LONDON MARKETS: FTSE 100 Falls For Third Straight Day As Burberry, Pearson Drop Sharply
January 17 2018 - 3:37AM
Dow Jones News
By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
Off the FTSE 100, shares in Carillion rival Interserve
tumble
U.K. stocks fell Wednesday, with a slide in shares of fashion
house Burberry Group PLC and publisher Pearson PLC leading the
blue-chip market toward a potential loss for the third consecutive
session.
How markets are moving: The FTSE 100 index was down 0.2% to
7,744.63, with consumer services leading most sectors lower. But
the utility, basic materials and financial groups were higher. On
Tuesday, the London benchmark fell 0.2%, moving further away from
the all-time closing high of 7,778.64 reached last week.
The pound traded at $1.3775, slipping from $1.3790 late Tuesday
in New York.
What's driving markets: More corporate updates for the new
earnings season are rolling in, and Burberry shares were big losers
after the luxury-goods maker posted a decline in quarterly sales.
The retail sector will come into further focus Friday with the
release of U.K. retail sales for December, with analysts polled by
FactSet currently expecting a month-over-decline of 0.6%.
Stocks in the U.K. and across Europe appeared to key off losses
on Wall Street on Tuesday that came as investors returned following
Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial
Average broke above the 26,000 level for the first time but closed
lower.
The "U.S. markets inability to hold onto these sorts of gains
might suggest that we could be due some sort of pullback, after the
strong start to this year. Either that or investors are starting to
get a little nervous ahead of a possible U.S. government shutdown
at the weekend," said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael
Hewson in a note.
The collapse of British construction and support services
heavyweight Carillion PLC
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/carillion-collapses-after-rescue-talks-with-creditors-uk-government-fail-2018-01-15)(CLLN.LN)
this week continued to hanging over markets. Off the FTSE 100,
Interserve PLC shares (IRV.LN) dropped as much as 10% following a
Financial Times report
(https://www.ft.com/content/1aa17614-fab7-11e7-a492-2c9be7f3120a)
the Carillion rival is under U.K. government watch on financial
fears.
Stock movers: Burberry (BRBY.LN) slumped 6.8% after the fashion
house said third-quarter retail sales fell 2%
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/burberry-retail-sales-slip-backs-2018-guidance-2018-01-17).
Comparable retail sales rose 2%, but in the U.K. fell by a high
single-digit percentage, with the company citing tough comparables
set by exceptional 40% growth a year earlier.
Pearson (PSON.LN) fell 6.4% after the publisher of educational
materials sales for U.S. higher education course materials fell 3%
on an underlying basis
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/pearson-upbeat-on-2017-results-no-change-to-tax-2018-01-17)
in the first nine months of 2017, in line with the lower end of its
guidance range. But Pearson also said it's full-year results will
be at the upper end of its guidance.
Informa PLC (INF.LN) slid 7.7%, with the publisher and events
company in continued talks about a purchase of UBM PLC (UBM.LN) .
Informa and UBM set out the proposed terms of the deal on
Wednesday.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ubm-informa-in-talks-for-53-bln-merger-2018-01-17)
Topping advancers, NMC Health PLC (NMC.LN) and Mediclinic
International PLC (MDC.LN) rose 1.4% and 1.3%, respectively.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 17, 2018 04:22 ET (09:22 GMT)
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