(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)LONDON CLOSE US jobs data proved a bit of a non-event and certainly did not provide any impetus for the bulls. "If there is a takeaway from today's data it may be that yes the Fed is looking more and more likely to raise rates in September; however given low headline inflation readings and a lack of 'break neck' speed in the labour market the first hike in September (or October or December for that matter) is likely to be an isolated event; the Fed will raise rates once then hold for some time thereafter' suggests Christopher Vecchio a currency analyst at DailyFX. US markets ebbed after the jobs data release and UK stocks followed them lower. The FTSE 100 closed at 6718 down 29 points on the day but up 22 points on what was a busy week. On the company news front bookie William Hill (LON:WMH) fell 6.5% to 384.3p on the back of underwhelming results. The bookie blamed new government legislation and write-downs as it saw pre-tax profit drop 35% to just £78.7mln (£121mln) and operating profit fall 12% to £155mln. Broadcaster ITV (LON:ITV) was a switch-off after US media companies took a tumble overnight. Shares fell 3.4% to 262.6p as ITV has been expanding its international base with acquisitions of US production studios. Mining stocks provided some much needed support to the Footsie with Vedanta (LON:VED) Anglo American (LON:AAL) and Glencore (LON:GLEN) the picks of the bunch. Shares in parcels and letters group UK Mail (LON:UKM) posted a 14% fall after it sounded the earnings alarm. It slashed guidance after it said its move to a new fully automated facility in Coventry had "caused a greater level of customer churn and loss of volume than anticipated". As a result full-year pre-tax profits are expected to be in the £10-12mln range well shy of the £20.1mln predicted by the City. Also on the slide was Golden Saint Resources (LON:GSR) down 15.6% after it revealed details of a board room shuffle. Cyril D'Silva becomes chief executive officer while David McDonald has taken over from D'Silva as chairman with executive responsibility. Top performer among small caps today was AorTech (LON:AOR) which rose by 41% to 36p as revenues doubled to US$844000 at the medical device provider in the year to March as losses more than halved to US$326000. Geoscience specialist Getech (LON:GTC) advanced 11.5% to 58p as it said the year to July would show 'a very significant year on year improvement.' Pre-tax profits are expected to double to £2mln with a 29% rise in revenues. Turkey-focused gold miner Stratex (LON:STI) was wanted after a private-listed investment company Forest Nominees took a 4% stake in the company. The shares were 12% better at 2.1p. US OPEN US non-farm payrolls numbers were bang in line with expectations signalling (in some quarters) a green light for the US central bank to up interest rates. 'The traffic lights turned from amber to green for the Fed as a healthy 215000 extra jobs were posted for the latest Non-Farm jobs data this afternoon. Data dependence and a specific focus from Yellen on the labour market means that despite a very slight miss on analyst forecasts it is difficult to see where further delays on an interest rate rise will occur' opined Alex Lydall senior sales trader at foreign exchange specialist Foenix Partners. 'With September looming as the first possible opportunity for a rate hike today's jobs report clearly puts the US on the path to an imminent decision be it next month or October. The battle between hawks and doves within the Fed has subsided and it merely becomes a notion of exactly which month this year we will see the rise and by exactly how much' Lydall suggested. Dennis de Jong managing director of rival forex outfit UFX.com concurs saying the figure has given Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen and her colleagues the ammunition to pull the trigger on an interest rate rise next month 'and they aren't likely to hold back'. US benchmarks also seemed to be in agreement as they all headed lower. The S&P 500 was off six points at 2077 while the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 25 points to 5031. The old warhorse the Dow Jones shed 51 points at 17368. In corporate news Cheniere Energy was wanted as it was revealed that Wall Street predator Carl Icahn has built an 8% stake. Computer video chip specialist Nvidia powered higher after it released figures after the bell yesterday that comfortably topped market expectations. Confectioner Hershey was soft however after it posted a second quarter loss. Also on the slide after updating the market was online coupons firm Groupon. Social media giant Twitter's (NYSE:TWTR) shares rallied after hitting a record low as the search for a new boss weighs on the company. Since