(Alliance News) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed he had won the US election, despite the final results not yet being given, and said he would go the Supreme Court to dispute the counting of votes.
"We did win this election," Trump said in an extraordinary speech from the ceremonial East Room of the White House. "This is a fraud on the American public."
The Republican, who according to initial results is in a neck-and-neck race with Democrat Joe Biden, said he would go to court and "we want all voting to stop".
Trump appeared to mean stopping the counting of mail-in ballots which can be legally accepted by state election boards after Tuesday's election, provided they were sent in time.
Earlier, appearing before supporters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, after midnight, Biden said "we believe we're on track to win this election."
"Keep the faith, guys, we're going to win this."
But Biden, 77, warned that because of unprecedented use of mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic getting final results would "take a while".
US media said Biden had secured 224 Electoral College votes so far to Trump's 213, with 270 needed to win. Trump has been declared the victor in the key swing states of Florida and Ohio, while also holding Texas. Still to be declared are Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
The dollar was on the rise in response early Wednesday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.9% at 5,732.13
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Hang Seng: down 0.2% at 24,893.59
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.7% at 23,695.23
DJIA: closed up 554.98 points, 2.1%, at 27,480.03
S&P 500: closed up 1.8% at 3,369.16
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GBP: down at USD1.2944 (USD1.3070)
EUR: down at USD1.1631 (USD1.1729)
Gold: down at USD1,891.53 per ounce (USD1,906.10)
Oil (Brent): marginally lower at USD39.52 a barrel (USD39.64)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Wednesday's Key Economic Events still to come
US two-day FOMC meeting begins.
0930 GMT UK CIPS-Markit services purchasing managers' index
1100 GMT Ireland monthly unemployment (delayed from Tuesday)
0955 CET Germany services PMI
1000 CET EU eurozone services PMI
0700 EST US MBA weekly mortgage applications survey
0815 EST US ADP national employment report
0830 EST US international trade in goods & services
0945 EST US services PMI
1000 EST US ISM report on business services PMI
1030 EST US EIA weekly petroleum status report
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UK members of Parliament are to vote on a new four-week coronavirus lockdown for England amid warnings the NHS will be overwhelmed with thousands more deaths unless action is taken. With Labour backing the new restrictions, which are due to come into force on Thursday, the government is expected comfortably to win Wednesday's Commons vote. Nevertheless UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is facing a revolt by some Tory backbenchers angry at the impact on civil liberties and the economic damage the measures will cause. It is thought about 15 Conservative MPs could defy the whips and vote against the new controls – although the parliamentary arithmetic means their rebellion is likely to be largely symbolic.
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English pubs and restaurants have welcomed the UK government's plan to overturn its ban on businesses selling takeaway alcohol during the second national lockdown. The new rules state customers must pre-order their drink online, or by phone or post, which can be collected as long as they do not enter a premises. Official guidelines published over the weekend initially indicated a ban on serving alcohol takeaways for restaurants and pubs that will be made to close from Thursday. The U-turn comes as a relief to industry bosses who have previously warned the ban would result in "thousands of gallons of beer [being] poured down drains", with pub owners and campaigners urging the government to reverse the "baffling" and "nonsensical" decision.
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Ireland's service sector managed to partially stabilise in October but with weak underlying conditions, survey results showed. IHS Markit said the AIB Ireland services purchasing managers' index was stuck below the neutral score of 50.0 points again in October at 48.3. This was an improvement from the September reading of 45.8, but still indicates a second consecutive month of Irish service sector output decline. The continued downturn follows two months of growth in July and August after a spring lockdown. However, the rate of decline slowed from September. The composite PMI registered 49.0 points in October, up from 46.9 in September. On Monday, IHS Markit reported Ireland's manufacturing PMI reading at 50.3 in October, up from 50.0 in September.
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Eta was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane Tuesday even as it continued to pummel Nicaragua, killing two people there and one in neighbouring Honduras as it unleashed fierce winds and heavy downpours. The hurricane, which dropped from a Category 4 storm earlier in the day as it moved inland, hammered impoverished indigenous communities along the coast and caused heavy rains throughout much of Central America. Packing 110 mile an hour winds, Eta tore up trees and ripped roofs off homes in Bilwi, the biggest town on the northeastern coast, also known as Puerto Cabezas. Winds tore down the concrete perimeter walls of the town's baseball stadium, and left a trail of fallen trees as dazed cattle and domestic animals wandered through the streets, AFP reporters said.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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JPMORGAN RAISES ROYAL MAIL TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 374 (253) PENCE
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JPMORGAN RAISES BIG YELLOW GROUP TO 'OVERWEIGHT' ('UNDERWEIGHT') - TARGET 1250 (840) PENCE
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RBC RAISES SPIRE HEALTHCARE TO 'OUTPERFORM'('SECTOR PERFORM') TARGET 169 (115) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Irish paper and packaging firm Smurfit Kappa said revenue for the nine months to September 30 came in at EUR6.31 billion, down 7.9% from the EUR6.85 billion it reported a year ago. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were 11% lower at EUR1.13 billion. "Third-quarter performance was ahead of our expectations," Smurfit said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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High street retailer Marks & Spencer said revenue in the six months ended September 26 dropped 16% year-on-year to GBP4.09 billion, and the food, clothing and homewares seller swung to a pretax loss of GBP87.6 million from a GBP158.8 million profit. However, M&S said the 16% revenue drop outperformed its "Covid-19 planning scenario by 22.8%". "The Food business has performed strongly despite substantial Covid headwinds during the six-month period achieving 2.7% LFL growth or 6.6% when excluding hospitality, which was largely closed during lockdown," M&S said. Its more beleaguered Clothing & Home arm "was heavily impacted by the full Covid lockdown in the first quarter, ongoing social distancing and the priority to clear stock". Revenue there dropped 41%.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Stobart Group posted a widened interim loss with the logistics, energy and aviation firm hit by a reduction in passenger travel at Southend Airport. Revenue in the six months ended August dropped 29% to GBP53.2 million from GBP74.8 million, and its pretax loss ballooned to GBP77.4 million from GBP15.5 million. "Covid-19 has created unprecedented challenges for the group," conceded Chief Executive Warwick Brady. "Whilst passenger travel has been severely disrupted by lockdowns and evolving quarantine arrangements, London Southend Airport has benefited from uninterrupted income from its global logistics operation. At Stobart Energy, we are seeing a more consistent demand profile and have taken appropriate actions to ensure certainty of supply of waste wood for customers over the winter period to fulfil our valuable long-term supply contracts." Stobart said it "remains focused on exiting Stobart Air", adding that the trading outlook at the unit "has deteriorated significantly" due to Covid-19. "The group is seeking to exit that business in early course. To that end, it is engaging actively with parties interested in acquiring its stake and with Aer Lingus to enter a new commercial arrangement beyond December 2022 as part of this process," Stobart added.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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The Dutch government on Tuesday approved a multi-billion-euro coronavirus bailout for struggling airline Air France KLM after pilots agreed a five-year pay cut deal. Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra on Saturday dramatically suspended plans to rescue the beleaguered Dutch arm of Air France-KLM after unions refused to budge. But after KLM announced that the pilots' union had backed down, the government said it was now ready to sign off on the EUR3.4 billion state aid injection.
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Wednesday's Shareholder Meetings
GCP Student Living PLC - AGM
Investment Co PLC - AGM
Wilmington PLC - AGM
JPMorgan Global Growth & Income PLC - AGM
Remote Monitored Systems PLC - GM re Pharm2Farm Ltd acquisition
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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