Wednesday, 2 November: Indices in London unanimously took a leg lower as oil, banking and financial services stocks all troubled investors. Such trade was prompted as Brent Crude slipped $4 to $46.68/bbl since the end of October, and banking stocks were sold after Standard Chartered revealed yesterday that profit had dipped in the third quarter. Stock performance was also hindered as the National Institute of Economic & Social Research maintained its view that the UK was a ‘slowing economy, confronted with significant risks ‘ with one of the foremost risks being rising inflation pegged at 4.0% by late 2017.

Indivior and G4S were stocks than investors took a particular shine to throughout the day. Indivior surged 12.27% higher despite posting mixed results. Strong underlying performance, with a raise in full year guidance was marred by a $220m charge relating to antitrust litigation. It’s heroin addiction medication Suboxone Film continues to look strong, however, Jefferies will not be hooked on the stock – as brokers at the firm await a pipeline outdate at the investor day next month.
G4S was buoyed 9.47% higher, as the security services company delivered robust growth in the first 9 months of the year and reiterated its confidence for future prospects. The support services group announced the procurement of new contracts with annual revenue totalling £1bn since the start of 2016, with the respective contracts worth £2bn across their terms. Revenue in the first nine months of 2016 was up 5.7% year-on-year, or £4.82bn to the end of September.

At the close, European indices were down with the FTSE 100 -1.04%, the DAX 30 -1.47% and the CAC 40 -1.24%.