Stocks in New York were called lower at midday on Thursday, but European stocks were stable with Auto Trader and Currys among the top performers.
The FTSE 100 index was up 17.00 points, 0.2%, at 8,200.07. The FTSE 250 was up 175.00 points, 0.9%, at 20,611.34, and the AIM All-Share was up 2.16 points, 0.3%, at 802.43.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.2% at 818.16, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.8% at 18,070.82, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 1.2% at 17,001.92.
In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.3%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 0.1%.
‘Stability is welcome, but pre-market indicative prices point to another bad day on Wall Street so the jury is still out whether today is going to end up being another difficult session for equities or not,’ said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
Stocks in New York were called lower, ahead of US economic data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was called down 0.9%, the S&P 500 index down 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.4%.
Eyes are firmly on Friday’s core personal consumption expenditures index, which analysts at ING said will be ‘important for markets’.
The numbers are expected to show that the core personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred US inflation gauge, rose 2.8% year-on-year in April, the same pace of growth as in March.
‘With Fed officials still pushing the hawkish higher for longer line for US rates and the need for patience before the Fed acts, markets are concerned that a higher PCE print could push the Fed’s rate cut move to next year,’ TreasuryOne’s dealers said.
Before that on Thursday, there is a US gross domestic product reading at 1330 BST, alongside the weekly jobless claims report.
Back in Europe, the Eurozone’s unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 6.4% in April. FXStreet was expecting the rate to be unchanged from 6.5% in March.
Separately, according to the European Commission, the consumer confidence index was unchanged at minus 14.3 points in May compared to April. The figure is below the long-running minus 11.7 average.
The wider economic sentiment index improved to 96.0 points in May, up from 95.6 points in April.
The pound was quoted at $1.2708 at midday on Thursday in London, slightly lower compared to $1.2710 at the equities close on Wednesday. The euro stood at $1.0812, virtually unchanged against $1.0811. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥157.07, lower compared to JP¥157.56.
In the FTSE 100, Auto Trader jumped 13%, making it the star performer of the morning.
The Manchester, England-headquartered online marketplace for the sale of new and used cars reported growth across all major metrics in its annual results.
For the financial year that ended March 31, Auto Trader reported £345.2 million in pretax profit, up 18% from £293.6 million in financial 2023.
Revenue rose 14% to £570.9 million from £500.2 million, with double-digit percentage growth reported across all business segments.
With a proposed final dividend of 6.4p per share, up 14% from 5.6p a year before, Auto Trader increased its full-year dividend also by 14%, to 9.6p from 8.4p.
In the FTSE 250, Currys was up 6.0%. Berenberg raised the electricals retailer to ’buy’ from ’hold’.
Bootmaker Dr Martens rose 5.6%.
Dr Martens said it will cut costs while at the same time invest in marketing to revive its flagging US business, as the boot maker revealed a drop in annual revenue and profit.
The London-based company said pretax profit fell by 42% to £93.0 million in the financial year that ended March 31 from £159.4 million the year before. Revenue was £877.1 million, down 12% from £1.00 billion.
Dr Martens said financial 2024 was a ‘challenging year’ for the company, with a difficult trading environment.
On AIM, TPXimpact rose 26%.
The provider of ‘digital transformation’ services said trade in the fourth quarter of its financial year ended March 31 continued to be ‘strong’, with double-digit revenue growth.
The company expects to report revenue growth from continuing operations of over 20%, which would equate to revenue of £84 million.
Brent oil was quoted at $82.99 a barrel at midday in London on Thursday, down from $83.50 late Wednesday. Gold was quoted at $2,331.80 an ounce, lower against $2,339.63.
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