Overview: the FTSE 100 is seen starting 1% higher this morning following yesterday’s surge on Wall Street, fuelled by another string of positive corporate results. Food giant McDonalds (NYSE: MCD), communications services provider AT&T (NYSE: T) and consumer goods manufacturer 3M (NYSE: MMM) beat market expectations with their Q3 earnings, helping put the Dow Jones average back above the 10,000 mark. Insurer Travelers (NYSE: TRV) did particularly well, reporting a fourfold increase in quarterly profits, which helped it to a 7.7% rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average improved 1.3%, while other top indexes followed with S&P 500 gaining 1.1% and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose just 0.7%, pushed down by weak Q3 results from eBay (NYSE: EBAY).
Asian markets also did well with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 1.8%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tacking on 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei improving 0.6%.
Oil prices rose overnight. December Brent Crude was just 10 cents short of US$80/barrel, while US light, sweet crude for December delivery improved to US$81.54/barrel.
Precious and base metals also were on the rise with Gold reaching US$1,061/oz and Silver climbing to US$17.67/oz, while Platinum improved to US$1,372/oz.
Copper and Nickel followed, climbing to US$3.03/pound and US$8.78/pound respectively. Zinc held steady at US$1.01/pound.
Investors in the UK will be waiting for the first estimate of the UK GDP (gross domestic product) for Q3, which is expected to show a 0.2% quarter on quarter growth.
Morning news wrap
In the FTSE 100, broadcasting group BSkyB (LSE: BSY) reported on its Q1 results, saying revenues were up 10% to £1,380 with a 15% growth in retail subscription revenues and a 9% increase in operating profit to £198 million. Earnings per share were up 15% to 7 pence.
Engineering company Invensys (LSE: ISYS) landed a £255 million contract to upgrade the signalling and automatic train control lines for San Paulo’s metro system.
In the FTSE 250, textile maintenance group Davis Service Group (LSE: DVSG) said trading during the past quarter was in line with the trends in the first half of the year.
Specialty plastic and fibre products supplier Filtrona (LSE: FLTR) said quarterly revenues were up 3.8% year on year, while operating profit rose 16.1%.
In the AIM, Mobile email and data synchronisation group Synchronica PLC (AIM: SYNC) received a purchase order from a North-African mobile operator for installation of its mobile email product Mobile Gateway, an initial 10,000 user license and a contract for ongoing services.
African focused nickel and gold exploration and development junior Nyota Minerals (ASX&AIM: NYO) has completed the compulsory acquisition of the remaining Minerva shares after buying 91% of the company earlier this year.