After eventually easing some of yesterday’s hefty losses before the session’s close, the European indices are struggling to now follow in the footsteps of a rebounding Dow Jones.
The FTSE fell 0.3% after the bell, taking it back below the 7250 mark it has spent the struggling to break past, as the pound sat flat at $1.395 against the dollar – a huge improvement on Thursday’s lows – and up 0.2% against the euro. Once again the index didn’t receive much help from its reporting companies. While Pearson (LON:PSON) rose more than 5%, the former FT-owner swinging from a £2.5 billion loss to a £421 million full year pre-tax profit, RBS (LON:RBS) and IAG weren’t so lucky.
The 71% tax-payer owned bank soon fell 4.5% as the session got underway, even after reporting its first annual profit for a decade. It seems that investors were put off but the lack of clarity surrounding RBS’ settlement with the US Department of Justice – which was meant to be sorted last year – with the bank still in line for a potentially colossal fine. In regards to that, RBS set aside another £492 million, taking its total US litigation kitty to £3.2 billion.
As for International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG), the British Airways-owner ended up dropping 3.5% as its 19% rise in operating profit still fell short of analysts’ estimates. However, there was still plenty to enjoy in IAG’s update, including an upgrade to its 2018 earnings forecasts, a 15% increase to its full year dividend to 27 cents per share, and the promise of a €500 million share buyback at some point in 2018.
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