Investors are shrugging off talk that Royal Dutch Shellhas been telling some analysts their figures are too bullish, saying the news has already been priced in.

‘There is a market rumour that Shell is calling around & guiding fourth quarter numbers down,’ said one trader.

He said the current consensus is for a fourth quarter clean income of £4.136 billion and the company thinks this is too high.

Similar rumours dragged on BP a number of weeks ago.

At that time, analysts said it was not surprising that numbers in the sector would have to come down given the massive fall in crude prices. The news weighed on Royal Dutch shares too.

citywire article