Equity markets are mixed this morning. Trade concerns are still weighing on investor confidence. The DAX is the worst performing of the major European markets in light of dire factory order figures.
HSBC shares slipped this morning after the bank revealed an increase in adjusted operating expenses. Costs rose by 7% as the finance house is increasing its investment in China. HSBC derive the bulk of their money in the far east, and the bank is enhancing technology at its retail operations in China. Beefing up technology could may well be a short-term loss, and a long-term gain. Second-quarter pre-tax profit was $5.96 billion, topping analysts’ estimates of $5.79 billion. Despite the trade tensions between the US and China, HSBC is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about the state of global growth.
IWG shares have sold-off severely after the company confirmed that takeover talks have ended. The workspace company was in the crosshairs of a number of private equity firms for a number of months, but this morning, IWG declared that none of the offers were suitable. Now that the outside interest has disappeared, the share price of IWG has slumped.
Spire Healthcare warned that profit will be ‘materially’ lower due to weakness in the NHS related business. The company predicts the NHS business will underperform in the near-term. Spire Healthcare plan to trim capital expenditure this year in order to conserve cash. The stock has been in a downward trend since September 2016, and if the bearish move continues it could target 170p.
EUR/USD is in positive territory despite the dreadful factory orders report from Germany this morning. The update showed a 4% decline in June, while economists were expecting a 0.4% fall. The Eurozone Sentix investor confidence survey jumped to 14.7 in August, which was marginally ahead of the 13.5 forecast.
Tyson Foods will be in focus today as the company will release its third-quarter figures. The company could come under pressure as Chinese tariffs could hurt the business.
We are expecting the Dow Jones to open down 17 points at 25,445 and we are calling the S&P 500 down 2 point at 2,838.
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