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What to Watch: Trading updates from Diageo, Unilever, Shell and more

Alanna Petroff
·Senior Economics Correspondent at Yahoo Finance UK


Here are the top business, market and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe and abroad:

Earnings flow through

A range of companies on the FTSE 100 have been reporting trading updates on Thursday morning, including drinks giant Diageo (DGE.L), global oil firm Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB.L) and Marmite-maker Unilever (ULVR.L).

Shares in both Diageo and Shell were surging by about 4% in morning trading as investors cheered the latest results, though Unilever stock was slipping.

Tanqueray gin is one of the many drinks produced by London-traded Diageo. Photo: Igor Golovniov/Getty Images
Tanqueray gin is one of the many drinks produced by London-traded Diageo. Photo: Igor Golovniov/Getty Images

Global stock market overview

Global stock markets were buoyant on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve pledged on Wednesday that it would be patient with further interest rate hikes amid signs of slowing global growth.

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Most European stock markets were rising on Thursday morning by about 0.5% and many Asian markets posted large gains.

The general upward momentum helped the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) hit its highest level in nearly three-weeks.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index (^HSI) and India’s BSE Sensex (^BSESN) were both up by between 1% to 2%.

Brexit update

Britain is planning to take a few days to formulate some new Brexit proposals for the European Union to resolve the issue of the Irish border, according to foreign minister Jeremy Hunt during a BBC radio interview on Thursday morning.

British lawmakers on Tuesday instructed prime minister Theresa May to reopen a Brexit treaty with the EU to replace a controversial Irish border arrangement, the so-called “backstop.” But Brussels has flatly rejected the idea of renegotiating this deal.

“We will put those proposals together. It is going to take a few days to do that,” Hunt said.

What to expect in the US

The momentum in US stock markets is not guaranteed to continue into Thursday. The Dow Jones industrial average (YM=F) and S&P 500 (ES=F) were both holding steady in premarket trading, while the Nasdaq (NQ=F) was inching up.

Shares in Facebook (FB) are expected to surge at the open after the social media giant reported better-than-expected results on Wednesday.

Additionally, more quarterly results are expected on Thursday from companies including GE (GE), UPS (UPS), MasterCard (MA) and Amazon (AMZN).