LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - 1406: IMF cuts global GDP growth forecast for 2016 from 3.4% to 3.2% and for 2017 from 3.6% to 3.5%.


1330: US import prices edged higher by 0.2% month-on-month in March (consensus: 1.0%).

1317: Peel Hunt downgrades Intu Properties and Shaftesbury from hold to reduce and Capital and Counties from reduce to sell. Unite and Segro on the other hand have been bumped up from add to hold. The broker's top buy recommendations remain Workspace and Great Portland and its top picks St.Modwen.

1250: Three-month copper futures are up by 0.7% to $4,697.50 per metric tonne on the LME.

1150: Ratings agency Fitch has downgraded the long-term debt rating of Saudi Arabia from AA to AA-, sticking to its negative outlook.

1100: The US NFIB small company confidence index slipped from a reading of 92.9 for February to 92.6 for March (consensus: 93.7). However, a sub-index for firms' investment intentions registered a two point rebound to 25.0%, undoing the previous month's drop. "The index [of companies' capital expenditure plans] is consistent with business capex, excluding mining equipment and structures - oil wells - rising by about 5% year-over-year. Hardly a boom, but not bad, especially as the drag from plunging mining capex is now beginning to fade and will be completely gone by the third quarter," Ian Shepherdson comments.

0930: Consumer prices in the UK rose by 0.5% month-on-month in March, versus economists' forecasts for an increase of 0.4%.

0919: Deutsche Bank estimates the equilibrium rate for the USD/JPY currency pair lies at 97.0.

0918: Stocks have started the morning slightly lower, tracking losses overnight on Wall Street ahead of the first results out tomorrow from JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Ahead of those quarterly figures, today's session will be largely bereft of economic data. To take note of, some analysts believe that poor profits for lenders will be a harbinger of a more difficult economy next year. Relative calm is prevailing for the moment in FX markets, while crude oil futures are headed higher by well over a percentage point. Front month Brent futures are up by 1.54% to $43.50 per barrel on the ICE. Meanwhile, in the fixed income space, the average yield for all outstanding German Bunds fell to 0.0% yesterday for the first time ever, Deustche Bank's Jim Reid points out in a note to clients this morning. Shares in Ashtead, Intu Properties and Burberry Group are leading fallers this morning. FTSE 100 down 15.79 points to 6,184.33.

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