The first hour or so of trading has seen the FTSE drop 32 points as traders have reacted to fresh concerns surrounding Ebola.
Equity traders have been met with red across their screens this morning as fresh Ebola worries and looming bank stress test results have dented trader’s optimism. New York has now had its first case of Ebola and airlines, hotels and travel agencies have all seen their shares punished. TSB has issued its quarterly figures and showed impeccable timing announcing a Tier 1 capital ratio of 18.8%, ensuring it will sail through this weekend’s test without its management having any stress. Considering the company has seen profits jump by 29% in the third quarter and almost one in every ten new bank accounts being opened is with it, the company will no doubt be looking to change the big four banks into a big five.
Last night saw both Amazon and Microsoft post their third-quarter figures. Amazon’s was suitably bad enough to see its shares drop by 9% in after-hours trading, while Microsoft in contrast saw its shares jump 4% higher. As important as today’s Ford and Proctor & Gamble figures are, the eye can’t help but be drawn to the start of next week with Twitter and Facebook due to report on Monday and Tuesday. Now that New York has joined the list of cities with Ebola cases US awareness about this deadly virus is set to dramatically increase, and that nervousness will undoubtedly be transmitted to US equity markets.
Ahead of the open we expect the Dow Jones to start five points lower at 16,672.
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