London’s FTSE 100 was on the up on Wednesday afternoon, shaking off tariff worries, and recovering from its worst run since September.
The FTSE 100 index traded up 52.53 points, 0.6%, at 8,548.52. It had fallen for six days in a row heading into Wednesday. It has not had a run that poor since September.
The FTSE 250 was up 151.86 points, 0.8%, at 19,922.02, and the AIM All-Share was up 3.36 points, 0.5%, at 681.85.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.8% at 854.13, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.9% at 17,363.74, and the Cboe Small Companies rose slightly at 15,071.10.
In Paris, the CAC 40 surged 1.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt jumped 2.0%.
In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is called up 0.6%, the S&P 500 up 0.9% and the Nasdaq Composite 1.0% higher.
‘The winds keep blowing in different directions on tariffs that it is impossible for markets to establish the lay of the land,’ AJ Bell analyst Russ Mould commented.
‘Trump is essentially sticking with the same message: tariffs make goods imported into the US more expensive and that will drive Americans to buy more goods domestically. Critics says it’s not that simple and that tariffs will ultimately raise prices for consumers and businesses in the US and hurt the economy.’
Mould continued: ‘If that’s not enough for investors to worry about, we’ve got inflation figures later today from the US. These will be watched closely by the market to see how the Federal Reserve might act next with interest rate decisions.’
The EU has announced it will respond to US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports by reintroducing tariffs on US products including whiskey, motorcycles, peanut butter and boats starting in April.
The European Commission said in a memo that the countermeasures aim to ‘protect European businesses, workers and consumers’ from the impact of US tariffs of up to 25% on imports of steel, aluminium and some products containing the metals.
According to the Commission, the new US tariffs will affect EU exports worth €26 billion, roughly 5% of the EU’s total goods exports to the US, resulting ‘in US importers having to pay up to €6 billion in additional import tariffs.’
Wednesday’s economic calendar has US consumer price index data at 1230 GMT.
According to consensus cited by FXStreet, the pace of US consumer price inflation is expected to have eased to 2.9% in February, from 3.0% in January.
The pound rose to $1.2949 early on Wednesday afternoon, from $1.2943 at the time of the London equities close on Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.0903 from $1.0924. Against the yen, the dollar perked up to JP¥148.70 from JP¥147.45.
A barrel of Brent rose to $70.19 on Wednesday, from $69.91 late Tuesday afternoon. Gold ebbed slightly to $2,916.15 an ounce, from $2,916.72.
In London, retailers struggled on the back of Zara owner Inditex reporting a slowdown in sales growth.
Inditex, down 8.1% in Madrid, reported sales and profit growth in the year to January 31.
So far in the new financial year, store and online sales have risen 4% at constant currency, when adjusted for the calendar effect of 2024 being a leap year. In the last week alone, sales are up 7%. Nonetheless, it still represents a slowdown from the 11% constant currency growth achieved in the year just ended.
Primark owner AB Foods was down 3.8% and Next lost 1.2%.
JD Sports fell 1.9% and Frasers Group gave back 1.0%, as sportswear retailers struggled on the back of a downbeat update from Frankfurt-listed Puma. Puma plunged 22%, though perennial rival Adidas was 0.6% higher.
Puma predicted ‘ongoing geopolitical tensions and economic challenges in 2025, especially trade disputes and currency volatility’.
As a result, the sporting goods maker expects currency adjusted sales to grow in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage range, following a 4.4% rise in 2024. It predicts adjusted earnings before interest and tax in the range of €520 million and €600 million, excluding one-time costs.
Including one-time costs of up to €75 million from the ‘nextlevel programme’, Ebit in 2025 is expected to range between €445 million and €525 million, falling from €622 million in 2024.
Elsewhere, Hochschild Mining and Hill & Smith each rose 11%, the stars of the FTSE 250 on Wednesday.
Hochschild declared a dividend for the first time in over two years, as it reported a swing to profit in 2024 on increased gold production and a higher gold price.
Hochschild, a London-based gold and silver miner operating in Argentina, Brazil and Peru, declared a final dividend of 1.94 US cents per share. The last time the company paid a dividend was a 1.95 cents interim payout for 2022.
Hochschild reported pretax profit of $177.2 million in 2024, swung from $43.5 million loss in 2024, as revenue rose by 37% to $947.7 million from $693.7 million.
Hill & Smith hailed a ‘record set of results’, helped by the infrastructure firm’s strong showing in the US.
Pretax profit in 2024 rose 12% to £104.5 million from £93.2 million, on revenue that climbed 3.0% to £855.1 million from £829.8 million.
Elsewhere in London, Gym Group added 1.2%. The low cost gym operator said revenue in 2024 rose 11% to £226.3 million from £204.0 million. Pretax profit totalled £2.5 million, swinging from a loss of £8.3 million.
‘Trading momentum remained strong in our peak recruitment months of January and February; revenue after two months has grown by 8% year on year, reflecting a 4% increase in average members and 4% growth in yield. Like-for-like revenue was up 3%, the company said.
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