its shares peaked in December 2013 nearly US$30bn has been wiped off the value of the company at yesterday's closing price of US$27.55. Shares were 1% higher to US$27.76 today. MID-SESSION WRAP The top-share index was barely changed as investors wait on the US non-farm payroll numbers. The FTSE 100 was down less than a point at 6746 with investors wondering whether the jobs data will give any clue over when to expect the start of the interest rate tightening cycle in the US. Jobs creation is one of the US central bank's main criteria and if the number is in line with consensus forecast of around 220000 many will draw the conclusion that a rate rise is imminent. Overnight Japan said it would not increase its money printing activities despite another weak quarter for the country's economy. On the company news front broadcaster ITV (LON:ITV) struggled after US media companies took a tumble overnight. Shares fell 3.1% to 263.5p as ITV has been expanding its international base with acquisitions of US production studios. Meanwhile High Street bookie William Hill (LON:WMH) fell 7.5% to 380.3p on the back of underwhelming results. The bookie blamed new government legislation and write-downs as it saw pre-tax profit drop 35% to just £78.7mln (£121mln) and operating profit fall 12% to £155mln. Shares in parcels and letters group UK Mail (LON:UKM) posted a 13% fall after it sounded the earnings alarm. It slashed guidance after it said its move to a new fully automated facility in Coventry had "caused a greater level of customer churn and loss of volume than anticipated". As a result full-year pre-tax profits are expected to be in the £10-12mln range well shy of the £20.1mln predicted by the City. Also on the slide was Golden Saint Resources (LON:GSR) down 15.6% after it revealed details of a board room shuffle. Cyril D'Silva becomes chief executive officer while David McDonald has taken over from D'Silva as chairman with executive responsibility. In small caps AorTech (LON:AOR) rose by 45% to 37p as revenues doubled to US$844000 at the medical device provider in the year to March as losses more than halved to US$326000. Geoscience specialist Getech (LON:GTC) advanced 11.8% to 52p as it said the year to July would show 'a very significant year on year improvement.' Pre-tax profits are expected to double to £2mln with a 29% rise in revenues. Turkey-focused gold miner Stratex (LON:STI) was wanted after a private-listed investment company Forest Nominees took a 4% stake in the company. The shares are 9.3% better at 2.05p. MOST FOLLOWED It's Friday and what else would you expect but chatter on the web about The Great British Bake-Off flip-flops chocolate and mortgage repayments. It's an eclectic mix of news out there as Footsie eased lower ahead of the US non-farm jobs number later this afternoon. Meanwhile number crunchers and journalists alike have got their heads down to create some musings on what may happen to home repayments when UK interest rates do finally start to head north after yesterday's BoE decision to hold fire for now. The Telegraph notes online that mortgage payments could rise by nearly £500 by 2018 for some Londoners if interest rates nudge up by 0.5 percentage points per year till then. It comes on a day when Bellway (LON:BWY) announced it sold a record number of homes in the first half thanks to the state of the mortgage market. There was a furore to say the least when Cadbury's that famous British chocolate brand and pioneer of paternalistic capitalism was sold to US firm Kraft in 2010 for £10.5bn and spun out two years later. But its ownership could now be on the move again as activist investor William Ackman has bought a hefty chunk of the parent company Mondelez. Ackman now has a 7.5% stake in Mondelez worth US$5.5billion (£3.6billion) while another activist investor Nelson Peltz also has a sizeable chunk. The speculation now is that Mondelez could be reunited with Kraft. One of the more amusing nuggets was that the new boss at Barclays (LON:BARC) John McFarlane has banned BarclayCard staff from wearing flip-flops and T-shirts saying it gives the wrong impression to clients at head office in Canary Wharf. Now I don't know exactly when cake baking became a national spectator sport but there's no doubt that a certain BBC series - you may have heard of it - has something to do with it. Now it seems people are not just content to sit and watch the drama of a meringue or marble cake unfold - they also want to get in on the action personally. Waitrose has reportedly seen a whopping 881% surge in baking tray sales according to one online report. Among the most active bulletin board discussions today was on mines-to-metals group Jubilee Platinum (LON:JLP) whose shares are up 8.54% today to 4.45p. This week it said it