London’s stock market showed minimal movement in early trading today, with investors’ focus shifting to a series of crucial US economic data releases expected later in the day.
Yesterday, US markets closed with the Dow Jones slightly up, the S&P 500 down, and the Nasdaq Composite experiencing a more significant drop. The British pound gained against the US dollar. UK shares rose, led by energy stocks. The FTSE 100 ended the session 0.3% higher.
Investors anticipate the US producer price index, released today, to reveal an uptick in year-on-year growth for February, potentially influencing Federal Reserve interest rate decisions. Upcoming US data also includes retail sales and weekly jobless claims, which should also help investor refine their scenario for the Fed’s rate cut path.
Britain’s main share indexes were mixed in early trading on Thursday, with the FTSE 100 remaining flat and the FTSE 250 dipping slightly. Anglo American and NatWest Group saw declines due to trading ex-dividend, while Deliveroo and Vistry reported positive earnings.
In other news, AstraZeneca acquires Amolyt Pharma for $1.05 billion, Halma‘s confirmed its full-year outlook, and Trainline posted better-than-expected revenue growth. Deliveroo reported a significant reduction in its pretax loss for 2023 and expects to generate positive cash flow in 2024.
Meanwhile, new data showed Britain’s housing market picked up in February, the UK government plans to prevent foreign state ownership of newspapers, and Barclays bankers largely lost their discrimination case. Vistry Group, IG Group, Trainline, Moonpig, Deliveroo, Halma, and OSB Group are among the companies reporting results or trading updates.
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