Taylor Wimpey Share News (TW.)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock in London were struggling midday Friday on fears of a ramp up in the ongoing US-China trade war, with homebuilders and banks weighing heavily on the FTSE 100. The FTSE 100 was down 47.53 points, or 0.7%, at 6,991.25 Friday midday. The FTSE 250 was down 102.04 points, or 0.6%, at 18,506.77 and the AIM All-Share down 0.1% at 931.31.The Cboe UK 100 was down 1.0% at 11,859.26, and the Cboe UK 250 down 0.7% at 16,602.83. The Cboe UK Small Companies was up 0.1% at 11,430.31.World leaders are set to open a two-day Group of 20 summit in Argentina on Friday, with global trade concerns expected to dominate. The flare up in Russia-Ukraine tensions and the fallout from the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi are also likely to feature.While there have been some signs that Chinese and US delegations could reach a ceasefire on trade, there are growing worries that President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping will not be able to make a breakthrough at their highly-anticipated meeting at the summit."Equities are under heavy pressure in Friday morning trading, hurt by fears of an intensification of trade war tensions between the US and China," said IG's Chris Beauchamp.He continued: "While markets, as the saying goes, 'climb a wall of worry', it would be nice to get at least one bit of good news. At present, that hope seems misplaced - while UK house prices did rise in November, the outlook for the coming year seems bleak, providing little incentive for investors to buy up the UK housebuilder stocks that currently trade at such low valuations." In the FTSE 100 at midday, housebuilders were struggling, despite a rise in UK house prices in November. Taylor Wimpey, the worst performer, lost 3.4%. Barratt Developments was down 2.8%, Berkeley Group lost 3.0% and Persimmon was down 2.6%. Nationwide Building Society data showed house price inflation accelerated more-than-expected in November after slowing in the previous month. The house price index rose 1.9% year-on-year following a 1.6% increase in October. In August and September, price growth was 2%. Economists had expected house price growth of 1.7%. House price inflation increased for the first time in four months in November. On a month-on-month basis, the house price index rose 0.3% in November after remaining unchanged in October. Economists had expected a modest gain of 0.1%.Nationwide's Chief Economist Robert Gardner said: "Looking forward, much will depend on how broader economic conditions evolve. In the near term, the squeeze on household budgets and the uncertain economic outlook is likely to continue to dampen demand, even though borrowing costs remain low and the unemployment rate is near 40-year lows."It was a busy day in European economic news, most of it disappointing. Eurostat figures showed the Eurozone's consumer price growth slowed to its lowest level in three months in November and the core inflation unexpectedly eased.The consumer price index rose 2% year-on-year following a 2.2% increase in October. The slowing was in line with economists' expectations.Core inflation, which excludes change in the prices of energy, food, alcohol & tobacco, dropped to 1% from 1.1% in October. Economists had expected the rate to remain unchanged."More problematic is the decline in core inflation, which was below analyst expectations. The weak core inflation is in part due to concerns about a cooling economy, which have made businesses hesitant to price through higher input prices such as increased wages," said ING Senior Economist Bert Colijn. Further Eurostat figures showed the Eurozone's unemployment rate remained unchanged at its lowest level in nearly 10 years for a third straight month in October.The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 8.1% in October, where it has been since July. Economists had expected the figure to ease slightly to 8%.A year ago, the unemployment rate was 8.8%.The jobless rate is the lowest recorded in the euro area since November 2008, the Eurostat said.The number of unemployed in Eurozone was 13.17 million in November, which was higher by 12,000 from September. The fell by 1.121 million from a year ago.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.5% and 0.6% respectively at midday.France's consumer price inflation slowed more-than-expected in November to its lowest level in seven months, preliminary data from the statistical office INSEE showed.The consumer price index rose 1.9% year-on-year following a 2.2% increase in October. Economists had expected 2% inflation.The latest inflation figure was the lowest since April, when it was 1.6%.Compared to the previous month, the CPI declined 0.2% in November, following a 0.1% rise in October. The fall was in line with economists' expectations.In Germany, the country's import price growth unexpectedly accelerated in October after slowing in the previous month, figures from the Federal Statistical Office.The import price index rose 4.8% year-on-year following a 4.4% in September. Economists had expected the figure to ease further to 4.2%.Import price inflation was 4.8% in both July and August.Compared to the previous month, import prices grew 1% in October after a 0.4% increase in September. Economists had expected the pace to remain steady. Germany's retail sales rebounded strongly in October, growing at the fastest pace in nearly one-and-a-half years, preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.Retail sales grew 5% year-on-year following a revised 2.8% slump in September. Economists had expected a gain of 1.4%.The pace of growth was the fastest since May 2017, the agency said.The euro was lower against the dollar at USD1.1378 at the European equities close, against USD1.1383 late Thursday.Back in London at midday, banks followed homebuilders to the bottom of the of the blue chip index.Banks were struggling on the likelihood of UK Prime Minster Theresa May's Brexit deal getting defeated in the UK parliamentary vote due to take place on December 11. May recently urged MPs to back her Brexit plan to avoid "division and uncertainty", warning: "A divided country is not a country that prospers."Barclays was down 3.0%, Standard Chartered down 2.4%, Lloyds down 2.0% and RBS was down 1.8%.The pound was quoted at USD1.2755 at midday, down from USD1.2780 late Thursday.Sage Group was lost 2.0% at midday as US investment bank Goldman Sachs downgraded the accounting software provider to Neutral from Buy. In the FTSE 250, Thomas Cook was down 1.5% as Berenberg downgraded the travel agent to Sell from Hold. Stock in New York are called for a lower open amid the tone of the US-China relations and minutes from the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting held earlier this month reinforcing expectations for another quarter-point increase in US interest rates next month. The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were all pointed 0.4% lower. IG's Beauchamp added: "Last night's Fed minutes, while somewhat old-hat after Powell's speech, have been enough to temper some of the exuberance seen in equities, and put a bit of life back in the US dollar. It looks like another rate increase in March is not such a far-fetched concept after all."