Stock prices in Europe were in the red midday Monday, after markets reacted relatively calmly to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
The FTSE 100 index in London was dragged down by Burberry, after it announced a profit warning.
The FTSE 100 index was down 15.32 points, 0.2%, at 8,237.59. The FTSE 250 was down 11.00 points, 0.1%, at 21,191.89, and the AIM All-Share was down 0.72 of a point, 0.1%, at 785.45.
The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.2% at 822.04, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 18,460.63, and the Cboe Small Companies was down 0.2% at 17,334.77.
In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.2%.
‘Markets were surprisingly calm given the assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump,’ said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.
‘While equities saw a small pullback in parts of the world, there was no panic on the markets as a result of the weekend of violence.’
The former US president was hit in the ear in an assassination attempt by a gunman at a campaign rally Saturday.
In the wake of the assassination attempt, Trump has said he scrapped plans to talk about how bad the current US administration is in favour of a speech at the Republican National Convention calling for unity.
‘I want to try to unite our country,’ Trump said ahead of the four-day convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he will be officially nominated on Thursday as the Republican presidential nominee.
‘But I don’t know if that’s possible. People are very divided,’ he said.
Stocks in New York were called higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were both called up 0.5%, and the S&P 500 index up 0.4%.
In early economic news, the annual decline in industrial production in the eurozone decelerated in May, eurostat data showed Monday.
Industrial production declined by 2.9% on-year in May, slowed from a fall of 3.1% in April, the latter which was downwardly revised from a 3.0% fall previously estimated.
Lily Millard at Capital Economics commented: ‘The eurozone economy has turned a corner this year and we expect it to continue to expand in the coming quarters.’
Back in London, a Bank of England rate-setter has said that interest rates should be cut in order to stop squeezing the living standards of British households.
Swati Dhingra, a member of the Bank’s nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee, said ‘now is the time’ for a reduction in the bank rate.
UK interest rates – which are used to help set mortgage rates and other borrowing costs – are currently at a 16-year-high of 5.25% after they were increased in a bid to tackle soaring inflation.
The MPC, which votes to set the rate, has held interest rates at this level for the past seven meetings but some economists have predicted they will cut the rate at the next vote on August 1.
The pound was quoted at $1.2972 at midday on Monday in London, down compared to $1.2989 at the equities close on Friday. The euro stood at $1.0908, up slightly against $1.0907. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JP¥158.04, lower compared to JP¥157.90.
In the FTSE 100, Burberry led the index lower, falling 15%.
Burberry parted ways with its chief executive after just two years on the job, as the British luxury brand suspended dividend payments amid a drop in sales.
Burberry said Jonathan Akeroyd is leaving the company immediately ‘by mutual agreement with the board’. He will be replaced as chief executive officer by Joshua Schulman, who was CEO of US fashion brand Michael Kors from 2021 to 2022. Shulman previously was CEO and brand president at handbag maker Coach.
Akeroyd’s sudden departure came as Burberry issued a profit warning for the first half of its financial year and full-year and said it will suspend dividend payments for financial 2025.
Miners Antofagasta and Anglo American were down 3.1% and 1.7%, on the back of some data from China. China is a major buyer of minerals.
China’s economy grew 4.7% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024, official data showed Monday, less than analysts had expected. In the first quarter, GDP increased by 5.3%.
The figures were much lower than the 5.1% anticipated by FXStreet market consensus.
Top officials are meeting in Beijing on Monday for a key plenum, with all eyes on how they might kickstart lacklustre growth.
In the FTSE 250, Ocado lost 11%.
Bernstein cut Ocado’s rating to ’underperform’ from ’outperform’.
On AIM, Destiny Pharma plummeted 68%, after it proposed going private to pursue funding opportunities.
After first floating in 2017 on the AIM stock exchange in London, the company has been seeking a licensing partner for its XF-73 post-surgical nasal gel.
‘I continue to believe that XF-73 Nasal could be a highly differentiated drug for patients to prevent post-surgical site infections. XF-73 Nasal has substantial market potential and represents an attractive commercial proposition,’ said Chief Executive Officer Chris Tovey.
However, after much deliberation and conversations with potential partners, the board views the likelihood of the company reaching an appropriate licensing deal in the near term as ‘very unlikely’. As is the ability to raise sufficient capital from public markets to advance the programme in their opinion.
Brent oil was quoted at $84.98 a barrel at midday in London on Monday, down from $85.66 late Friday. Gold was quoted at $2,413.30 an ounce, higher against $2,410.50.
Still to come on Monday’s economic calendar, US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak.
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