Pearson revenues rise, AstraZeneca upbeat on latest Imfinzi results

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 19 points higher on Friday, having closed up 0.92% at 7,207.71 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

Educational publisher Pearson reported a rise in revenues for the nine months to September 30 driven by growth in assessment and qualifications which offset a fall in US higher education enrolments due to Covid-19 infections. Group underlying profit for the period rose 10%. Pearson said it was on track to meet full-year expectations and added that 2 million people had registered for its new US learning app as it looked to move into the direct-to-consumer market beyond schools and colleges.

AstraZeneca said on Friday that positive high-level results from the ‘HIMALAYA’ phase 3 trial showed a single, high priming dose of tremelimumab added to ‘Imfinzi’ demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful overall survival (OS) benefit versus sorafenib as a first-line treatment for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), who had not received prior systemic therapy and were not eligible for localised treatment. The FTSE 100 drugmaker said the novel dose and schedule was called the ‘STRIDE’ regimen. It said the combination demonstrated a favourable safety profile, with the addition of tremelimumab to Imfinzi not increasing severe hepatic toxicity.

Newspaper round-up

The government has stepped in to counter a spiralling crisis on pig farms by allowing butchers to enter the UK on temporary visas, in the latest reversal of post-Brexit immigration policy. Butchers in abattoirs and meat processing plants dealing with pigs will be allowed to come to work in Britain for six months, the environment secretary, George Eustice, announced on Thursday evening. He said 800 butchers were needed to meet staffing shortages and get the situation under control. - Guardian

People in the UK using contactless cards will be able spend up to £100 a time from Friday after the limit on payments was more than doubled. At the start of the pandemic the cap was increased to £45 to reduce the need for customers to handle cards and cash because of concerns about the virus being transmitted via surfaces. - Guardian

Energy providers have been accused of increasing households' monthly direct debit payments in a breach of industry rules as they battle to survive surging power costs. Citizens Advice is calling for action by Ofgem, the energy watchdog, after being contacted by a string of consumers hit with an unexpectedly high payment increase over the past few weeks. One household's bills almost doubled to £117 a month, it said. - Telegraph

Britain’s biggest haulage lobbying group has been frozen out of meetings with ministers following claims it is biased against Brexit and deliberately sparked last month’s fuel crisis. As businesses battle a national shortage of lorry drivers, relations between the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and the Government have entered a "deep freeze", sources said. - Telegraph

GlaxoSmithKline is embroiled in a row with an activist investor after it called for the replacement of the drugs group’s chairman and chief executive. Sir Jonathan Symonds, GSK’s chairman, replied to Bluebell’s partners on Wednesday, two days after Bluebell sent its critical letter, saying that it was “disappointed” with the investor’s account of a shareholder meeting hosted by the Investor Forum on Thursday last week to discuss the separation of GSK’s consumer healthcare division. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed well above the waterline on Thursday, as investors digested more quarterly earnings and the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.56% at 34,912.56, as the S&P 500 added 1.71% to 4,438.26 and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.73% firmer at 14,823.43.

The Dow closed 534.75 points higher on Thursday, after seeing out the previous session flat.

Thursday's primary focus was the Labor Department's weekly jobless claims report, which revealed the number of Americans filing for unemployment claims undershot forecasts again last week, retreating to their lowest level since near the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the number of people who filed for initial unemployment claims dropped by 36,000 over the week ended 9 October to reach 293,000 - better than expectations for a print of 315,000.