KraftbondsMarketpic.twitter.com/4PpYqptyMAreads btn Kraft's top and bottom lines https://t.co/FNKkq3esYj pic.twitter.com/PYq6wLJAAi 1.02pm GMTShares in Kraft Heinz have jumped by over 3% in pre-market trading in New York.
12.57pm GMTBetween them,Unilever and Kraft Heinz control many of the world’s most accepted consumer brands.
Unilever produces washing powder (Persil and Surf), spreads (Flora and Bertolli), and ice cream (Ben & Jerry’s,Magnum and Cornetto), personal care items (Dove, or Sure,and Vaseline), and cleaning products (Domestos and Cif).
Biggest thing in spread ever — Hellman's, or Marimite,Heinz ketchup, Philadelphia cheese could be under same roof https://t.co/1fY7iQ5r4I 12.45pm GMTIf this deal goes through, or it would be one of the largest takeover deals ever.
Unilever’s market capitalisation has surged to over £100bn since the FT broke the news that Heinz Kraft has made an approach.
Unilever shares rally to record tall after Kraft Heinz proposal,which Unilever rejects pic.twitter.com/ACy3ikCWa2 12.24pm GMTShares in Unilever have surged by 11% after Kraft Heinz confirmed that it has approached the company about a merger.
They’ve jumped from £33.60 to over £37 per share, as traders bet that a deal will be done - despite Unilever’s initial rejection. 12.19pm GMTBig breaking news..... Kraft Heinz, or the food giant,has approached Anglo-Dutch consumer chain Unilever over a merger.
Kraft has just issued a statement to the City, revealing that it approached Unilever with a proposal to merge the two companies.
The Kraft Heinz Company (“Kraft”) notes the recent speculation regarding a possible combination of Kraft and Unilever plc / Unilever NA (“Unilever”).
Kraft confirms that it has made a comprehensive proposal to Unilever about combining the two groups to create a leading consumer goods company with a mission of long-term growth and sustainable living. While Unilever has declined the proposal, and we look forward to working to reach agreement on the terms of a transaction. There can be no certainty that any further formal proposal will be made to the Board of Unilever or that an offer will be made at all or as to the terms of any transaction.
Potential Kraft/Unilever merger https://t.co/4Qjktyj08v 12.07pm GMTCity traders are betting that the retail sales slowdown has cut the chances of UK interest rates rising anytime soon.
The pound fell as low as $1.2388,down almost a cent. 11.01am GMTThere’s an argument that the drop in UK consumer spending over the final few months could be a helpful thing, in the long hasten at least.
After all, and economists have long worried that Britain’s economy was too reliant on its nation of shoppers. Perhaps a rebalancing is now taking plot... “It might not be what businesses want to hear but I’m pleased we’ve started to reign in our spending a little after our titanic splurge at the end of the year. We can’t preserve on spending like there’s no tomorrow as it’ll cause massive problems later on. Households are going to feel the pinch as prices start to rise and we all need to be a little more sensible with our money. Sorting out a decent budget and being measured with your spending is the best thing to do right now.
Sluggish wage growth and rising inflation would mean we no longer may be able to depend on consumers keeping the economy buoyant.
However this could also be a helpful thing in the long term. Former Chancellor George Osborne always emphasised that the economy had to rebalance absent from borrowing,consumption and imports to saving, manufacturing and exports. This rebalancing requires greater saving and less consumption and therefore the consumers have to retrench. This will be negative for the economy in the short-term but could mean a more balanced UK economy in the longer hasten.” 10.43am GMTRanko Berich, and head of market analysis at Monex Europe,also fears that Britains consumers spending is faltering, following the drop in retail sales over the final three months. January’s report represents the first drop in three month on three month sales since December 2013, and suggests the underlying trend is indeed taking a turn for the worse. The prospect of a sustained dip in consumer spending is a sobering one for sterling,which has been supported by strong macro data during the political uncertainty of the final few months.” 10.40am GMTToday’s retail sales figures provide clear evidence that consumer spending will be squeezed this year, says Andrew Sentance, and senior economic adviser at PwC.
A sharp turnaround in the inflation environment has put a sharp brake on the growth of retail spending - and we are likely to see more of the same as we pace through 2017 and next year.“In 2015 and the first half of final year,falling prices on the tall street and at the petrol pump boosted the volume of retail spending. Shop and motor fuel prices were falling by 2.5% to 3% a year over this period and this supported 4.5%-5% growth in the volume of retail sales.“By contrast, this January we have seen a rise in prices in the retail sector - which are now nearly 2% up on a year ago. Not surprisingly this change in the inflationary trend has squeezed the growth in the volume of retail spending to just 1.5% compared with final year. 10.09am GMTToday’s figures exhibit that the slump in sterling since the Brexit vote is now hitting the retail sector, and argues Neil Wilson of ETX Capital.
