Balfour Beatty lifts expectations, BAT set to meet guidance

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open five points higher on Thursday, having closed down 0.4% at 7,489.19 on Wednesday.

Stocks to watch

Infrastructure builder Balfour Beatty said it expected annual profit to be ahead of expectations due to positive net interest income and lower tax charges. The company said full year revenue was expected to be 5% ahead of 2021’s £8.3bn and lifted cash-flow guidance to £800m from £740-£780m.

British American Tobacco said it was on course to meet full-year guidance, after strong growth in vaping products. Updating on trading, the blue chip said its new category unit had continued to drive "strong volume, revenue and market share growth" during the second half, and was now a "significant" contributor to group performance.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s biggest business group has urged ministers to quickly decide which industries will receive energy support from next spring as hundreds of companies brace for their bills to more than double. The Confederation of British Industry called on the government to urgently set out details of how it plans to extend the energy bill relief scheme for firms with large bills beyond March 2023. The scheme, which discounts the wholesale cost of energy for all companies, charities and public sector organisations, was introduced in October to replicate the support offered to households in cushioning the shock from rapidly rising energy bills. – Guardian

Brussels is launching a fresh raid on the City's lucrative clearing houses as it attempts to force banks to shift business to the European Union. The European Commission has unveiled legislation that will give the EU a share of London's derivatives trading, which handles trillions of euros a year. – Telegraph

For Sophie Bathgate, the grim consequences of more Christmas rail strikes are all too predictable. Ever since the RMT announced fresh industrial action this week, customers have been on the phone to the London restaurateur cancelling their festive bookings. Many promise they will rebook when things have calmed down. But that’s little comfort for Bathgate, whose business is facing a bleak festive period for the third year in a row. – Telegraph

The secured creditor of Bulb’s parent company has done a deal to secure the energy group’s technology platform as taxpayers face losses of £6.5 billion from its collapse. Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund, listed in London, has carved out Bulb’s technology assets from the remnants of its parent company, Simple Energy, after backing its founders with a £55 million loan. – The Times

Investors pulled a net £1.02 billion from UK-focused funds in November, making it the second worst month on record, according to a study. They are shunning the UK because of fears that the recession may last longer than elsewhere, according to the fund flows data provider Calastone. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks were mostly weaker at the closing bell on Wednesday, as market participants started losing faith in the Federal Reserve's ability to engineer a soft landing.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.005% at 33,597.92, as the S&P 500 slipped 0.19% to 3,933.92 and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.51% at 10,958.55.

The Dow closed just 1.58 points higher on Wednesday, barely touching the losses it recorded on Tuesday after the Commerce Department revealed that the US trade deficit had widened in November.

Concerns about the state of the US economy remained in focus on Wednesday, with investors trying to determine whether or not an economic downturn was on the horizon.

News that China's dollar-denominated exports fell 8.7% year-on-year in November was also drawing attention, with the drop being a markedly bigger one than the 3.5% decline expected by economists.