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London open
London stocks fell in early trade on Tuesday as investors mulled the latest comments from US Federal Reserve officials and looked ahead to more speeches later in the day.
At 0900 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 8,400.91.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said the FTSE was missing out on the tech enthusiasm seen on Wall Street, where sharp gains for Nvidia pushed the Nasdaq to a record high.
“Given the absence of big tech names on the FTSE 100, it’s no big surprise that the index has opened down 0.4% today back below the 8,400 mark.
“This comes as oil prices have retreated from recent gains, with Brent Crude heading back towards $83 per barrel, as two of the Fed’s Vice Chairs, Philip Jefferson and Michael Barr, voiced continuing concerns over the direction of US inflation. Gold and copper prices have also retreated a little but that needs to be seen in the context of recent record highs.”
Looking ahead to the rest of the day, investors were eyeing speeches from Federal Reserve officials John Williams, Thomas Barkin, Michael Barr, Raphael Bostic and Christopher Waller.
On home shores, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey is due to give a speech at 1800 BST. Investors were also looking ahead to Wednesday’s UK inflation data.
The latest data from Kantar showed that grocery price inflation has fallen for the fifteenth month in a row, to 2.4% – its lowest level since October 2021.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar, said: “Typically, an inflation rate of around 3% is when we start to see marked changes in consumers’ behaviour, with shoppers trading down to cheaper items when the rate goes above this line and vice versa when the rate drops.
“However, after nearly two and a half years of rapidly rising prices, it could take a bit longer for shoppers to unwind the habits they have learnt to help them manage the cost of living crisis. Own-label lines are proving resilient, for example, and they are still growing faster than brands, making up over half (52%) of total spending. Sales of premium own label ranges continue to increase too, up by 9.9% compared with a year ago.”
In equity markets, Asia-focused Standard Chartered and Prudential were among the worst performers.
Pennon was under the cosh after the South West Water owner slashed its dividend by £2.4m following a record fine for illegally dumping sewage into rivers and the sea. United Utilities and Severn Trent also fell sharply.
Upper Crust and Ritazza owner SSP and Cranswick both lost ground after results, while B&Q owner Kingfisher fell after it said first-quarter like-for-like sales were down on last year on the back of weakness in France, but full-year expectations were unchanged.
On the upside, AstraZeneca rallied as it laid out plans to hit $80bn in revenue by 2030.
Big Yellow rallied after full-year results late on Monday, in which it posted robust revenue growth and increased profitability.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Schroders Plc | +1.35% | +5.00 | 375.40 |
| 2 |  |
Astrazeneca Plc | +1.07% | +130.00 | 12,226.00 |
| 3 |  |
Flutter Entertainment Plc | +0.58% | +95.00 | 16,405.00 |
| 4 |  |
Next Plc | +0.38% | +36.00 | 9,404.00 |
| 5 |  |
3i Group Plc | +0.37% | +11.00 | 2,988.00 |
| 6 |  |
Imperial Brands Plc | +0.31% | +6.00 | 1,945.50 |
| 7 |  |
Direct Line Insurance Group Plc | +0.20% | +0.40 | 199.90 |
| 8 |  |
Glencore Plc | +0.08% | +0.40 | 501.90 |
| 9 |  |
Smiths Group Plc | +0.06% | +1.00 | 1,745.00 |
| 10 |  |
Morrison (wm) Supermarkets Plc | +0.00% | +0.00 | 286.40 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Fresnillo Plc | -2.74% | -17.50 | 622.00 |
| 2 |  |
United Utilities Group Plc | -2.42% | -26.50 | 1,067.00 |
| 3 |  |
Severn Trent Plc | -1.86% | -49.00 | 2,584.00 |
| 4 |  |
Easyjet Plc | -1.68% | -8.00 | 466.90 |
| 5 |  |
Prudential Plc | -1.59% | -12.80 | 792.40 |
| 6 |  |
Melrose Industries Plc | -1.55% | -9.60 | 609.40 |
| 7 |  |
Burberry Group Plc | -1.55% | -16.50 | 1,050.50 |
| 8 |  |
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc | -1.53% | -13.60 | 875.60 |
| 9 |  |
Spirax-sarco Engineering Plc | -1.50% | -140.00 | 9,210.00 |
| 10 |  |
Gsk Plc | -1.46% | -26.00 | 1,749.00 |
US close: Dow Jones retreats from record highs
Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Monday after the Dow Jones closed above the 40,000-point watermark for the first time in history.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.49% at 39,806.77, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.09% to 5,308.13, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.65% firmer at 16,794.87.
The Dow closed 196.82 points lower on Monday, knocking the blue-chip index back below the psychologically important 40,000-point level.
Investors will be keyed on a number of artificial intelligence players this week, with Microsoft kicking off its three-day Build event on Tuesday and Nvidia publishing its Q1 earnings on Wednesday.
Also in the corporate space, Palo Alto Networks, AutoZone, Target, Ralph Lauren, and Intuit will all report earnings throughout the course of the week.
On the macro front this week, minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting were due on Wednesday.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: New homes, AI, Mike Ashley
A Labour government would aim to announce the sites for a series of new towns within a year of taking office, with the promise that homes would be built in them by the end of a first term, Angela Rayner is to say in a speech. Giving more detail to a plan first outlined in Keir Starmer’s party conference speech in October, Rayner will tell a housing conference that Labour will strongly support private developers who create high-quality and affordable housing. – Guardian
The sectors of the global economy most heavily exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) are witnessing a marked productivity increase and command a significant wage premium, according to a report. Boosting hopes that AI might help lift the global economy out of a 15-year, low-growth trough, a PwC study found productivity growth was almost five times as rapid in parts of the economy where AI penetration was highest than in less exposed sectors. – Guardian
The decision to block a UAE-backed takeover of The Telegraph has damaged relations with the Gulf state, a former Cabinet minister has warned. Sir Brandon Lewis, the former Northern Ireland secretary, said that it “would be logical” if the handling of Redbird IMI’s bid had contributed to a diplomatic breakdown between the UK and UAE that puts billions of investment at risk. – Telegraph
TalkTalk founder Sir Charles Dunstone is preparing to inject fresh funding into the debt-laden broadband provider, as looming repayment deadlines stoke fears over its future. Sir Charles and TalkTalk’s other main shareholders have offered to inject £150m into the company to stave off a potential debt crisis, sources said. – Telegraph
Mike Ashley is eyeing up a stake in Exeter’s Princesshay estate, The Times has learnt, in what would be the first joint venture between the retail mogul and the King’s property company. Frasers Group, the FTSE 100 retailer majority-owned by Ashley, “is the frontrunner” to buy a 50 per cent interest in the estate from Nuveen, a retail property source said. – The Times
