Debt, gas and groceries

Thursday 10 December 2015

FTSE indices were down in early trading ahead of today's announcement from the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee which is expected to leave the base rate unchanged. Wall Street lost ground overnight, while Asian markets got off to a mixed start.

“Records, as every athlete knows, are there to be broken. And Glencore’s (LSE:GLEN) warning that it is prepared for even lower commodity prices is a timely reminder that historic lows can also be eclipsed,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Glencore is reacting by expanding its debt reduction plan and now aims to cut net debt to between $18bn and $19bn by the end of next year having previously pledged to reduce it by about a third to $20bn. The move was greeted warmly by investors with Glencore topping the blue chip board with its shares up by nearly 8% in early trading. 

“British Gas parent Centrica (LSE:CNA) was another strong performer after seeing good operational and strategic progress against a challenging backdrop of continued weakness in commodity prices and power generation margins. Centrica’s full-year earnings outlook is in line with expectations.

“Online supermarket Ocado (LSE:OCDO) has seen the thirteenth consecutive quarter of double-digit sales growth in an increasingly competitive grocery retail sector.  Average orders now exceed 200,000 per week which reflects the ongoing shift to online grocery shopping.

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