Sirius Minerals Share News (SXX)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open slightly higher on Thursday following strong results from US tech giants overnight and a flurry of significant UK company news.The UK competition regulator blocked the proposed merger of J Sainsbury-Asda, Barclays turned to a profit in the first quarter despite seeing a challenging period for its investment bank, and the boss of state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland is to step down.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 3.75 points higher at 7,475.50 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 51.32 points, or 0.7%, at 7,471.75 on Wednesday.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all finishing 0.2% lower."After the close, earnings from the closely watched tech sector were encouraging, although investors are nervous that strong corporate data is not enough," said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.Microsoft shares rose 3.5% in post-market trade after the software firm said demand for cloud services drove a boom in third-quarter profit. Revenue increased by 14% to USD30.6 billion in the quarter ending March 31, well above analysts' expectations, while net income rose 19% to USD8.8 billion. Microsoft is profiting from a boom in cloud-computing services driven by demand for its flagship Azure service for businesses, which recorded revenue growth of 73%.Meanwhile, Facebook reported a rise in first quarter sales as it unveiled a possible USD3 billion fine over user privacy scandals. Facebook reported that setting aside the USD3 billion pushed earnings down to USD2.43 billion in the quarter against the nearly USD5 billion in net income in the same period a year earlier."In the first quarter of 2019, we reasonably estimated a probable loss and recorded an accrual of USD3 billion in connection with the inquiry of the [Federal Trade Commission] into our platform and user data practices," the statement said.The federal investigation was launched following the Cambridge Analytica scandal, which involved violations of a consent decree on user privacy.Facebook shares rose 7.6% in after-hours US trade.Lawler continued: "Economic statistics across the globe also need to show more signs of life for the current rally to be sustained. European bourses are pointing to a stronger start after the opening bell."In early UK company news, the UK Competition & Markets Authority has blocked the proposed merger of J Sainsbury and Walmart's Asda. Following the decision, Sainsbury's, Walmart and Asda mutually agreed to terminate the deal. The CMA said the deal would leave UK shoppers worse off due to price rises and a lower quality of service as it resulted in both a national and local lessening of competition. Stuart McIntosh, chair of the CMA inquiry group, said: "We have concluded that there is no effective way of addressing our concerns, other than to block the merger."Sainsbury's Chief Executive Mike Coupe responded, saying the CMA is "effectively taking GBP1 billion out of customers' pockets"."Sainsbury's is a great business, and I am confident in our strategy. We are focused on offering our customers great quality, value and service and making shopping with us as convenient as possible," said Coupe.Lender Barclays reported a swing to profit in the first quarter of 2019 in a "resilient" performance, though the period brought "challenging markets" for its Corporate & Investment Bank.The lender reported pretax profit for the three months ended March of GBP1.48 billion compared to a GBP236 million loss a year before.Excluding litigation and conduct costs, however, Barclays's pretax profit decreased 11% to GBP1.54 billion from GBP1.73 billion the year before.The lender attributed this drop to a "challenging income environment" for its Corporate & Investment Bank, and an increase in impairments on the non-recurrence of a "favourable" US macroeconomic forecast update compared to the first quarter in 2018.Barclays's total income was down 2.1% to GBP4.25 billion with net operating income decreasing 5.3% to GBP4.80 billion from GBP5.07 billion. Barclays net interest income increased, however, rising 3.2% to GBP2.26 billion from GBP2.19 billion the year before.Barclays said its CET1 ratio at the end of the first quarter edged up to 13.0% from 12.7% a year before. The lender's return on tangible equity in the quarter was 9.2%Ross McEwan is to step down as chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland Group once a replacement has been found, the UK state-backed lender said.McEwan has given 12 months' notice of his departure, and he will also stay until "an orderly handover" has taken place. McEwan became CEO of RBS in October 2013, having previously been head of the company's UK Retail unit. Before that, he led Commonwealth Bank of Australia's retail banking business. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said it made a "good start" to 2019 despite a backdrop of economic uncertainty. The UK housing market has remained stable, allowing the firm to achieve a "record" sales rate and "solid" forward order book. However, Taylor Wimpey did note that it has seen increased build cost pressures, crimping margins. Taylor Wimpey said average private sales for the year-to-date were 1.03 per outlet per week, up from 0.85 a year ago, ahead of expectations for 2019. Meanwhile, build-cost inflation for the year is expected to be around 5%. The company said it remains on track to meet its annual expectations, with full-year volumes to be slightly higher year-on-year but margins slightly lower given the greater build-cost inflation.Miner Anglo American reported a fall in first-quarter production, largely due to a drop in metallurgical coal. Metallurgical coal production decreased by 25% year-on-year to 4.2 million tonnes, with two longwall moves in the period compared to just one a year ago.Copper production in the first quarter of 2019 increased by 4% to 161,100 tonnes, which the company put down to due to strong plant performance and planned higher grades. Platinum and palladium production slipped by 5% and 6% respectively, while Kumba's iron ore production fell by 12% to 9.5 million tonnes."Production is 6% lower in the quarter, with two planned longwall moves at Metallurgical Coal accounting for 80% of the reduction...By the end of the quarter we had increased our production run-rate, are on track to deliver this year's production targets and our guidance is unchanged," said Chief Executive Mark Cutifani.RELX backed its annual outlook as it reported trends in 2019 remain "broadly consistent" with those seen in 2018.The company said in the year-to-date, it has completed five acquisitions, worth a total of GBP236 million. RELX added that it is confident in delivering underlying revenue and adjusted profit growth in 2019.Sirius Minerals said it has signed a ten-year distribution agreement with a Munich-headquartered agribusiness group.Sirius has entered the exclusive deal with BayWa Agri Supply & Trade, a wholly owned subsidiary of BayWa AG, for the distribution of POLY4 fertiliser into Europe. "The European fertilizer market is highly advanced and the second largest in the world behind China," said Sirius Minerals Chief Executive Chris Fraser. "We are delighted to be partnering with a leading agribusiness to distribute our POLY4 product into this key market."The broadly positive open in Europe comes despite mixed trade in Asia overnight, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closing up 0.5%. However, in China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.2% lower.The Bank of Japan overnight trimmed its economic growth forecast for the current financial year amid economic slowdowns overseas.The central bank expects the world's third-largest economy to expand at an annualized rate of 0.8% in the year ending March 2020, downgraded from January estimates of a 0.9% growth, according to a statement released after a two-day monetary policy meeting.Meanwhile, the BOJ also decided on Thursday to keep its ultra-easing monetary policy to prop up the economy and combat deflation.Elsewhere in the economic calendar on Thursday there are US durable goods orders at 1330 BST.Meanwhile, the National Institute of Economic & Social Research nudged down its UK forecasts and said the global economy is set to carry on expanding though the pace of growth will likely ease.The NIESR cut its UK GDP forecast for 2019 to 1.4% from the 1.5% seen in February, while the prediction for 2020 was also cut by 0.1 of a percentage point, to 1.6% from 1.7%. The NIESR forecasts growth will accelerate to 1.9% in 2021, and remain at this rate in both 2022 and 2023.In 2018, the UK economy grew 1.4%.At the same time, the NIESR revised down its outlook for the Bank of England's interest rate path. The London-based think tank now sees Bank Rate staying at 0.75% through 2019 and being raised to 1.00% in August 2020, as opposed to August 2019, as predicted before. Looking at the global economy, the institute thinks growth will come out at 3.4% in 2019, down 0.2 of a percentage point from the February forecast, accelerating to 3.6% in 2020, up 0.1 of a percentage point from February.