Financial News

Markets Update: AIB floatation steals the show

By Business & Finance
26 June 2017
Markets Update: AIB floatation steals the show

The flotation of AIB took centre stage as the biggest share sale in Europe this year. Ian Slattery reports.

Equities hit new all-time highs on Monday but moved lower throughout the week, as some investor confidence evaporated.

Oil weighed on markets as doubts surrounding the efficacy of output cuts persisted. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) benchmark entered a bear market (defined as a 20% fall from its high), and it remains to be seen whether concerns will fully spill over into other markets.

ian slattery headshot

Ian Slattery

Confidence remains within certain sectors of the market as the proposed acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon continued to have positive reverberations throughout the technology sector.

The US Conference Board of leading indicators also rose in May, for a fifth consecutive month.

In domestic news, the long awaited flotation of AIB took place with an issue price of €4.40 per share, netting close to €3bn for the Irish exchequer.

The sale was the biggest in Europe this year and the 25% stake values the firm at €12bn, with the government continuing to own just over 70% of the bailed out bank.

global index

The global index eked out a small gain last week, rising by 0.1%.

Oil fell once more, down close to 4% over the course of the week.

The proposed acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon continued to have positive reverberations throughout the technology sector

Gold was up by 0.25%, whilst Copper saw a more positive move, returning 2.2%.

US 10-year Treasuries were relatively flat, with the yield moving to 2.14%, from 2.15% a week ago.

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THE WEEK AHEAD

Monday June 26th
US durable goods orders data goes to print, where a contraction of 0.5% is expected, from a 0.8% fall a month earlier.

Wednesday June 28th and Thursday June 29th
The UK Parliament will vote on the Queen’s Speech, which is liable to be the first real test of the potential Conservative and DUP coalition.

Thursday June 29th
The final estimate for US Q1 GDP figure is released, and the consensus expect a growth figure of 1.2% (month-on-month) to be confirmed.

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