(Sharecast News) - Stocks are set to start the session little changed even after the US President surprised overnight by pulling the plug on talks between lawmakers on a new government stimulus package for the economy.
In a post to his personal account on Twitter, Donald Trump said: "I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business."

The market spotlight on Wednesday had been expected to be on the televised debate between US Vice-President, Michael Pence, and his Democratic contender, Kamala Harris, that were scheduled for the evening.

Commenting on the news out of the Oval Office, Naeem Aslam at Avatrade said: "When we look at the global markets, we are not seeing much panic.

"This raises the question of why investors are not punishing the markets when they know that the U.S. economy isn't going to see another stimulus package for another one month or so. This market is addicted to fiscal and monetary help. We should have seen a much deeper sell-off for the global markets, and the U.S. futures should have tanked."

Against that backdrop, FTSE 100 futures were falling by just two points to 5,937.

In parallel, futures on the S&P 500 were up by 12.5 points at 3,365.75.

Sterling meanwhile was edging up 0.13% to 1.2898, while December Brent crude oil futures were slipping 1.1% to $42.18 a barrel on the ICE.

Tesco hikes payout, as expected

Grocer Tesco posted a 6.6% rise in group sales for the half to reach £26.7bn, with revenues in the UK and the Republic of Ireland ahead by 8.6%, while in Central Europe and at Tesco Bank they fell by 4.3% and 31.4%, respectively. Group operating profit before exceptionals meanwhile was down by 15.6% to £1.04bn. At period end, net debt excluding lease liabilities was up by £0.2bn to £3.0bn. The dividend payout was raised 20.8% to 3.2p per share or 35% of the prior year dividend, in line with company policy.

The board of Frasers Group has urged shareholders to back a £100m staff incentive scheme at Wednesday's annual meeting. Frasers, formerly known as Sports Direct, plans to award the cash to staff if the share price hits £10 for a 30 day period. The awards will depend on length of service, with staff having worked four years or more entitled to a maximum four weeks' worth of salary bonus. Frasers has put forward a separate performance reward plan that will reward the 1,000 highest-ranked employees, known as then "Fearless 1,000", with the top 10 receiving £1m, with further payouts ranging from £500,000 to £50,000.