FTSE 100 Edges Lower as Heavyweights Trade Ex-Dividend

Global Markets: Benchmark global indices of the United Stated traded in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index traded 29.11 points or 0.10% lower at 27,754.48, the broader S&P 500 index traded 0.22 points or 0.01% lower at 3,093.82, and the technology benchmark index Nasdaq Composite slumped 8.14 points or 0.10% at 8,473.96 (at the time of writing, before the U.S market close as on 2:20 PM ET).

Global News: On 14^th November 2019, Wall Street opened lower as weak Chinese economic data came out, which spurred reduction in confidence of investors. Walmart reported better sales figures than anticipated by the market, post which its stock rose 1.7 per cent. Viacom was ahead of market expectations on its earnings and its stock was up 3.8 per cent. Canopy Growth reported an extremely high loss, because of restructuring charges, following which its stock fell by 8 per cent. Cisco Systems stock was down by 5.4 per cent with downgraded outlook on this current quarter’s revenue. Kraft Heinz Company stock was down by 3.2 per cent after being downgraded by an analyst.

S&P 500 (SPX)*

Top Performers:Â Walmart Inc, Target Corp and HP Inc are top gainers and increased by 3.17%, 1.79% and 1.23% respectively.

Worst Performers: Cisco Systems Inc, Kraft Heinz Co, and F5 Networks Inc are the top three laggards and decreased by 6.38%, 1.73% and 1.72% respectively.

NASDAQ Composite (IXIC)*

Top Performers: Sienna Biopharmaceuticals Inc, Exicure Inc, and Astrotech Corp are top gainers and increased by 161.63%, 24.08% and 22.69% respectively.

Worst Performers:Â VistaGen Therapeutics Inc, Lipocine Inc and Lianluo Smart Ltd are the top three laggards and decreased by 67.29%, 37.17% and 30.77% respectively.

Top Performing Sectors: Energy (up 0.49%), Consumer Non-Cyclicals (up 0.13%) and Basic Materials (up 0.08%).

Worst Performing Sectors: Healthcare (down 0.11%), Consumer Cyclicals (down 0.11%) and Industrials (down 0.12%).

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)*

Top Performers:Â Walmart Inc, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and UnitedHealth Group Inc are top gainers and increased by 3.00%, 0.50% and 0.37% respectively.

Worst Performers: Cisco Systems Inc, Verizon Communications Inc and Walt Disney Co are the top three laggards and decreased by 6.40%, 0.77%, and 0.45% respectively.

European Markets: The London’s broader equity benchmark index FTSE 100 traded at 58.45 points or 0.80% lower at 7,292.76, the FTSE 250 index snapped 57.98 points or 0.29% lower at 20,231.80, and the FTSE All-Share Index ended 27.97 points or 0.69% lower at 4,020.95 respectively. Another European equity benchmark index STOXX 600 ended at 405.81, down by 1.09 points or 0.27 per cent.

European News: Amid popular thinking that the upcoming general election would decide the fate of Brexit, calls for further help to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson by pulling more candidates out of contests was rejected by Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage on Thursday after he agreed to stand down 317 Brexit Party candidates in Conservative-held seats. According to the latest figures by the Office for National Statistics, October sales in the country declined by 0.1% over the previous month, while growth over the prior three months was 0.2% and year on year growth was 3.1%, indicating retail growth over the last three months fell to its weakest since April 2018. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said its house price index slipped to -5 from -3 in September, but there were signs that buyers were putting off making purchases at least until the election next month, though near-term sales expectations improved.

London Stock Exchange

Top Performers: DISCOVERIE GROUP PLC (DSCV), QINETIQ GROUP PLC (QQ.), and OXFORD INSTRUMENTS PLC (OXIG) were top gainers and leapt up by 8.23%, 5.34% and 5.07% respectively.

Worst Performers: FIRSTGROUP PLC (FGP), AIRTEL AFRICA PLC (AAF), and MOTORPOINT GROUP PLC (MOTR) were the top three laggards and dipped by 21.11%, 6.38% and 5.77% respectively.

FTSE 100 Index

5-day share price performance (November-14-2019) before the market closed (Chart sourced from Thomson Reuters).

Top Gainers: COCA-COLA HBC AG (CCH), HISCOX LD (HSX) and BURBERRY GROUP PLC (BRBY) were top performers and accelerated by 3.88%, 2.40% and 2.14% respectively.

Top Laggards: 3I GROUP PLC (III), FRESNILLO PLC (FRES) and AVEVA GROUP PLC (AVV) were the poor performers and tumbled by 4.93%, 4.15% and 3.00% respectively.

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

Best Performing Sector: Utilities (up 0.33%).

Worst Performing Sectors: Telecommunications (down 1.75%), Technology (down 1.61%), and Healthcare (down 1.30%).

Forex Rates*: GBP/USD and EUR/GBP were quoting at 1.2879 and 0.8561, respectively.

Bond Yields*: U.S 10-Year Treasuries yield was quoting at 1.814%, and the UK 10-Year Government Bond yield was trading at 0.708%, respectively.Â

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*At the time of writing