Brexit Saga Keeps Investors On Their Toes

Global Markets*: The benchmark indices in the United States were trending down amid fresh China worries, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index declined 16.58 points or 0.06% against the previous closing level at 27,008.22, the broader S&P 500 index traded lower at 2,988.21, down by 7.47 points or 0.25% and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite dipped to 8,115.29, down by 33.41 points or 0.41% (at the time of writing, before the US market close, ET 1:55PM).

Global News*: On 16^th October 2019, the markets opened lower ahead of doubts around de-escalation of the US-China trade dispute. Earnings announcements continued with Bank of America gained 2 per cent after reporting positive third quarter profits, beating analyst estimates. Abbott Laboratories stock declined by 3.1 per cent after reporting a reduced profit guidance for the year to around US $2.06 per share. PNC Financial was up 0.8 per cent, post reporting higher than anticipated earnings. United Airlines was up by 2 per cent after raising the outlook for full year results following an increase in the passenger bookings. MGM Resorts gained 1.5 per cent after news sources reporting that the company might be selling its Bellagio and Circus resorts for a total value of US $5 billion. Three stocks, McKesson, up 3.04 per cent, AmerisourceBergen, up 1.99 per cent and Cardinal health, up 2.39 per cent, following a news that all three are in talks to settle opioid-related lawsuits for US $18 billion.

Top Performing Sectors*: Consumer Cyclicals (up 0.35%), Basic Materials (up 0.20%), and Telecommunication Services (up 0.19%).

Worst Performing Sectors*: Energy (down 0.11%), Financials (down 0.11%) and Healthcare (down 0.12%).

S&P 500 (SPX)*

Top Performers: McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc are top gainers and increased by 7.00%, 6.09% and 5.52% respectively.

Worst Performers: Progressive Corp, Adobe Inc and Salesforce.com Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 5.34%, 3.70% and 3.48% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)*

Top Performers: Bionano Genomics Inc, Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc, and Viveve Medical Inc are top gainers and increased by 214.20%, 72.19% and 71.05% respectively.

Worst Performers:Â Titan Pharmaceuticals Inc, Titan Medical Inc and Golden Bull Ltd are the top three laggards and decreased by 51.43%, 47.64% and 21.41% respectively.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)*

Top Performers:Â Johnson & Johnson, Caterpillar Inc and Walt Disney Co are top gainers and increased by 2.27%, 1.11% and 0.92% respectively.

Worst Performers: UnitedHealth Group Inc, Verizon Communications Inc, and Visa Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 1.02%, 0.92%, and 0.92% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 43.69 points or 0.61% lower at 7,167.95, the FTSE 250 index snapped 9.01 points or 0.04% lower at 20,187.96, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 19.38 points or 0.49% lower at 3,962.68 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended at 393.46, down by 0.56 points or 0.14 per cent.

European News: As the United Kingdom and the European Union were still struggling on Wednesday to clinch an eleventh-hour Brexit deal on the eve of an EU summit, Michel Barnier informed the EU that an agreement was possible before the summit, while the PM Boris Johnson continued to seek support from Democratic Unionist party and hardline Eurosceptic Conservative MPs. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said there were still many issues to be resolved, not least the Irish border, and EU sourced reported that the negotiations had reached a stalemate. The Office for National Statistics reported that consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 1.7 per cent in September as petrol prices fell at the fastest pace in more than three years. Amid a plethora of contradictory news regarding the Brexit negotiations, financial markets remained hostage to the process, as equity fell on Wednesday and sterling moved around five-month highs.

London Stock Exchange*

Top Performers: ASTON MARTIN LAGONDA GLOBAL HOLDING (AML), INDIVIOR PLC (INDV) and TED BAKER PLC (TED) were top gainers and leapt up by 7.09%, 5.76% and 3.35% respectively.

Worst Performers: GEORGIA HEALTHCARE GROUP PLC (GHG), INTU PROPERTIES PLC (INTU) and WOODFORD PATIENT CAPITAL TRUST PLC (WPCT) were the top three losers and dipped by 6.86%, 6.21% and 5.81% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index*

Price Performance in Last Five days (October-16-2019), before the market closed (Chart sourced from Thomson Reuters)

Top Gainers: UNITED UTILITIES GROUP PLC (UU.), ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND GROUP PLC (RBS) and SEVERN TRENT PLC (SVT) were top performers and edged up by 2.08%, 1.90% and 1.29% respectively.

Top Laggards: HISCOX LD (HSX), SPIRAX-SARCO ENGINEERING PLC (SPX) and LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE GROUP PLC (LSE) were the worst performers and beaten down by 4.81%, 3.32% and 2.89% respectively.

Volume Leaders: (LLOY) LLOYDS BANKING GROUP PLC; (BARC) BARCLAYS PLC; (VOD) VODAFONE GROUP PLC.

Worst Performing Sectors: Healthcare (down 1.49%), Basic Materials (down 1.07%) and Energy (down 1.07%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.2834 and 0.8626, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was quoting at 1.747%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was trading at 0.706%, respectively.

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*At the time of writing