The FTSE 100 is called to open higher this morning despite the mixed overnight performances on Wall Street and in Asia, but investor sentiment may remain cautious ahead of the main economic event of today which is the release of the US non-farm payrolls data due out at lunchtime UK time. Commodity prices are flat to lower and on the foreign exchanges, the pound is slightly higher against both the dollar and the euro but all the major currencies are range bound ahead of the US jobs report.
Company Announcements
Legal & General
It has announcment an agreement to enter into a US pension group annuity agreement with Philips, its first such deal in the US and a key market going forward for Legal & General. The transfer by Philips of $900m of current retiree pension obligations is being split between Legal & General America and The Prudential Insurance Company of America with each insurer providing 50% of the total monthly benefits to Philips' retirees.
FirstGroup
Trading Statement reports that overall trading during H1 was in line with its expectations and it is continuing to progress its multi-year transformation plans which are seen as driving sustainable improvements in financial performance and cash generation, despite a more challenging trading environment in some of its markets in the period. For the full year, it expects the progress of its non-rail businesses to largely offset the reduced size of its UK Rail franchise portfolio compared to the prior year. It added that results will remain H2 weighted but exaggerated in the current year due to the Capital Connect and ScotRail franchises coming to an end.
Contributed by SVS Securities
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