Apple to cut latest iPhone production to shift stock
US gun maker shares surge, Obama outlines control measures
Argos-owner rejects bid from Sainsbury's
US 2015 auto sales up: Nissan by 19%, Fiat Chrysler by 13%
Retail guru Nick Bubb tweeted this at 08:40, before the Sainsbury's statement about its bid for Home Retail came out at about 12:22 and the stock surged by a third. Spooky!
The Dow Jones is trading slightly lower shortly after opening - it is currently 0.17% down.
Shares in gun maker Smith & Wesson surged 12% after reporting strong sales, just as President Obama unveiled control measures designed to limit the availability of weapons.
Image source, DraxThe European Commission has opened an investigation into whether a plan by Drax to convert a plant from coal to biomass breaches state aid rules.
The Commission said it would look into whether the move was unfair to competitors. Drax shares fell 2.4%.
The UK aims to close all coal-fired generators by 2025, and recently won EU clearance to support a biomass plant being converted by RWE.
Drax said the inquiry was expected as part of the approval process.
Image source, Getty ImagesCommenting on the latest technology failure to hit HSBC, Member of Parliament Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the Treasury Committee, said:
Quote Message“Barely six months after the last glitch in their under-performing IT systems, HSBC is apologising again to its customers. The frequency of these failures across the financial services sector suggests a systemic weakness in IT infrastructure. This is concerning. I will be asking the Chief Executive of HSBC, and the regulators, for an explanation of these failures, and action taken to sort them out. They just keep coming.”
BBC business reporter Aaron Heslehurst tweets:
Fiat Chrysler reports, external that its US sales were up in 2015, becoming one of the first of automakers reporting December and 2015 full year results:
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Image source, Getty ImagesThe Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) said it would examine, external the "firm culture" at Wall Street brokerages and the factors that influence them.
FINRA is concerned about how brokerages take actions to promote fair and ethical treatment of customers and help mitigate conflicts of interest.
FINRA said it would mainly assess five indicators of a firm's culture, including the handling of policy or control breaches and the role of senior executives in a firm's culture.
It also said other areas of priority would be seniors and vulnerable investors.
HSBC says it is "profoundly" sorry for the problems customers are having with mobile and online banking. But, they were not hacked:
Quote MessageThere is a complex technical issue with our internet and mobile banking systems, and our IT team has been working non-stop since yesterday morning to find a solution. This has involved many tests, diagnostics and trial runs. We are getting closer to solving the problem, but are not there yet. We can, however, confirm this is not a cyber attack or any other malicious act.
HSBC statement
And, they say, "Any fees customers incur as a result of this outage period will be waived."
Guardian reporter Graham Ruddick and Telegraph reporter Ben Martin tweet, plus some whimsy from the FT's Katie Martin:
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When Sainsbury's sold Homebase in 2000, it did so in a deal worth £969m. After today's news, Homebase's owner Home Retail Group saw its shares rally 33% - perhaps to where investors think the business is worth - for a market value of about £1.1bn.
So Sainsbury's might not be out of pocket in repurchasing its old possession, if it's successful. Especially since a new deal would probably include Argos.
Image source, PAThe European Commission has opened an "in-depth" investigation to see if UK plans to support the conversion of part of the Drax coal power plant to operate on wood chips are in line with EU state aid rules.
The government is offering a wholesale price higher than usual for the unit that will run on wood chips, says the EC. This is in line with other higher so-called strike prices for renewable fuels.
It also says: "the amount of wood pellets required is considerable, as compared to the volume of the global wood pellets market and demand from the Drax conversion project could significantly distort competition in the biomass market."
Drax Group shares are down more than 5%.
If you work at either firm, this bit of the statement might interest you:
Sainsbury's said a deal would "provide additional cost synergy potential through property rationalisation, scale benefits and operational efficiencies, external."
Which probably means costs cuts and possibly job losses.
Readers with long memories may have a sense of deja vu about this story.
Sainsbury's flogged Homebase in 2000.
Still, as Sainsbury's points out, there's no certainty of a deal.
Retail analyst Steve Dresser tweets:
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Sainsbury's said it is currently thinking about what to do next after being snubbed by Home Retail Group.
Sainsbury's has been working with Argos, hosting concessions for the catalogue shop.
The supermarket says Home Retail Group would complement its own stores, by adding a range of household goods.
Sainsbury's may also be eyeing Home Retail's store card business to boost its own bank.
Image source, ReutersSainsbury's said it has made an offer for Home Retail Group, the owner of Argos and Homebase. The cash and shares offer was rejected, it said.
Home Retail Group shares have soared almost 27%.
Sainsbury's shares are down 5%.
Image source, ReutersAn interesting read here from Reuters, who interviewed some of the business owners, external who are changing their minds about the European Union.
Business support for membership of the EU has narrowed from 74% six months ago to 62%, according to a survey of large businesses published yesterday by consultants Deloitte.
Eurozone consumer price inflation was a little weaker than expected in December. It came in at 0.2% and economists were forecasting 0.3%.
Economist think that the European Central Bank will have to take stronger action to stop the Eurozone falling back into deflation.
This from Jennifer McKeown, Senior European Economist at Capital Economics.
Quote MessageRecent slow rates of GDP growth will do little to erode the spare capacity in the euro-zone economy that is keeping core inflation down. Note, too, that the still high rate of unemployment has kept wage growth very subdued – private sector hourly labour costs rose by just 1.4% y/y in Q3.
Cambridge and Milton Keynes were the fastest growing UK cities in the third quarter of 2015, according to research from the Centre for Economic and Business Research.
Both cities are expected to outperform the rest of the UK this year, the report says.
Out of the 40 UK cities covered by the report, Middlesbrough is expected to be the slowest growing, with an expected expansion of 1.3% this year.
This from financial blog, Zero Hedge:
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Image source, Getty ImagesSales at bookseller Foyles have been boosted by sales of Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups.
For the month of December it reported a 4.7% increase in like-for-like sales, compared with the previous year.
The top two bestselling books in December were both from the Ladybird series of books for grown-ups - How it Works: The Husband and How it Works: The Wife.
Why are they so popular?
Quote MessageA powerful blend of hipster irony and nostalgia, combined with a pocket-sized price tag, have made these delightful books irresistible to our customers"
Jasper Sutcliffe, Head of Buying at Foyles, Head of Buying at Foyles
Crude oil prices have moved lower, Brent Crude is now down 15 cents at $37.07 per barrel.
Some analysts are wondering, given the latest tension in the Middle East, whether Iranian oil will be back on the market anytime soon.
Quote MessageThe risk picture in the Middle East has clearly inched higher. The most immediate issue at risk is the lifting of the Iran sanctions. While we still expect the sanctions to be lifted the latest events have definitely created some last minute risk that things may not move in the direction widely expected. If the sanctions are not lifted as planned it would clearly reduce the projected crude oil surplus for 2016.”
Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB