Croda on hunt for new finance chief, GSK posts positive Jemperli trial results

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 14 points lower on Monday, having closed down 0.95% on Friday at 7,576.36.

Stocks to watch

British speciality chemicals company Croda International is on the hunt for a new chief financial officer after announcing that its Louisa Burdett will leave the group next year to join Spirax-Sarco Engineering. Croda also confirmed that its full-year outlook for 2023 remains unchanged with adjusted profit before tax still expected to be between £300m and £320m, albeit at the lower end of that range.

GSK reported positive results from the phase three trial of Jemperli in adults with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer on Monday. The FTSE 100 company said the trial involved Jemperli, or dostarlimab, combined with standard chemotherapy followed by maintenance therapy with dostarlimab and Zejula, or niraparib. It achieved its primary goal of improving progression-free survival significantly, benefiting both the overall patient group and those with MMRp/MSS tumours when compared to a placebo plus chemotherapy followed by placebo.

Newspaper round-up

Retailers are facing a tough new year as weak consumer demand is expected to combine with a barrage of increased costs, including the higher minimum wage. Shoppers are likely to keep their spending on pause during the first months of 2024, according to forecasts published today by the Retail Think Tank, a group of industry experts who analyse the health of the sector, as mounting mortgage and rental costs weigh on consumer confidence. – Guardian

One of the largest UK pension and insurance firms has opened the door to backing US-style mega-bonuses for London listed companies despite fears that executive pay is fuelling inequality and encouraging “short-term risk taking”. Legal & General Investment Management has updated its pay policy to say there is room for the “necessary flexibility” needed to attract the best talent. It acknowledges “an increased push” by UK companies towards “remunerations structures that are more closely aligned to US-style pay”. – Guardian

John Lewis has been forced to deny that its plans to build a 24-storey building in the suburbs of London will “loom” over nearby houses in a row over a project dubbed the “Waitrose Tower”. Property experts hired by the department store have argued that the design of the proposed residential tower on top of its Waitrose supermarket in Bromley, south east London, means visibility would be “often fleeting and the buildings only glimpsed”. – Telegraph

Rolls-Royce is in talks with Ukraine’s biggest private power company to build a string of mini nuclear power plants in the country, The Telegraph can reveal. DTEK, which is part of billionaire businessman Rinat Akhmetov’s industrial group, has held early discussions with Rolls about developing small modular reactors (SMRs) at sites currently operated by coal power stations. – Telegraph

Sir Tom Hunter has reiterated his backing for THG, calling it “world-class” even as activist investors call for the company to be broken up. The Scottish entrepreneur said he had added to his holding in the fitness and beauty group, led by Matt Moulding, when its share price dipped below 50p nearly a year ago. THG shares have since risen by more than 50 per cent and were trading at more than 86p last week, although they were floated at 500p in 2020. – The Times

US close

US stocks finished mostly higher on Friday, with the Dow scoring its third record close in a row, though gains were modest as earlier optimism surrounding future interest-rate cuts was dampened by New York Fed Bank president John Williams.

In an interview with CNBC, Williams said that policymakers "aren’t really talking about rate cuts right now". He said: "I just think it’s just premature to be even thinking about that."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.15% at a new all-time closing high of 37,305.16, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.01% and the Nasdaq gained 0.35%.

Markets had risen strongly over the past two sessions after the Federal Open Market Committee's so-called dot plot graph pointed to rates ending 2024 at 4.625%, down from the current 5.25-5.5% level. That implies three separate 25 basis-point cuts before the end of next year, compared to just two cuts in September's dotplot.

US Treasuries have surged over recent weeks, with bond-buying intensifying over the past two days after the FOMC meeting, pushing the yield on a 10-year note below the 4% mark for the first time since August. Yields finished down 0.9 basis points at 3.913% by the close.