After a busy week it’s a quiet start in London with few significant corporate or macro-economic announcements. The FTSE 100 is slightly higher, up 0.3% to 7,575.54 in early trading.
Overnight in the US Republicans unveiled details of its tax reform plan which would lower the corporate rate from 35% to 20%. Shares in consumer electronics business Apple hit a record high as pre-sales of its new iPhone X fuelled a 19% increase in profit.
Later today non-farm payrolls data is released by the US Department of Labor. The market will be expecting a recovery from last month’s weather affected number which revealed an unexpected drop of 33,000.
Medical equipment business Smith & Nephew (SN.) falls 1% to £13.69 as it warns full year revenue and margin performance will be at the lower end of expectations. Previous guidance was for revenue growth of 3% to 4%. The bad news may increase the pressure on the company from activist investor Elliot Management which is believed to be pushing for disposals to make the company a more easy-to-swallow acquisition target.
Inter-dealer broker TP ICAP (TCAP) falls 5.9% to 503.5p as 9% revenue growth for the first nine months of 2017 is overshadowed by a warning the outlook for the fourth quarter ‘remains challenging’ and the news chief financial officer Andy Baddeley is stepping down with immediate effect.
Mining minnow Kodal Minerals (KOD:AIM) is up by a third to 0.27p as Singapore-based investor Suay Chin completes its subscription for £4.8m worth of shares. The investment provides the company with the funds for an exploration and definition programme on its Bougouni lithium project in Mali.
