Legal & General fell 2.5% as CEO Nigel Wilson announces his retirement
British financial services group shares legal and general it fell 2.5% after chief executive Nigel Wilson announced he was retiring after a decade in charge.
The company said Wilson would remain in the role until his successor is appointed, a process that is expected to take about a year.
It added that Wilson had delivered a “consistently strong financial performance with a total return to shareholders of more than 600% driven by significant growth in dividends, earnings per share and ROE.”
Legal & General shares are down about 11% in a year.
—Jenni Reid
Moving Stocks: Computacenter, Philips Earnings; proso glides
British IT services company computer center It rose 8.8% in early trading after announcing it expected 2022 results to beat guidance, though it signaled continued inflationary pressure.
Phillips it gained 5% after announcing a series of measures to improve profitability, including 6,000 job cuts.
Chief Executive Officer Roy Jakobs told CNBC the cuts were a “necessary intervention to help us stay competitive and support us as we move forward in the market.”
At the bottom of European stocks, technology investment group Prosus fell 5.5%. Last week the company said it would lose about 30% along with its parent company as it looks to “strengthen cost structures.”
—Jenni Reid
European markets open lower with an eye on rate hikes
Europe’s Stoxx 600 Index opened lower on Monday, with all sectors either red or flat.
Technology led losses, down 1.6%, followed by travel, down 1.2%.
This week, the focus is firmly on the series of monetary policy decisions to be made by central banks, with the Federal Reserve announcing its next rate hike on Wednesday, followed by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank on Thursday.
Stoxx 600 Index for the past week.
Oil to approach $100 a barrel in second half of 2023, RBC Capital Markets forecasts
Oil prices could approach $100 a barrel in the second half of the year, according to Michael Tran of RBC Capital Markets.
“The bottom line here is that China is going to buy a lot of crude over the course of the next few months,” he said.
Brent crude futures were last trading unchanged at $86.85 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were up 0.09% at $79.75 a barrel.
Investors and OPEC+ will also be waiting to see if the EU embargo on Russian oil products, which takes effect this Sunday, will cause major disruption. The oil cartel is not expected to make any real changes to its quotas or production guidance at an upcoming meeting, Tran forecasts.
—Lee Yingshan
Adani Enterprises advances as group subsidiaries continue to fall
Actions of Adani Enterprises It rose 10% after posting heavy losses in previous sessions as its chief financial officer expressed confidence in its follow-on public offering that is scheduled to close on January 31.
The stock continues to fall more than 20% in the first month of the year.
CNBC Pro: Goldman Sachs Names Tech Stocks With ‘Strong Track’ For Growth, Giving Nearly 70% Edge
A tech corner could be seeing “limited appetite” from the market, according to Goldman Sachs. But the investment bank is optimistic.
He names stocks with near-term opportunities as well as “offensive picks” that he says may outperform their peers as the economy recovers.
CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.
—Weizhen Tan
European markets: here are the opening calls
European markets are heading for a lower open on Monday as investors focus on the upcoming US Federal Reserve meeting, which begins on Tuesday. The two-day meeting will conclude with an announcement of the central bank’s latest interest rate decision.
the United Kingdom FTSE 100 The index is expected to open 13 points lower at 7,745, the index of Germany DAX 22 points less with 15,122, France ACC 9 points down to 7,083 and that of Italy FTSE MIB it was down 17 points to 26,339, according to IG data.
Profits come from Ryanair and Philips. Spain publishes preliminary inflation data for January.
—Holly Ellyatt