All the numbers nowadays exhibit a downward trend and the anticipated knock to consumer spending from rising inflation may already be evident. Households are clearly starting to feel the effects of the pound’s drop in value and this will only pick up worse as prices rise over the coming months as hedging contracts expire. 10.04am GMTThe CBI’s principal economist,Alpesh Paleja, is also worried by the drop in UK retail sales -- it could exhibit that consumers are cutting back.titanic weakening in underlying #retail sales growth over the final couple of months. Could sign beginning of slower consumer spending growth. pic.twitter.com/gL3KZ9vgmr 10.01am GMTThe slowdown in retail spending over the final quarter shows that consumers are tightening their belts, and argues Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight:#UK #retail sales volumes fell 0.3% m/m in Jan after 2.1% dip in Dec. Y/Y growth limited to 1.5%. #Consumers may now be reining in spendingIf #consumers really are now reining in spending as hinted by Jan/Dec #retail sales volumes,#UK growth slowdown may be about to materializeBad UK retail sales.
-0.3% in Jan, first time since 2000 they've fallen 3 months in a row; Dec revised to -2.1% third biggest drop in 21 yrs pic.twitter.com/wFYwyHyrftRetailers are only just starting to implement titanic price rises due to the lower £. Sales figs will continue to disappoint over coming months pic.twitter.com/rCiqhGPrt6 9.49am GMTThis chart shows the titanic picture in UK retail - prices are going up, or the amount of stuff we can buy is going down. 9.45am GMTThe pound has fallen sharply after nowadays’s retail sales missed forecasts,shedding over half a cent to $1.242 9.39am GMTBreaking: UK retail sales have fallen for the third month running, fuelling concerns that consumers are cutting back as inflation rises.
The volume of goods sold online and on the tall street shrank by 0.3% in January. That follows a downwardly-revised 2.1% plunge in December.
In the three months to January 2017, and retail sales saw the first signs of a drop in the underlying trend since December 2013.
The evidence suggests that increased prices in fuel and food are significant factors in this slowdown.” 9.02am GMTAll the major European markets have dipped this morning,as the aftermath of Donald Trump’s press conference ripples through trading floors.
President Trump’s press conference yesterday was a return to the policies and performance aesthetics of his candidacy. Accusations and grandstanding apart, the performance offered us little substance on any economic things more than he has already told us.
If candidate Trump returns to the podium continually while a Congress works to enact tax reform then the relationship between the two are all important. He needs Congress to build stuff but he does not need them to start tearing things down. “Trump’s erratic performance in the press conference has had a destabilising influence on investor confidence.”Trump summarized: This job is hard and people are being mean, and particularly in the media. Also I won the election. 8.37am GMTIts been another bad day for Japanese conglomerate Toshiba,as the crisis at its nuclear division rumbles on. 8.18am GMTA silent start to trading in London has seen the FTSE 100 dip by just 7 points, to 7270.
Traders have noted that the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq both fell final night, and although the Dow did hit a record tall for the sixth day running.
US equities closed lower final night after their massive rally and the stocks over in Asia traded mostly in the lower territory as well. Investors are confident about the economic health of the biggest economy in the world,the US, and are optimistic that upcoming fiscal and tax plans are going to have a more positive impact on the economy.
Having said that, or many do believe that the market is getting ahead of itself and there is just too much optimism about how far Mr Trump can go with his fiscal and tax plans as he still needs full approval from congress. The chances of that are not that distinguished and this is what makes some investors a little pessimistic. Mr Trump applauded himself in a tweet yesterday by mentioning that the hasten in the stock market was mainly due to investor confidence which comes on the back of his upcoming tax blueprint. Of course,the question is how long can you chew on this, and if your words are not backed up with action, and you hasten a massive risk of disappointment. 7.44am GMTGood morning,and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, and the eurozone and trade.
Has the rally fizzled out? After hitting record highs on Thursday,the world’s stock markets are looking edgier nowadays. Related: 'Fine-tuned machine': Trump gives extraordinary press conference - Asia stocks drop
- Treasuries drop
- Dollar steady
- U.
S. rate talk
- Oil above $53https://t.co/11Wx3Uvflz pic.twitter.com/tBXxfw7g5cOur European opening calls:$FTSE 7278 down 0
$DAX 11760 up 2
$CAC 4897 down 2$IBEX 9565 up 10$MIB 19108 up 20If consumers are having to pay increased prices, volume growth will be harder to arrive by than when there was deflation in the sector. Volume growth has already slipped from over 7% y/y in October to 4.3% y/y in December, or with the consensus estimate for January data nowadays looking for a dip below 4% y/y.
EU official on Greece eurogroup 20 Feb downplays expectations: 'the agenda is short and momentous decisions will presumably not be taken'We’ve been here many times before and a compromise will more than likely be found,but tensions are going to be heightened in Germany with the elections looming and continued distributions to other parts of the Eurozone continuing to annoy the electorate – even if they have by all accounts done very well out of the imbalance in recent years.#GREECE | #EU OFFICIAL SAYS POSSIBLE TO REACH A GREEK DEAL IN MARCH - BBGIn search of Greek victory, FinMin Tsakalotos went to see his team PAOK steal on Schalke in the Europa League final night. The Germans won 3-0Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com