Stock markets in Europe are slightly extending their gains from yesterday as traders appear to be shrugging off the growing health crisis in China. Beijing have confirmed the coronavirus situation has claimed more lives, and the number of people infected has jumped too.
Markets are showing small gains which suggests that dealers aren’t overly confident the situation will just drop off the radar anytime soon. Neither are they running for the hills, so perhaps they are waiting to find out the financial cost of the crisis.
Wizz Air (LON:WIZZ) shares are a touch higher this morning following the solid third-quarter update. Total revenue increased by over 24% to €637.3 million, while profit for the period was €21.4 million – a record for the timeframe. The low-cost carrier upped its full-year guidance to €350-€355 million, while the previous guidance was for between €335 million and €350 million. The company continues to perform well in an industry that has had its fair share of turbulence. The stock recently hit a record-high, which is a good indicator of how popular it is with traders. Should the bullish trend continue it might target 4,400p.
Fresnillo (LON:FRES) revealed its fourth-quarter and full-year production figures. Annual silver and gold output decreased by 11.6% and 5.1% respectively. The production outlook for both metals are broadly in line with the levels that were achieved in the year just gone. Should the lower end of the targets be achieved the output would fall on the year. The underlying price of gold plus silver has been relatively strong recently, which should stand to the company.
McCarthy & Stone (LON:MCS) shares are lower this morning even though Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) upped its price target for the stock to 170p from 154p. In addition to that, Canaccord Genuity also raised their price target from 134p to 135p. Yesterday the construction company posted respectable figures and confirmed that client interest has ticked up since the general election.
Crest Nicholson (LON:CRST) shares have been given a hand by Jefferies who upped their price to 449p from 428p.
The eurozone released some mixed economic reports this morning, and EUR/USD is in the red. The German GfK consumer sentiment reading ticked up to 9.9 from 9.7. On a monthly basis, German import prices increased by 0.2%, which undershot the 0.3% forecast. French consumer confidence increased to 104 from 102. The US dollar index is higher again as traders look ahead to the Fed meeting at 7pm (UK time).
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares will be in play today as the group posted impressive quarterly numbers after the closing bell last night. The tech giant posted a 9% increase in revenue to $91.8 billion, which topped the $88.5 billion forecast. EPS were $4.99, and the consensus estimate was $4.55. The second-quarter guidance for revenue as well as margin exceeded market expectations. The services unit was bit of a disappointment as revenue jumped by 17% to $12.7 billion, but traders were expecting $13.07 billion.
We are expecting the Dow Jones to open 73 points higher at 28,795 and we are calling the S&P 500 up 9 points at 3,285.
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