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London open: Stocks edge lower as investors eye Jackson Hole symposium
London stocks edged lower in early trade on Monday following a slump on Wall Street at the end of last week and a mostly downbeat session in Asia, as investors eyed this week’s Jackson Hole symposium.
At 0830 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.3% at 7,530.75.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “European markets have started the week on a softer tone following a sharp decline for the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Friday stateside amid concerns about tighter Fed policy.
“Investors await the Jackson Hole Symposium this week as Fed Chair Jerome Powell gets set to share his insights into the US economy. Overnight the People’s Bank of China cut its one-year benchmark lending rate with the one-year loan prime rate now at 3.65%.”
In equity markets, Cineworld was under the cosh again after it confirmed it is considering filing for bankruptcy in the US as it looks to access near-term liquidity. Shares in the company – which owns Regal Cinemas in the US – tanked on Friday following a press report that it was preparing to file for bankruptcy within weeks after struggling to rebuild attendance from pandemic lows.
Wizz Air flew lower as it said chief financial officer Jourik Hooghe has decided to step down to pursue opportunities outside of the company. He will be succeeded by Ian Malin, who will join the airline on 1 October.
Elsewhere, Vodafone ticked a touch higher after announcing it was planning to sell its Hungary business to 4iG and Corvinus, a Hungarian state holding company, for €1.8bn. Vodafone’s shared services business in Hungary – VOIS – is not included in the transaction perimeter and it will continue to provide services to Vodafone’s other operating companies, the company said.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Standard Chartered Plc | +1.17% | +6.80 | 589.60 |
| 2 |  |
Astrazeneca Plc | +0.87% | +98.00 | 11,348.00 |
| 3 |  |
Centrica Plc | +0.85% | +0.70 | 83.38 |
| 4 |  |
National Grid Plc | +0.81% | +9.50 | 1,178.00 |
| 5 |  |
Compass Group Plc | +0.23% | +4.50 | 1,955.00 |
| 6 |  |
Sse Plc | +0.19% | +3.50 | 1,845.00 |
| 7 |  |
Bhp Group Limited | +0.13% | +3.00 | 2,390.00 |
| 8 |  |
United Utilities Group Plc | +0.04% | +0.50 | 1,134.50 |
| 9 |  |
Morrison (wm) Supermarkets Plc | +0.00% | +0.00 | 286.40 |
| 10 |  |
Evraz Plc | +0.00% | +0.00 | 82.68 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Ocado Group Plc | -4.54% | -39.80 | 837.20 |
| 2 |  |
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc | -3.46% | -29.80 | 832.40 |
| 3 |  |
Tui Ag | -2.99% | -4.10 | 132.80 |
| 4 |  |
Easyjet Plc | -2.98% | -11.40 | 371.60 |
| 5 |  |
Fresnillo Plc | -2.74% | -20.00 | 709.80 |
| 6 |  |
Carnival Plc | -2.71% | -20.00 | 717.80 |
| 7 |  |
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc | -2.65% | -25.20 | 927.40 |
| 8 |  |
Smurfit Kappa Group Plc | -2.45% | -75.00 | 2,983.00 |
| 9 |  |
Smith (ds) Plc | -2.45% | -6.90 | 275.10 |
| 10 |  |
Coca-cola Hbc Ag | -2.43% | -51.00 | 2,045.00 |
US close: Stocks finish higher after better-than-expected data
Wall Street’s main market gauges reversed earlier losses to close higher on Thursday, as investors digested a fresh batch of better-than-expected economic indicators.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.06% at 33,999.04, as the S&P 500 added 0.23% to 4,283.74, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.21% at 12,965.34.
“The dollar index has broken to a three-week high today, with fears of a potential topping out in equities tallying up with signs of US outperformance over Europe,” said IG senior market analyst Joshua Mahony.
“First inflation, then retail sales, and now we have seen improvement in the jobless claims and the Philly Fed manufacturing survey for the US.
“While a recession is widely anticipated, there are signs that European nations will suffer greater consequences as energy prices signal the potential for a greater contraction if the breakdown in relations with Russia remains in place.”
Data published earlier revealed an unexpected dip of 2,000 in the number of initial weekly jobless claims to 252,000, against consensus forecasts for 260,000.
The key Philly Fed regional manufacturing index meanwhile jumped back to a level of 6.2 for August, following a print of -12.3 in the prior month, and well ahead of the -5.0 pencilled in by analysts.
Existing home sales, on the other hand, did fall by 5.9% month-on-month in July, taking the annualised rate to 4.81m, below expectations for 4.9m, according to the National Association of Realtors.
In equities, department store operator Kohl’s fell 7.72% after missing expectations on second-quarter profit, while Bed Bath & Beyond tumbled 19.63% after GameStop chairman Ryan Cohen revealed plans to sell his holding just a few months after investing.
On the upside, Wolfspeed rocketed 31.186% after beating quarterly revenue expectations, taking the rest of the American semiconductor sector higher with it.
Applied Materials was up 2.14%, Broadcom added 3.69%, Micron Technology was ahead 2.21%, and Nvidia closed 2.39% higher.
Monday newspaper round-up: Ineos, Felixstowe, Britishvolt
Chief executives of the UK’s 100 biggest companies have seen their pay jump by 39% to an average of £3.4m, according to research by the High Pay Centre thinktank and the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The median average pay of CEOs of companies in the FTSE 100 index rose to £3.4m in 2021, compared with £2.5m in 2020 during the height of the coronavirus pandemic when many bosses took a voluntary pay cut as they placed millions of employees on furlough. CEO pay has also surpassed the £3.25m median recorded in 2019, before the pandemic. – Guardian
Billionaire Brexiter Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s petrochemicals company Ineos has made an almost £500m profit thanks to soaring energy prices that are hammering struggling households. Ineos UK E&P Holdings, the oil and gas division of Ratcliffe’s empire, reported a profit of £474m in 2021 compared with a loss of £226m in 2020, according to new filings at Companies House. – Guardian
Property developer Nick Candy has sought a worldwide asset freeze against a former business partner in a fraud case at the High Court. The 49-year-old investor is suing Robert Bonnier, a former dot-com multi-millionaire, and a tech company he controls for alleged fraud. r Bonnier is the largest investor in Aaqua, a Dutch social media company which Mr Candy backed last year. – Telegraph
An eight-day strike at the Port of Felixstowe, Britain’s biggest gateway to global trade, could disrupt supplies to the nation’s supermarkets and exports by the country’s biggest industrial groups through to Christmas, experts are warning. There are fears that consumers could face fresh shortages of some goods and even higher prices, on top of the galloping inflation already hobbling the UK. – The Times
The future of Britishvolt, the ambitious plan to build a £3.8 billion electric battery “gigafactory” on the coast of Northumberland, is at a crossroads after a botched management succession plan left it without a permanent chief executive. The company, which has talked of producing batteries to power hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles a year and of creating 3,000 directly employed jobs, has been rocked by the resignation of Orral Nadjari, its chief executive and co-founder. – The Times
