FTSE 100 Live: Barclays could cut 2,000 jobs; Black Friday sales up (so far)

FTSE 100 down 17 points at 7,466
Nationwide (LON:NBS): Black Friday transactions up on last year
Consumer confidence improves in November
Nationwide says early Black Friday activity up on last year

You may have noticed from the deluge of offers and promotions that it’s Black Friday today.

Retailers will be pinning thier hopes for a strong day of sales and one indicator has pointed to an increase in activity compared to last year.

Nationwide said in a “Live Black Friday spending data” that at 9am 1.49 million transactions had been made so far today, 15% higher than an average Friday, with the number of purchases made 9% higher than on Black Friday last year.

BoE’s Pill warns of difficult phase in tackling stubbornly high inflation

Some more now on the comments by the Bank of England’s (BoE) chief economist Huw Pill.

In an interview in the Financial Times, Pill said the BoE cannot afford to relent in its battle against high inflation just because it sees signs of weakening economic activity.

Pill said UK monetary policy was in a “difficult phase” as he warned of “stubbornly high” price pressures in the British economy following multiple shocks including the pandemic and the surge in energy costs.

He insisted the Monetary Policy Committee had to resist the temptation to “declare victory and move on” from its battle to quash inflation that at 4.6% in October still remained well above the bank’s 2% target.

Key indicators the Bank was focusing on, services inflation and pay growth, remained at “very elevated levels,” he added.

The comments came after Pill this month wrongfooted financial markets by raising expectations for interest rate cuts next year.

Pill said at an online event, shortly after the BoE held rates at 5.25%, that investors were not “unreasonable” in expecting the central bank to start cutting rates from next summer.

Entain and Flutter price targets cut

The two FTSE 100-listed betting operators are amoing the fallers today after brokers lowered price targets for the two firms

Flutter Entertainment, the owner of Paddy Power and Betfair, had its price target cut by UBS 17,300p from 18,670p although the Swiss bank maintained a ‘buy’ rating.

Barclays (LON:BARC) trimmed its target for Flutter to 15,300p from 16,000p and ket an ‘equal weight’ rating.

For Entain (LON:ENT), which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, UBS lowered its targte to1,420p from 1,570p but kept a ‘buy’ rating while Barclays moved its target to 1,120p from 1,330p before and reiterated an ‘overweight’ rating.

Barclays said: “We think the more intense competitive backdrop in the US is likely to provide a more challenging backdrop for US valuations within the share prices of Flutter and Entain.”

Shares in Flutter (LON:FLTRF) are down 1.6% and Entain is down 1.1%.

Elsewhere, Sage, which is down 1.8%, was downgraded by Cannacord to ‘sell’ from ‘hold’.