Ferrexpo bringing pelletiser back online in Ukraine, Anglo American's De Beers sales fall

London open

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 22 points higher on Wednesday, having closed up 0.13% at 7,370.62 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Ferrexpo said it was now receiving sufficient levels of power to bring one iron ore pelletiser line in central Ukraine back into operation, allowing it to meet the requirements of existing customer contracts. As a result of interruptions and continued instability within the state-owned electricity network during the fourth quarter of 2022, around 0.3 million tonnes of pellets have been produced to date in the period. Total pellet production for 2022 is expected to be approximately 5.9-6.0 million tonnes.

Anglo American said rough-diamond sales by its De Beers unit were down in line with expectations in the 10th sales cycle of the year. De Beers sold $410m in diamonds in the latest cycle, compared with $454m in the ninth cycle and $336m in the 10th period of 2021.

Newspaper round-up

The troubled online beauty retailer THG faces more pain after a leading credit insurer reduced cover to its suppliers. The Guardian can reveal that Allianz Trade, one of the UK’s largest credit insurers, cut back cover for suppliers to the beauty-to-nutrition retailer, formerly known as the Hut Group, in recent weeks. – Guardian

As the cost of living crisis continues to ravage people’s incomes, it has emerged that almost 2m households have defaulted on at least one significant bill in the run-up to Christmas. According to the latest findings from Which?’s consumer insight tracker, an estimated 1.9m households failed to make at least one mortgage, rent, loan, credit card or other bill payment over the last month. – Guardian

Mick Lynch has held secret talks with Network Rail bosses amid hopes that he will sue for peace in the New Year as public support for train strikes crumbles. The RMT trade union general secretary and his deputy Eddie Dempsey met Network Rail’s representatives in a hastily-arranged meeting on Tuesday morning, The Telegraph can disclose. – Telegraph

Elon Musk has said he will quit as chief executive of Twitter as soon as he has found “someone foolish enough” to take over. The Tesla billionaire was “actively searching” for a new Twitter boss on Tuesday, CNBC reported, despite having made comments that cast doubt over whether he was prepared to step down. – Telegraph

The government has ordered the sale of a regional broadband provider owned by LetterOne, the oligarch-backed investment company, over national security concerns. LetterOne agreed to finance Upp last year as part of a £1 billion investment plan to provide a regional full-fibre broadband network for a million premises in eastern England by 2025. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Tuesday despite ongoing recessionary concerns and an unexpected move from Japan's central bank.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.28% at 32,849.74, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.10% to 3,821.62 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.01% to 10,547.11.

The Dow closed 28.20 points higher on Tuesday, taking a bite out of losses registered in the previous session.

Fears that the Federal Reserve may send the US economy into a recession remained in focus on Tuesday and all but dashed hopes for a Santa Claus rally.

Also drawing an amount of investor attention, the Bank of Japan shocked markets as it held its benchmark interest rates steady but said it was widening its yield target range. The bank left the policy balance rate unchanged at -1.0% and the 10-year yield control target unchanged at zero. However, it also announced a surprise tweak to the yield control curve policy meaning that it will now allow the 10-year bond yield to fluctuate in a range of 0.5% above or below the target of zero, versus 0.25% previously.