FTSE grinds higher after barrage of earnings

After falling sharply on the open the FTSE spent the rest of the session grinding higher before dipping in and out of positive territory.  On the whole, global stocks were on the rise in an attempted recovery from Wednesday’s bloodbath; however, the FTSE was less convinced as investors digested a mixed bag of corporate updates. 

WPP growth slows, shares dive 
A shocking third quarter for ad giant WPP and an equally dismal full year guidance sent the share price tumbling 22% to 818p, its lowest level since 2012, before rebounding to 910p. Structural changes within the industry and a slowdown in client spending has added to an already challenging year for the firm, which saw former chief executive Martin Sorell leave under a cloud in April. WPP is now down 33% year to date. However, looking at the chart the market has been steadily lacking conviction towards WPP since Q2 last year, shedding well over 50% of its value along the way. Mark Read, the new chief executive certainly has his work cut out to turn this slow-moving vessel around and the picture looks set to darken further before any real signs of progress will appear.
Also tugging at the FTSE was BT, down 4.5% as investors showed doubts over the appointment of Philip Jansen as the new boss. 

Draghi sends euro lower
As was widely expected the ECB kept rates on hold and has switched onto autopilot. ECB President Draghi reassured the market that the central bank is still intent of halting the bod buying programme at the end of the year despite mounting risks in the eurozone and globally. He continued to express confidence in the broad-based economic expansion in the region and was comfortable that Italy would reach an agreement with Brussels. So far so good for the euro. However, Draghi acknowledgement of “weaker momentum” a nod towards the challenges that are emerging in the eurozone’s two largest economies, France and Germany was enough to send the euro lower, wiping out the common currency’s gains for the day. Euro traders will look towards Draghi’s appearance tomorrow, although it is unlikely that he will add anything new for euro traders to chew on.

Wall Street picks up on earnings
Wall Street started on the front foot with tech stocks on the rise after falling sharply in the previous session. Upbeat results from Microsoft and Telsa have gone some way to calming investor nerves after disappointments from Caterpillar and 3M earlier in the week. Whilst a slew of risk factors have hit traders confidence hard this month, investors will be looking searching for the bottom of this recent shake out. So far market shake out’s this year have been buying opportunities and whilst we are still in a bull market, we don’t see why this one should be any different right now.