Yahoo Finance What to Watch: Lagarde's first ECB meeting, Aramco surge, Ocado and Superdry sales
Here are the top business, market, and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe, and abroad:
Lagarde’s first meeting as ECB president
The European Central Bank is on Thursday expected to hold interest rates unchanged following Christine Lagarde’s first monetary policy meeting as president of the central bank.
While no changes to monetary policy or forward guidance are expected, analysts expect the bank to announce details of the first major strategic review of its operations since 2003.
The bank may consider adjusting its “below, but close to 2%” inflation target, changes to the governing council’s voting procedure, and whether climate change should be something that factors into its decisions.
The bank unveiled a sweeping stimulus package designed to lift the eurozone’s flagging economy in September.
The governing council voted to cut one of its key interest rates for the first time since early 2016, pushing it into record negative territory.
The bank also revived its controversial quantitative easing programme, a move that divided the council and provoked an unprecedented chorus of reproach from several central bankers.
“We see no reason for the ECB to adjust its guidance, let alone policy, beyond tweaking its near-term forecasts,” said Florian Hense, an analyst at Berenberg.
“We expect the ECB to keep its stance unchanged in 2020 while it reviews its strategy.”
Saudi Aramco shares surge on second day of trading
Saudi Aramco shares have surged again on their second day of trading, briefly hitting the $2 trillion (£1.5tn) valuation long wanted by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The oil giant made its stock market debut on the local Tadawul exchange in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday in the world’s biggest share sale.
The state company sold 0.5% of its shares to individual investors and another 1% to institutional investors, with most Saudi nationals or based in the Gulf.
Shares were up by more than 5%, and had been up by more than 9% earlier on Thursday. Shares in the oil firm had surged to the 10% maximum daily limit on Wednesday, hitting the valuation target.
Saudi Aramco shares were trading at 37.10 riyals each, in a second day of gains over the IPO price of 32 riyals.
Superdry sales slide as turnaround gets underway
Profits and sales at Superdry (SDRY.L) slid over the last six months, as the brands new CEO tried to pull the clothing brand more upmarket.
Superdry said on Thursday that revenue fell 11% to £369.1m in the first half of its financial year. Underlying pre-tax profit crashed 98.4% to £200,000.
The business lost £4.2m in the 26 weeks to the end of October on a statutory basis, compared with a profit of £26.4m in the same period last year.
“At this halfway point in our financial year, I am pleased with the progress we have made to comprehensively reset Superdry,” founder and chief executive Julian Dunkerton said in a statement.
“We're doing this through our product and brand, our physical and digital retail operations, and a renewed focus on the retailing basics.”
Dixons Carphone sets aside £30m to cover mis-sold insurance
Gadget and phone retailer Dixons Carphone (DC.L) has set aside an extra £30m to cover compensation for mis-sold insurance.
Dixons Carphone said Thursday it was setting aside the extra cash to cover claims for mis-sold ‘Geek Squad’ insurance for mobile phones. The huge extra provision takes the total set aside to £35m.
Dixons Carphone was fined £29.1m in March by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for historic mis-selling. The FCA found sales people weren’t given proper training on the Geek Squad cover, after a whistleblower complaint.
Dixons Carphone initially set aside just £2.3m to cover claims. The retailer said Thursday it has so far paid out £1m to customers.
“Taking into account the short period of time elapsed since [the FCA fine] and the small proportion of customers who have made claims, the volume and value of any potential future claims is highly uncertain,” the company said.
Ocado reports sales rise in 'strong’ fourth quarter
Ocado Retail on Thursday said that it had a “strong” fourth quarter of the year, even as sales growth slowed slightly in the run-up to Christmas.
The company, which is now a joint venture between Ocado (OCDO.L) and Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), reported that retail revenue grew by 10.8% to £429.1m in the 13 weeks to 1 December.
That was in line with expectations, but slightly slower than the 11.5% growth seen in the third quarter and below the 12% seen during the same period last year.
The growth still makes Ocado the fastest-growing grocer in the UK. Average orders per week jumped by 10.4% to 350,000, but the size of the average order was mostly unchanged, at 104.9 pounds.
European stocks in the green
European markets climbed on Thursday. The pan-European STOXX 600 index (^STOXX) was up by more than 0.2%.
The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was up 0.37% in London. Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was up by more than 0.2%, while France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) is nearly 0.3%.
Sterling was mostly flat as UK voters headed to the polls on Thursday. It fell slightly against the dollar (GBPUSD=X) to just under $1.32. Sterling was flat against the euro, and was trading at around €1.185 (GBPEUR=X).
What to expect in the US
Futures are pointing to a slightly higher open for US stocks.
S&P 500 futures (ES=F) are up 0.13%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) are up 0.1% and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) are up 0.17%.
