Brexit Deal Hangs In Balance

Global Markets*: US equities were trading flat and slightly in red zone, with the Dow Jones Industrial traded 2.23 points or 0.01% lower at 26,814.36, the S&P 500 index lost 2.65 points or 0.09% at 2,967.62 and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite Index dipped by 4.45 points or 0.06% to 8,052.59, respectively (at the time of writing, at 01:45 PM ET).

Global News*: After three consecutive days of gain, US equities were trading on a flat note on Monday (October 14), amid crude oil price fell off 2%, also increasing doldrum over how quickly a partial U.S.-Sino trade deal announced on Friday (October 11) could be sealed. Energy majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp were the biggest drag on the broader S&P 500 index. Companies with sizeable exposure to China were the major laggards as Micron Technology Inc, Nvidia Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc slipped during Monday’s trading session. During the day, Nike Inc. shares gained momentum after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the company’s rating (Nike Inc.) from “underperform” to “neutral”. Shares of AECOM, construction and engineering company accelerated by 5.5 per cent after it was announced that the company is ready to divest management services unit for $2.4 billion. Also, shares of Fastenal Co were down by 1.4 per cent as two broker houses downgraded the stock (FAST).

S&P 500 (SPX)*

Top Performers:Â PPL Corp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co and Abiomed Inc are top gainers and increased by 2.80%, 2.75% and 2.72% respectively.

Worst Performers:Â IPG Photonics Corp, Tapestry Inc and Cimarex Energy Co are the top three laggards and decreased by 6.15%, 5.75% and 4.88% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)*

Top Performers:Â Synthesis Energy Systems Inc, NF Energy Saving Corp, and SAExploration Holdings Inc are top gainers and increased by 120%, 104.11% and 27.44% respectively.

Worst Performers:Â Greenland Acquisition Corp, Estre Ambiental Inc and Safe-T Group Ltd are the top three laggards and decreased by 18.95%, 15.79% and 13.42% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors: Technology (up 0.07%).

Worst Performing Sectors: Energy (down 1.41%), Industrials (down 0.45%), and Consumer Cyclicals (down 0.33%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)*

Top Performers:Â Nike Inc, Boeing Co and Visa Inc are top gainers and increased by 1.07%, 0.74% and 0.66% respectively.

Worst Performers: Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc, Dow Inc and Caterpiller Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 0.99%, 0.83% and 0.60% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 33.63 points or 0.46% lower at 7,213.45, the FTSE 250 index snapped 111.81 points or 0.56% lower at 19,929.90, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 17.72 points or 0.44% lower at 3,974.44 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended at 389.69, down by 1.92 points or 0.49 per cent.

European News*: After officials informed that a full agreement was unlikely this week and the European Union wanted more concessions from the country, investors fretted that a smooth Brexit was again in danger as much more work was still needed. The agenda of Prime Minister Boris Johnson was laid down by Queen Elizabeth in Westminster, which includes a promise to invest more from the public purse to stimulate growth, healthcare changes, criminal justice reforms and proposed post-Brexit immigration system; all designed to win over voters ahead of an expected election. Amid signs that a deal was not in sight, companies with exposure to the domestic economy fell on Monday and sterling gave up some of the gains achieved last week and fell more than 1 per cent.

London Stock Exchange*

Top Performers: SOPHOS GROUP PLC (SOPH), PENDRAGON PLC (PDG) and TOWN CENTRE SECURITIES PLC (TOWN) were top gainers and leapt up by 35.60%, 10.09% and 4.84% respectively.

Worst Performers: ALFA FINANCIAL SOFTWARE HOLDINGS PL (ALFA), FUNDING CIRCLE HOLDINGS PLC (FCH) and HUNTING PLC (HTG) were the top three losers and dipped by 7.47%, 7.23% and 6.87% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index*

Price Performance in Last Five days (October-14-2019), before the market closed (Chart sourced from Thomson Reuters)

Top Gainers: WPP PLC (WPP), KINGFISHER PLC (KGF) and NEXT PLC (NXT) were top performers and edged up by 2.41%, 2.05% and 1.39% respectively.

Top Laggards: NMC HEALTH PLC (NMC), EVRAZ PLC (EVR) and HARGREAVES LANSDOWN PLC (HL.) were the worst performers and beaten down by 4.43%, 4.30% and 3% respectively.

Volume Leaders: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC; (HSBA) HSBC HLDGS PLC.

Top Performing Sectors: Health (up 0.31%) and Telecommunications Services (up 0.05%).

Worst Performing Sectors: Basic Materials (down 1.82%), Financials (down 1.29%) and Utilities (down 1.02%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.2620 and 0.8743, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was quoting at 1.734%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was trading at 0.657%, respectively.

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*At the time of writing