remained on-track with its plan to bring its two platinum surface projects into operation as it revealed it had raised £2.442 million in a share placing. The combined funds from this placing together with the £12.9mln debt funding on which advanced talks are taking place along with the previously reported sale of the group's non-platinum operational assets will provide the necessary means for the design construction commissioning and working capital during the ramp-up phase of the South African projects it had said. LONDON OPEN UK shares dropped as investors waited for the US non-farm payroll numbers this afternoon. Footsie was twelve points lower at 6735 with few investors willing to bet against the start of the rate tightening cycle in the US next month. Jobs creation is one of the US central bank's main criteria and if the number is in line with consensus forecast of around 220000 many will draw the conclusion that a rate rise is imminent. UK bank governor Mark Carney seemingly stepped back from earlier comments that rates here might rise in the New Year but the mood is swinging towards tightening even so. Overnight Japan said it would not increase its money printing activities despite another weak quarter for the country's economy. On the company front broadcaster ITV (LON:ITV) struggled after US media companies took a tumble overnight. Shares fell 4.1% to 260p as ITV has been expanding its international base with acquisitions of US production studios. Meanwhile there were conflicting fortunes for house builder giant Bellway (LON:BWY) and High Street bookie William Hill (LON:WMH). North-east based builder Bellway (LON:BWY) sold a record number of homes in the first half buoyed by the 'increasingly competitive mortgage finance'. The forward order book is healthy at 4568 houses valued at almost £1.1bn which bodes well for the full-year outcome it added. Shares were flat at 2449p. William Hill (LON:WMH) fell 6% to 387p. The bookie blamed new government legislation and write-downs as it saw pre-tax profit drop 35% to just £78.7mln (2014: £121mln) and operating profit fall 12% to £155mln. Shares in parcels and letters group UK Mail (LON:UKM) posted a 13% fall in early deals after it sounded the earnings alarm. It slashed guidance after it said its move to a new fully automated facility in Coventry had "caused a greater level of customer churn and loss of volume than anticipated". As a result full-year pre-tax profits are expected to be in the £10-12mln range well shy of £20.1mln predicted by the City. Gossip today may centre round Irish paper giant Smurfit Kappa (LON:SKG) where those who claim to be in the know suggest US group International Paper may re-kindle its interest. The American group was reported to be lining up a bid in April but market chatter today was of an offer in the region of €35-36 per share. Smurfit shares were little changed at €27.72. In small caps AorTech (LON:AOR) rose by a third to 34.4p as revenues doubled to US$844000 at the medical device provider in the year to March as losses more than halved to US$326000. Getech (LON:GTC) rose 9% to 50.5p as it said the year to July would show 'a very significant year on year improvement.' Pre-tax profits are expected to double to £2mln with a 29% rise in revenues. Sound Oil (LON:SOU) is to change its name to Sound Energy to reflect the increasing importance of gas in its portfolio. Shares rose 4.35% to 17p. Elsewhere Petro Matad (LON:MATD) will next month kick off a surveying programme designed to' high-grade' exploration prospects for a fresh round of exploration drilling. Shares climbed 3% to 4.25p. LONDON PRE-OPEN UK shares are poised to open a bit firmer on Friday as traders in Europe and across the pond await those all important US job numbers. The monthly US non-farm payrolls - or the number of new positions created - and their robustness or otherwise will trigger further debate on when the Fed may raise interest rates. The consensus forecast is for 215000 jobs to have been created in July and already some Fed members have publicly indicated that rates should go up next month with Atlanta chief Dennis Lockhart the most recent in an interview this week. FTSE100 closed Thursday down five at 6747 but is called to open around seven points higher as the week draws to a close. On Wall Street yesterday shares tumbled with the Dow dropping 120 points to 17420 and the Nasdaq dropping 84 to 5056 as media stocks weighed as well as the fall in the crude price before attention turned to the jobs number. In Asia Japan's Nikkei rose 75 to 20739 while the Shanghai Composite Index added 69 to 3731. In corporate matters house building giant Bellway (LON:BWY) reports as does High Street bookie William Hill (LON:WMH).
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.