European markets opened up across the board with the FTSE 100 up 0.3% and DAX up 0.5%, now only 10 points away from 10,000 again. The markets are waiting on tonight's FOMC statement to find out whether or not the recent and current global slowdown signs have changed their tone. Traders will be listening intently for any clues on the next rate hike.
In Asia stocks fell as investors reduced their holdings ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting. Shanghai Composite was up 0.1%. The Nikkei index fell 0.8% to 16,974.45. Bank stocks fell after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said it was theoretically possible for the central bank to cut interest rates to around minus 0.5 percent, driving the banking sector to the biggest fall on the board.
Oil prices were higher based on expectations U.S. output will decline further as some producers are under increasing financial distress, and as early inventory data showed a less-than-expected increase. U.S. crude futures were trading at $36.86 per barrel, up 52 cents from their last settlement. Brent was up 39 cents at $39.13 a barrel. Inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute showed on Tuesday that U.S. crude stockpiles rose 1.5 million barrels last week, less than half of what was expected by an analyst poll, lending markets some support.
In US stocks, Wall Street ended lower as investors awaited news from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day policy meeting. The S&P 500 lost 0.18 %, to 2,015.93. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE:VRX) lost 51.5 % after the Canadian drugmaker cut its 2016 revenue forecast and flagged the risk of defaulting on its debt. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 2 % after Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) said March iPhone demand was tracking ahead of expectations.
Corporate News
London Stock Exchange Group (LON:LSE) and Deutsche Boerse (DE:DB1Gn) announced that they have reached an agreement on the terms of a recommended all-share merger of equals of the groups.
Smiths Group (LON:SMIN) posted 1H results – revenue declined 3%, or £42M, on an underlying basis to £1,372M. Headline operating profit saw an underlying reduction of 6% (£16M) to £217M. Operating profit on a statutory basis, after taking account of the items excluded from the headline figures, was £183M (2015: £164M) On a statutory basis, profit before tax increased £37M to £168M (2015: £131M); the basic EPS from continuing activities were 32.8p (2015: 21.8p) reflecting the £26M impairment charge in the prior period. The Board has declared an interim dividend of 13.25p per share (2015: 13.00p per share).
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LON:HIK) reported FY15 results – group revenue was $1,440M in 2015, down 3% from 2014. Core Group operating profit decreased by 4% to $409M in 2015 and operating margin was 28.4% compared with 28.7% in 2014. Profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 9% to $252M, core profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 4% to $286M in 2015, core diluted EPS decreased by 5% to 142.3 cents.
Economic Data
EC 08:00: Feb EU27 New Car Registrations
UK 10:30: Feb Claimant Count Rate, exp.: 2.2%
UK 10:30: Feb Jobless Claims Change, exp.: -9.1k
UK 10:30: Jan ILO Unemployment Rate 3Mths, exp.: 5.1%
UK 10:30: Jan Employment Change 3M/3M, exp.: 144k
EC 11:00: Jan Construction Output MoM
US 12:00: 03/11 MBA Mortgage Applications
UK 13:30: U.K.’s Osborne Makes Budget Speech to Parliament
US 13:30: Feb Housing Starts, exp.: 1150k
US 13:30: Feb Housing Starts MoM, exp.: 4.6%
US 13:30: Feb Building Permits, exp.: 1200k
US 13:30: Feb Building Permits MoM, exp.: -0.2%
US 13:30: Feb CPI MoM, exp.: -0.2%
US 13:30: Feb CPI Ex Food and Energy MoM, exp.: 0.2%
US 13:30: Feb CPI Idx NSA, exp.: 236.873
US 14:15: Feb Industrial Production MoM, exp.: -0.3%
US 14:15: Feb Capacity Utilization, exp.: 76.9%
US 19:00: FOMC Rate Decision (Lower Bound), exp.: 0.25%
US 19:00: FOMC Rate Decision (Upper Bound), exp.: 0.5%