Stocks in Europe were on the up heading into Thursday afternoon, shaking off some underwhelming UK data, with corporate earnings from some FTSE 100 heavyweights helping to lift the mood.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 45.94 points, 0.6%, at 8,304.58. The FTSE 250 was up 37.81 points, or 0.2%, at 20,867.74, and the AIM All-Share added 0.80 of a point, 0.1%, at 729.93.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.6% at 831.70, the Cboe UK 250 rose 0.3% to 18,450.86, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.2% at 16,803.72.
The CAC 40 in Paris added 0.8%, and Frankfurt’s DAX 40 rose 0.6%.
‘European markets are on the rise in a session that has seen plenty of surprises on the data front. Early declines in the French PMI surveys brought talk of a potential 50-basis point cut from the ECB, with both services and manufacturing falling further into contraction territory. However, the German economy enjoyed a rare bit of good news since, with the improved metrics across both sectors helping to lift the composite reading to a two-month high of 48.4. Nonetheless, with the eurozone composite figure remaining in contraction territory (49.7), the ECB will need to remain on the front-foot in a bid to lift sentiment and activity in the face of depressed inflation levels,’ Scope Markets analyst Joshua Mahony commented.
UK private sector growth slowed to a near one-year low in October, a preliminary reading said Thursday, due to ‘heightened economic uncertainty’.
The flash UK composite purchasing managers’ index fell to 51.7 points in October, from 52.6 in September. The reading remained above the 50 mark which separates growth from decline, though the PMI fell to an 11-month low.
S&P Global noted ‘anecdotal evidence’ of some pre-budget uncertainty. The Labour government’s first budget is announced next week Wednesday.
The dollar surrendered some ground on Thursday. The pound was quoted at $1.2970 early Thursday afternoon, up from $1.2938 late Wednesday afternoon. The euro stood at $1.0801, up from $1.0780. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥151.86, fading from JP¥152.83.
Stocks in New York are called to open mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is called down 0.1%, the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite 0.8% higher.
In New York, Tesla climbed 12% in pre-market trade. Earnings beat expectations and the firm projected a slight increase in deliveries for the current year.
In the three months to September 30, Elon Musk’s electric vehicle manufacturer said GAAP net income rose 17% to $2.17 billion from $1.85 billion a year prior. Diluted GAAP earnings per share rose 17% to $0.62 from $0.53, and adjusted EPS improved 9% to $0.72 from $0.66.
‘After the bell, Tesla delivered an Aaron Judge-like margin performance versus Street expectations featuring a 200bps beat on auto gross margin ex credits, which has been a large overhang to the Tesla story looking over the past few quarters,’ analysts at Wedbush commented, likening Tesla’s report to baseball Aaron Judge.
Earning plaudits in London, Anglo American rose 4.3%. It said it is making progress in its ‘portfolio simplification’ as the diversified miner characterised its production performance for the first nine months of 2024 as ‘stable’.
London Stock Exchange Group added 3.5% as it reported broad-based growth in the third quarter as it expressed confidence for 2025.
Chief Executive David Schwimmer said: ‘We delivered a particularly strong quarter, with healthy growth in our subscriptions business and very strong performance in our high-quality volume-based businesses.’
‘We are executing successfully on our strategy, delivering multiple new products in the third quarter. The ongoing transformation of our business with faster product innovation and more powerful solutions is driving higher user engagement and better outcomes for our customers. Our partnership with Microsoft continues to make strong progress and our product timetable is on track.’
‘We are confident of continued growth as we look forward to 2025.’
Unilever also impressed, rising 3.5%, as the consumer foods firm reported third-quarter sales and volume growth.
Barclays added 3.6% after the lender raised its annual outlook and reported a rise in third-quarter earnings.
It now expects 2024 net interest income, excluding the investment bank and head office, above £11.0 billion. It had previously expected the figure to land at £11.0 billion. Barclays UK net interest income was raised to £6.5 billion from £6.3 billion.
The stock hit a roughly nine-year high.
Elsewhere, Softcat jumped 13% as it posted annual profit growth and lifted its payout.
The provider of IT infrastructure products and services said pretax profit in the year to July 31% climbed 12% to £159.4 million from £141.9 million.
It raised its final dividend by 6.5% to 18.1 pence per share from 17.0p. Its total ordinary payout for the year was 6.4% higher at 26.6p from 25.0p. Special dividends for the year totalled 20.9p, an increase of 66% from 12.6p.
Bloomsbury Publishing added 9.1% as it raised its yearly outlook following a record half-year. The publisher now expects its full-year outturn to beat consensus, which it puts at £37.5 million for pretax profit before ‘highlighted items’, and £319.3 million for revenue.
boohoo said it is in the process of reviewing the ‘content and validity’ of a request by shareholder Frasers Group for a general meeting. boohoo shares traded 5.7% higher.
Sports Direct owner Frasers said boohoo ‘urgently needs to address the management of its business’. Frasers owns 27% of the online fashion retailer. Frasers is requisitioning a general meeting of boohoo with an aim to add Mike Ashley, the FTSE 100 listing’s own founder and major shareholder, to the boohoo board as chief executive. Frasers also wants to add Mike Lennon, an ‘experienced restructuring professional’ to the boohoo board.
boohoo earlier this month launched a strategic review amid a downturn in sales. It had also agreed a new £222 million debt facility with a consortium of its existing relationship banking group, which Frasers hit out at on Thursday.
‘Frasers’ view is that the terms of the debt refinancing are wholly unsatisfactory. Frasers considers the refinancing to be a step backward for the company and an appalling outcome for shareholder,’ Frasers said. ‘Had boohoo engaged constructively with Frasers on the refinancing, alternative solutions could have been fully explored which may have resulted in a more favourable outcome for all stakeholders.’
boohoo added: ‘The boohoo board is in the process of reviewing the content and validity of the requisitions with its advisers. A further announcement will be made in due course.’
Frasers traded 0.1% lower.
Gold rose to $2,738.63 an ounce early Thursday afternoon, up from $2,718.02 at the time of the London equities close on Wednesday. Brent oil was quoted at $75.99 a barrel, up from $75.06.
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