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NatWest boss quits, FTSE 100 seen lower
The FTSE 100 is expected to open lower as investors await a bumper crop of UK earnings while the US Federal Reserve makes its latest rate call after the market close.
BAT (LON:BATS), GSK, Lloyds, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO), Reckitt, Fresnillo (LON:FRES) are just some of the names updating investors on Wednesday, the busiest day so far of the UK reporting season.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s blue-chip index down by around 20 points after closing up 13.21 points at 7,691.80 on Tuesday.
Alongside Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY), another bank in focus is NatWest Group PLC (LON:NWG) after its boss Dame Alison Rose resigned after she admitted to a "serious error of judgment" in discussing Nigel Farage's relationship with private bank Coutts, owned by NatWest Group, with a BBC journalist.
Rose will leave the bank, whose biggest shareholder has been the UK government since a taxpayer bailout in the 2008 financial crisis, with immediate effect, NatWest said. She has worked there for more than 30 years and became chief executive in 2019.
In the US, markets advanced ahead of the US rate call where a 25 basis point rise is all but nailed on.
Results after the closing bell from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) were mixed. Microsoft shares fell although revenue and earnings beat expectations, the company reported a decelerating demand for its cloud computing services to 26% from 27%.
But Alphabet rose after results topped expectations driven by strong advertising.