In mid-morning trading the FTSE 100 is offside as Greek woes are weighing on the market.
The London market is doing its best to not be pulled into the red like its continental counterparts. The natural resources sector is providing a boost to the British market as metals are in demand this morning. Eurozone equity markets are bearing the brunt of the Greek concerns, and as the cost of borrowing for the indebted nation soars the fear of a default is on the rise. On the surface, it might appear that traders are not particularly worried about a Greek default, but if it wasn’t for the ECB’s QE scheme the equity markets would be in absolute turmoil. Shares in Debenhams are on the rise after the company stated it is on track to achieve its full-year expectations. The online delivery division delivered double-digit growth in the first half and this was the driving force behind the company’s recovery. Today’s update from Debenhams will help the share price break out of the downward trend that it has been in for over two years. Diageo shares have taken a tumble this morning as the drinks company’s third-quarter revenue figures missed analysts’ estimates. Diageo experienced soft sales in its developed markets, and a significant drop-off in the emerging markets proved to be a dangerous cocktail. Persimmon described the start to the year as ‘encouraging’, but with the success of the homebuilders recently the company is either deliberately downbeat about performance or it is genuinely starting to cool off.
In the US, we are expecting the Dow Jones to open 30 points lower, at 18,080, as the profit-takers were quick to move on the mildly dovish beige book from the US. The US reporting season continues with announcements from Goldman Sachs and Citigroup today, and the banks’ trading revenue and legal costs will be under scrutiny.
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