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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London on Thursday are set for a slightly lower open, as the day's upcoming European Central Bank decision joins Brexit in occupying investor thinking.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 1.8 points lower at 7,258.94. The blue-chip index closed up 48.25 points, or 0.7%, at 7,260.74 on Wednesday.
The ECB's interest rate decision is due at 1245 BST, followed by a press conference with ECB President Mario Draghi.
"The resilience of European markets has been all the more surprising given that a lot of recent economic data has been anything but resilient. The sclerotic nature of the growth story in Europe is starting to fuel concerns the weakness in the manufacturing sector could start to seep into the services side of the economy," said Michael Hewson at CMC Markets UK.
"At its last meeting the ECB moved to try and address this by reinstating its asset purchase program to the tune of EUR20 billion a month, as well cutting the deposit rate to -0.5%. The bank also lowered inflation and growth forecasts."
"If anything, the ECB under-delivered on market expectations in September, and it soon became apparent why as a series of dissenting voices followed the decision, and press conference," Hewson continued.
"It is becoming quite clear there are growing tensions within the governing council over the direction of monetary policy, and with the departure of Draghi, also at the end of this month, these tensions are only likely to increase when Christine Lagarde takes over on the November 1."
The economic data calendar on Thursday has PMI readings from France, Germany, and the eurozone at 0815 BST, 0830 BST, and 0900 BST respectively.
EU leaders are continuing to consider whether to grant a further extension to Brexit against the objections of Boris Johnson.
The UK prime minister has warned he will push for a snap general election if he is forced to accept a lengthy delay to Britain's departure, potentially into the new year.
However there are signs of divisions among ministers and senior No 10 advisers over whether to press for a December poll.
Dominic Cummings, Johnson's chief adviser, is reportedly leading calls to abandon attempts to get the prime minister's Brexit deal through Parliament and go for an election.
The pound was quoted at USD1.2927 early Thursday, up against USD1.2887 late Wednesday.
In early UK corporate news, Royal Bank of Scotland reported a GBP8 million operating loss before tax for the quarter to September, after a GBP2.69 billion profit the year before.
The loss, RBS said, was caused in part by a GBP900 million provision for PPI payments.
The lender also said income was hurt by a "particularly challenging" quarter for NatWest Markets, though income was "broadly stable" across retail and commercial businesses compared to the second quarter of 2019.
Looking ahead, RBS reiterated all guidance given for 2019 and 2020 at the time of its interim results.
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca reported a 16% rise in product sales for the third quarter, to USD6.13 billion, helping revenue rise 20% to USD6.41 billion.
AstraZeneca's pretax profit for the quarter narrowed by 14% to USD409 million.
The company said all three therapy areas and every sales region had an "encouraging" performance.
AstraZeneca has, as a result, upgraded 2019 product sales guidance. This is now expected to be in the low-to-mid-teens as percentage growth, compared to low double-digit growth before. Earnings guidance is reiterated.
Analytics firm RELX delivered 4% underlying revenue growth for the first nine months of 2019, with all four business areas delivering an improvement year-on-year. The outlook for the year is unchanged, and RELX expects further revenue and adjusted operating profit growth in 2019.
Engineering and industrial software firm AVEVA reported low double-digit revenue growth in the first half ended September, with revenue also helped by foreign exchange movements.
The revenue mix was "positive", said AVEVA, with every region delivering growth.
The UK competition regulator, the Competition & Markets Authority, is looking into whether SSE's sale of its energy services business to Ovo Group could lessen competition.
The CMA is inviting comments, and any interested parties have until November 6 to speak to the regulator.
In the FTSE 250, refractory products company RHI Magnesita warned the global steel market has weakened further in the third quarter of 2019, with customers "significantly" reducing inventories.
As a result, RH Magnesita's sales volumes have fallen. Third-quarter Steel division revenue has dipped 14% year-on-year, and second half Steel performance is expected to be "materially" below the first half.
Elsewhere, the Industrial division is trading well. However, RHI Magnesita said this has not been able to offset the slowdown in Steel. As a result, the company has lowered full-year adjusted earnings before interest, tax, and amortisation guidance to between EUR400 million and EUR410 million.
Stockbroker AJ Bell reported a 17% rise in customer numbers for its year ended September, and assets under administration has climbed 13% to GBP52.3 billion. AJ Bell said growth was mostly driven by its platform business.
Total net inflows were GBP3.9 billion for the year, compared to GBP4.4 billion a year before.
Elsewhere, Coca-Cola European Partners said third-quarter 2019 revenue of EUR3.28 billion met expectations, and was flat year-on-year. Volumes fell 1.5%, however, to 691 million cases.
However, for the year-to-date, CCEP's revenue has risen 4.0% to EUR9.08 billion and volumes by 1.0% to 1.91 billion cases.
CCEP said it is "pleased" with performance, but there has been a slower start to trading in the fourth quarter due to softening market conditions, especially in France and Great Britain, not helped by poorer-than-usual weather.
Woodford Patient Capital Trust has appointed a new manager, Schroder Investment Management. Once a formal deal is signed, by the end of 2019, Woodford will rename to Schroder UK Public Private Trust.
Earnings season has continued apace in the US. Microsoft late Wednesday reported 14% revenue growth for the first quarter to September, on the back of a strong commercial cloud performance, while diluted earnings per share rose by 21% to USD1.38. Microsoft described it as a "strong" start to its financial year.
Electric carmaker Tesla, which had been expected to post a loss, reported a profit of USD143 million on revenue of USD5.4 billion in the third quarter ending September 30.
Tesla gained 20% in after-hours trading in New York, while Microsoft added 0.5%.
In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up 0.2%, the S&P 500 0.3% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite 0.2% higher.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 0.6% higher on Thursday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.6%.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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