LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Thursday as the Jackson Hole gathering of world central bank figures in US state of Wyoming begins.As well as focus on the central bank symposium, traders will be monitoring any further escalation after the US and China's tit-for-tat introduction of USD16 billion worth of duties on each other's goods.Meanwhile, released late Wednesday, minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting earlier in August showed a September rate hike looks likely.In early UK company news,
CRH lifted its interim dividend as revenue and profit grew despite weather disruption,
OneSavings bumped up its payout as half-year profit grew, while
AstraZeneca saw disappointing results from a trial for Bevespi Aerosphere.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 21.94 points lower at 7,552.30 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.1%, or 8.54 points at 7,574.24 on Wednesday.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 0.3%, the S&P 500 slightly lower but the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.4%.Another interest rate hike may be coming, according to the minutes from the latest meeting of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy committee.The Fed's monetary policy committee suggested that, if economic data continue to stay strong, "it would likely soon be appropriate" to take another step toward raising rates, minutes from the committee's July 31-August 1 meeting showed.Some members showed concern over tariffs, with most saying an escalation in international trade disputes was a "potentially consequential downside risk."The Fed has raised rates twice this year, but, at its last meeting, left its target range of 1.75 to 2% unchanged. Its next meeting is scheduled for September 25-26.Societe Generale said a September hike now "looks like a done deal" following the minutes.Focus continues to lie on central banks on Thursday, as the Jackson Hole symposium in Wyoming kicks off. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is slated to speak at the event on Friday.Meanwhile, the US on Thursday enacted a new round of tariffs on Chinese products worth USD16 billion, as the trade war between the world's largest economies drags on.The 25% duties affect Chinese goods ranging from drainage pipes to agricultural products and railway wagons.China, in response, imposed its own retaliatory tariffs of equal measure. The 25% Chinese tariffs went into effect at the same time as US duties on the same amount of Chinese products, the Xinhua news agency said."The monetary size is small but the gesture is big, and traders will be eyeing developments," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.In UK company news,
Sky noted Comcast Corp late Wednesday extended its offer for the pay TV provider to September 12, having so far received acceptances of its offer from 0.2% of Sky shareholders.Building materials firm
CRH said revenue edged upwards over the first half of the year while profit climbed amid "significant weather disruption", lifting its dividend as a resultInterim revenue grew 1% to EUR11.94 billion as pretax profit climbed 5% to EUR497 million. The company lifted its dividend 2% to 19.60 cents from 19.20 paid a year ago. "We have had a good first half despite significant weather disruption in Europe and North America in the first quarter. Construction markets continued to recover and pricing gathered momentum in key European markets while there was solid volume and price growth against a positive economic backdrop in the Americas," said Chief Executive Albert Manifold.Like-for-like sales over the first half of 2018 grew 2%, with Europe up 1%, the Americas up 3% but Asia down 2%."For the second half of the year, despite continuing currency headwinds and challenging conditions in the Philippines, we expect an improvement in the momentum experienced in Europe in the first half of the year and further Ebitda growth in the Americas, which will result in another year of progress for the group," said Manifold.Drugmaker
AstraZeneca said the AERISTO Phase IIIb trial for Bevespi Aerosphere - a treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - showed a non-inferiority to meclidinium/vilanterol on peak forced expiratory volume in one second but did not demonstrate superiority on peak FEV1 or non-inferiority on trough FEV1.Colin Reisner, head of respiratory, Global Medicines Development, said: "The performance of Bevespi Aerosphere in AERISTO is inconsistent with previous data. A full analysis is underway to understand and characterise these findings and will be presented at a forthcoming medical meeting."
OneSavings Bank said pretax profit rose 17% over the first half of the year to GBP91.8 million with net loan book growth of 11%. Net interest income grew to GBP135.2 million from GBP117.1 million.Net interest margin slipped to 301 basis points from 324bps a year ago with a common equity tier one ratio of 13.3%, again lower than 13.7% last year.The challenger bank bumped up its dividend by 23% to 4.3p per share from 3.5p paid a year earlier."Given the growth already achieved this year and considering the current pipeline and application levels for the third quarter to date, we now expect to deliver net loan book growth of high-teens in 2018, whilst maintaining an appropriate margin for the risks we are underwriting," said Chief Executive Andy Golding.
Playtech said revenue and profit rose over the first six months of the year, though adjusted earnings fell.Revenue grew to EUR436.5 million from EUR421.6 million as pretax profit rose to EUR124.2 million from EUR91.5 million. On an adjusted basis, profit fell to EUR98.1 million from EUR129.8 million while adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell 15% to EUR145.0 million. The company's acquisition of Snaitech - which contributed EUR11.8 million to Playtech's adjusted Ebitda - was consolidated from June 5.The company's interim dividend was unchanged at 12.1 cents per share. Post the period end, the company said average daily revenue in the B2B Gaming Division for the first 52 days of the third quarter was down 13% on the same period a year ago. B2C gaming excluding Snaitech is performing in line with expectations, Playtech said, with the Sun Bingo contract "continuing to see revenue momentum".In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.4%.In Japanese data, the manufacturing sector continued to expand in August, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed.August's PMI score came in at 52.5, up from 52.3 in July and moving further above the 50.0-mark that indicates expansion.Individually, input and output price inflation climbed to multi-year highs, while overall demand improved - although export orders failed to rise for a third straight month.To come in the economic calendar are manufacturing and services PMIs from France, Germany and the eurozone due at 0815 BST, 0830 BST and 0900 BST respectively. At 1230 BST, accounts from the European Central Bank's latest meeting are released.In the US are continuing and initial jobless claims at 1330 BST, while manufacturing and services PMIs are due at 1445 BST.
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