Updates from Sports Direct, Apple and Nationwide
A mix of light trading and little momentum saw the FTSE 100 dragged 40 points lower to 6,274 on Wednesday. Oil prices - overnight they slipped 3% - did little to aid Glencore and BHPBilliton, down 3.5% and (almost) 2%, to 89.80p and 760.60p. However Antofagasta managed a 2.5% surge while HikmaPharma's previous day gains were dented by a 2.8% dip to 2292p.
The subdued mood extended to the US with the Dow Jones down 117 points to 17,603.8 with Nike and Exxon seeing 1.5% and 1.3% falls. New home sales data for November also worried. Elsewhere, Chinese shares climbed on the last trading day of the year.
We start with news that Apple will pay £318m to settle an Italian tax probe following accusations that the American computer giant failed to declare Italian earnings stretching between 2008 and 2013.
However that amount is some distance from the €880m the Italian tax authorities, it's thought, had originally hoped to claw back. Apple had been accused of diverting money to Ireland with its much lower corporate tax rate.
Ireland meanwhile has been accused by the EU of allowing some companies to shelter billions of profits in exchange for jobs - a new EU tax ruling on the issue looms.
Next, Sports Direct has confirmed that it will spend £10m on hiking the pay of Sports Direct employees to above the minimum wage. The company has faced a barrage of criticism on pay practice and zero hours contracts.
"The cost in relation to these direct employees," it said in a statement this morning, "and casual workers and other related costs and knock on costs are likely to be circa £10m on an annualised basis."
The wage increase is around 15p an hour extra in total. Around 15,000 zero-hours staff should benefit with the average wage rising to £6.85 an hour for those aged 21 and over. Any switch to permanent contracts is unlikely however.
Lastly, Nationwide claims house prices surged 4.5% overall in 2015, lifting the average UK house selling price to close to £200,000 with December taking the strongest monthly rise - 0.8% - since April.
The highest house inflation came from London with prices surging 12.2% overall taking the average London selling price to £456,000. Overall Nationwide expect UK house prices to rise 3-6% over the next 12 months.
"With affordability metrics," says Nationwide's chief economist Robert Gardner, "in the capital stretched by historic standards, another year of above-average price gains appears unlikely – though in truth, we held a similar view at the end of 2014."
Breaking news: The Financial Conduct Authority abandons plans to publish an investigation into UK banking culture
