are now forecasting a 50% chance of…
Shares in aerospace, defence and energy engineer Meggitt (MGGT) are 10% for the better this morning as investors react to a positive outlook for 2017 and hopes that the company will be a beneficiary of increased US military spend. While group profits fell 6% in 2016 due to tough energy markets, and the division is…