Stock prices in London, Paris and Frankfurt were higher on Tuesday morning, while the newest ONS data showed that UK earnings growth outpaced inflation.
Meanwhile, UK unemployment rate rose above analysts’ forecast to 4.4% for November, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Average earnings rose by 5.6% including and excluding bonuses, outpacing inflation. Wage growth excluding bonuses sped up from 5.2% and surpassed the consensus estimate of 5.5%.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 13.12 points, 0.2%, at 8,533.66. The FTSE 250 was up 73.83 points, 0.4%, at 20,560.57, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.33 points, 0.2%, at 719.62.
The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.1% at 855.43, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 17,971.75, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.8% 15,827.18.
Lloyds led the FTSE 100, up 4.9%. BT was the biggest loser, down 1.5% after Oddo BHF gave it an ’underperform’ rating.
On the FTSE 250, Premier Foods jumped 5.8%.
The Mr. Kipling and Loyd Grossman brand owner reported that group sales grew by 3.1% for the 13 weeks to December 28.
It said this was driven by strong sales of its branded products, with sales volumes rising 7% across its brands offsetting the impact of easing food price inflation. This included a 20% jump in mince pie sales, reflecting their strongest-ever quarter.
Among smaller caps, Tialis Essential surged 56% on AIM.
The IT services provider has received confirmation of preferred partner and contract extensions totalling approximately £17.8 million, ‘marking an excellent start’ to this year.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was up 6.29 points.
The pound was quoted at $1.2260 early on Tuesday in London, lower compared to $1.2298 at the equities close on Monday. The euro stood at $1.0364, down against $1.0399. Against the yen, the dollar was trading flat at JP¥155.63 compared to JP¥155.69.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo was up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.9%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.7%.
‘Surprise, Trump didn’t throw a punch to China in the first few minutes of his presidency and the [Wall Street Journal] reported that he would study the trade policies and the relationships with China, Canada and Mexico instead,’ commented Swissquote’s Ipek Ozkardeskaya. ‘The latter gave hope that Trump’s trade policies wouldn’t be as aggressive as he promised.’
She continued: ‘BUT WAIT...Trump later said that Canada and Mexico could be subject to 25% tariffs from February 1st. Any remarks could hit China anytime, as well.’
Later on Tuesday morning, Beijing said it hoped for cooperation with Washington to resolve trade issues.
‘China is willing to strengthen dialogue and communication with the US, properly manage differences and expand mutually beneficial cooperation,’ said foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun in response to a question about potential new tariffs.
Also, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sent Trump a congratulatory letter and said he ‘would like to work closely to further strengthen the Japan-US relations and to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific’.
In the US on Monday, Wall Street was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Meanwhile, despite a lack of threatened sweeping trade tariffs, Donald Trump kept busy on the first day of his second presidential term.
The Republican leader ordered the US’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization, fired four senior Biden-appointed officials in a Truth Social Post, issued pardons for the 1,500-plus supporters who participated in the attempted insurrection on January 6, 2021, threatened again to seize control of the Panama Canal, moved to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord, halted Cuba’s delisting from a state sponsors of terrorism blacklist, urged Russia to ‘make a deal’ on Ukraine, and took it upon himself to (symbolically) rechristen the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America.’
‘Welcome to Trump 2.0 during which investors will be served a good dose of adrenaline, volatility and unpredictability,’ remarked Ozkardeskaya. ‘And, before I forget, the Trump [cryptocurrency] coin tanked 20% after Melania launched her own coin... I don’t know what to say about that.’
Brent oil was quoted lower at $78.94 a barrel early in London on Tuesday from $79.69 late Monday.
Gold was quoted higher at $2,723.31 an ounce against $2,707.18 on Monday.
Still to come on Tuesday’s economic calendar, look out for the ZEW economic sentiment surveys at 1000 GMT. Canadian consumer inflation will follow this afternoon.
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