While things look rather busy on the macro agenda over the coming days – with plenty of economic data on tap and policy meetings in both the UK and Europe – the focus is likely to be on the all-important US jobs report due Friday, which could be a deciding factor in the Federal Reserve’s impending taper of stimulus.

Global manufacturing figures for November revealed yesterday beat forecasts across the board but an unexpected pick-up in US manufacturing activity to a two-and-a-half-year high was met with a mixed reaction from financial markets.

“Obviously, the Fed is more focused on the labour market data specifically but, at the margin, this is more evidence is favour of an earlier taper,” said analyst Amna Asaf from Capital Economics.

Today’s schedule looks relatively light but the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for the UK construction sector will be closely watched this morning. The PMI is expected to slip to 59 for November, from 59.4 the month before.

Mining stocks were once again out of favour today after some heavy falls on Monday following a sell-off across the commodities market which saw gold drop to a five-month low. While metals were broadly firmer this morning, the share prices of Antofagasta, Fresnillo, Vedanta, Randgold, Anglo American and BHP Billiton were registering losses early on.

Rio Tinto was also in the red after saying that it will cut capital spending to $11bn in 2014 and to around $8bn in 2015, from the forecast $14bn to be spent this year. “Our results so far show we are taking decisive action, making tough decisions and advancing at pace,” Chief Executive Sam Walsh is expected to say at an investor seminar today.

Global banking group HSBC was in the red early on after analyst Chintan Joshi from Nomura downgraded the stock from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’, saying that regulation is the “main headwind to the dividend story”.

RBS was named Nomura’s “least preferred UK bank”, weighing on the share price this morning. “We forecast downside from current levels”, Joshi said.

Heading the other way was BAE Systems after being upgraded to ‘sector performer’ by RBC Capital Markets and BG Group after Liberum Capital raised its rating to ‘buy’.

FTSE 100 – Risers
Next (NXT) 5,550.00p +2.78%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 835.00p +2.71%
William Hill (WMH) 388.30p +1.92%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 657.00p +1.00%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 750.50p +0.94%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,219.00p +0.58%
Kingfisher (KGF) 371.70p +0.57%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,596.00p +0.57%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 78.99p +0.52%
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,397.00p +0.43%

FTSE 100 – Fallers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 758.50p -2.82%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,213.00p -1.62%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 476.00p -1.49%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 853.50p -1.39%
Admiral Group (ADM) 1,199.00p -1.32%
Barclays (BARC) 266.70p -1.31%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,108.00p -1.26%
Old Mutual (OML) 193.90p -1.17%
Standard Life (SL.) 343.70p -1.15%
CRH (CRH) 1,522.00p -1.10%

Source: ShareCast