While investors await a no-doubt feisty trade face-off between Donald Trump and European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday evening, the FTSE once again abandoned 7700 as its miners went into retreat.
Dipping half a percent, the FTSE pulled back from yesterday’s near 6 week peak, dragged lower as its mining stocks – which had rocketed higher on Tuesday – gave back a sizeable chunk of their recent gains despite copper holding at $2.80 per pound.
As for sterling, it continued to recover at a fairly glacial pace, its 0.2% and 0.1% gains against the dollar and the euro sending the pound to 8 day and one week highs against its respective currency rivals.
The main focus, however, wasn’t on the UK’s headline instruments, but the day’s slew of earnings. Former Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB) division Indivior (LON:INDV) released arguably the most eye-catching update, if for all the wrong reasons, as it was forced to swallow a bitter, crucially generic, pill. The pharma-firm claimed the impact of a generic alternative to its opioid addiction treatment ‘could be materially higher’ in 2018. That this warning came after revealing a 7% drop in half year revenue and a 34% plunge in adjusted operating profit was just too much for investors, who sent the stock spiralling 20% lower. This wiped out the rebound the stock had seen when it announced a preliminary injunction preventing the sale of the aforementioned generic rival DRL in the US last week, leaving it back below £2.70.
England’s extended World Cup campaign, and the runaway success of Love Island, led to a 22% jump in ITV’s advertising revenues for June, 7% higher than the forecasts given earlier in the year. This helped push Broadcast & Online revenue up 3%, which, combined with a 16% rise at ITV (LON:ITV) Studios, left the firm with an 8% jump in half year revenue. Yet, given that the company’s audience share was propelled to a 10 year peak over the summer, investors were perhaps a tad disappointed that those numbers weren’t higher. Add onto that forecasts of flat advertising revenue in Q3, and it explains why ITV only rose 1% after the bell.
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