MARKET UPDATE 20/04/2017

We´re back!
The FTSE 100 is called to open 4 points lower at 7110.UK Gilt 10 Year Yield 1.063 Spot Gold $1279.01 -1.19 Brent Crude $53.45 +0.17

$ per £ 1.2804 € per £ 1.1938 $ per € 1.0725

U.S. stocks ended the day lower as an early rally in financial companies reversed and as plunging crude oil prices sent energy shares lower. S&P 500 down 0.2% to 2,338.17. Dow Industrials closed down 119 points, or 0.6%, to 20,404.49. Financials slid 0.3% after gaining as much as 1%. Utilities, real estate and staples weakended as the 10-year Treasury yield jumped to 2.21% from 2.17%. Stock movers inc Up: Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), Lam Research (LRCX), Mettler-Toledo (MTD) and down: IBM (IBM), Textron (TXT), Archer-Daniels Midlands (ADM). VIX climbed to 14.9. About 6.6b shares traded hands on U.S. exchanges, roughly in line with the one-year average.

PRESS COMMENTARY

The International Monetary Fund has revised up its UK growth forecast for the second time in three months; the IMF said it now envisaged the British economy expanding by 2% in 2017, Guardian.

Soaring fee income from bond trading helped Morgan Stanley to beat expectations on Wall Street, Times

COMPANY NEWS

Unilever PLC reported stronger underlying sales for the first quarter, as it raised prices, while headline results were helped by currency volatility.

Sky PLC said additional costs relating to Premier League soccer and a weaker U.K. advertising market led to a 11% drop in adjusted operating profit for first nine months of fiscal 2017.

Publicis Groupe SA posted first-quarter sales that beat analysts’ expectations and forecast a return to growth in the second half as Chief Executive Officer Maurice Levy prepares to hand over to Arthur Sadoun in June.

Man Group PLC said strong fund inflows, positive investment performance and weakening of the dollar against certain other currencies has led to a sharp rise in quarterly funds under management, or FuM.

Debenhams Profit Meets Estimates; New Strategy Detailed.

Senior PLC said trading since January has been in line adding that it expects 2017's performance in line with its expectations.

Pershing Square to Repurchase Up to 5% of PSH Outstanding Shares.

Telecom Plus Says Customer, Service Numbers Grow; Raises Div.

Go-Ahead says 3Q trading in line with management expectations; full-year expectations for both bus and rail divisions unchanged from update given on Feb. 28.

Acacia Mining PLC reported Thursday 6% growth in first-quarter revenue to $234 million on increased production from its North Mara mine and a rise in gold prices.

John Laing Environmental Assets Group said it bought a wind farm for 22.7 million pounds ($28.5 million). Source Quilter Cheviot.

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