By Josh White
Date: Monday 13 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 17 points lower on Monday, having closed down 0.86% on Friday at 8,248.49.
Stocks to watch
GSK on Monday said it was buying US-based biopharmaceutical company IDRx for up to $1.15bn. IDRx specialises in developing treatments for gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST), GSK will pay $1bn up front with the potential for a further milestone payment of $150m.
Entain reaffirmed its guidance for the financial year just ended on Monday, anticipating group EBITDA at the top of the £1.04bn to £1.09bn range, as it benefitted from favourable sports results in the fourth quarter. The FTSE 100 gambling giant said BetMGM was set to meet its guidance for an EBITDA loss of about $250m despite customer-friendly sports outcomes in October and December.
Fintech group Plus500 beat market forecasts with its results for 2024, driven by a solid end to the year with customer numbers surging 45% over the final quarter. The online CFD trading platform said in a pre-close update on Monday that full-year revenues would be $768m, generating EBITDA of $342m, well ahead of the company-compiled consensus estimate of $725m and $338m noted in late-October. The company welcomed 36,000 new customers in the fourth quarter alone, up 45% on the third quarter.
Newspaper round-up
Business leaders plan to cut costs and rein in hiring in response to government tax increases set out in the autumn budget, with employment expectations taking the sharpest tumble since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. A net two-thirds of finance directors said they did not expect to increase hiring levels this year, a four-year high, with a net 26% feeling more pessimistic about the prospects for their business than three months ago, the first time sentiment had slipped into negative territory in 18 months, according to the latest survey by the accountancy firm Deloitte. - Guardian
Senior bankers at Lloyds could be at risk of having their bonuses docked if they fail to follow company orders to be in the office at least two days a week. Lloyds Banking Group - which owns the Halifax, Lloyds and Bank of Scotland brands - has confirmed it is reviewing office attendance as part of performance-related bonus targets for its most senior employees. That includes hybrid staff who, in 2023, were ordered to be in the office at least 40% of the time, which typically amounts to two days a week for those on full-time contracts. - Guardian
Commuters are really kicking up a stink at my local train station, fed up with constant delays and cancellations as more of them are summoned back to the office. The local MP has been contacted on a daily basis by furious constituents, prompting her to tell rail bosses that their service in the area is "unacceptable". It will be the same story across the country. My station isn't even up there as a worst offender (for punctuality, rather than cancellations, it is actually slightly better than the national average). - Telegraph
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is preparing an order for a dozen high-speed trains as it bids to break Eurostar's monopoly on services through the Channel Tunnel. Virgin aims to sign a contract for the trains as early as this quarter to get ahead of startup Evolyn, which is also putting together plans to run trains from London to the continent. - Telegraph
Britain's chemicals industry is heading for "extinction", Sir Jim Ratcliffe has warned as the petrochemicals tycoon blames high energy prices and carbon taxes for forcing the closure of Ineos's synthetic ethanol plant at Grangemouth. The facility at the vast complex in Scotland, which mainly supplied the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, closed on Wednesday, resulting in a net loss of 80 jobs and affecting more than 500 indirect roles in the wider economy. - The Times
US close
US stocks closed sharply lower on Friday after a volatile session, as stronger-than-expected non-farm payrolls data reignited concerns about prolonged Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.63%, ending at 41,938.45, while the broader S&P 500 dropped 1.54% to close at 5,827.04, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 1.63%, finishing at 19,161.63.
In currency markets, the dollar was last up 0.17% on sterling, trading at 82.06p, as it edged up 0.05% against the euro to 97.66 euro cents, but weakened slightly against the yen, slipping 0.14% to change hands at JPY 157.51.
In economic news, the US labour market ended 2024 with stronger-than-anticipated job growth, defying forecasts for a more modest gain.
The Department of Labor reported a seasonally adjusted increase of 256,000 non-farm payrolls in December, significantly outpacing the consensus estimate of 165,000.
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