Hot Features
Premium
Register to chat with like-minded investors on our interactive forums.
London open: Political instability hits stocks early on
UK stocks followed European markets lower on Monday with investor risk appetite dampened by election news from the continent as far-right parties advanced.
“A combination of the unexpected news from overseas and a lack of buying appetite led to a weaker opening for the premier index, with a broad markdown of stocks in cyclical and defensive sectors alike,” said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.35% at 8,213.58 after an hour’s trade.
European stock markets were reacting to the advance of far-right anti-immigrant political parties in European Parliament elections that saw France President Emmanuel Macron call a snap poll in response to his party suffering a heavy defeat.
“For a fiscally challenged France, new parliamentary elections add a level of uncertainty. This could turn into a concern for markets,” said analyst Holger Schmieding at Berenberg.
No major economic releases were scheduled in the UK while in the US the market spotlight would be on the results of a trio of Treasury debt auctions.
Meanwhile, US stock futures were pointing to a negative start on Wall Street ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Wednesday – though no change is expected.
Tech giant Apple will likely to be in focus ahead the start of its five-day Worldwide Developers Conference or WWDC, with chief executive Tim Cook tipped to give some big AI-related announcements at his keynote speech on Monday.
Ashtead gains
Ashtead was among the best performers on rumours that the equipment rental firm is considering transferring its listing to the US, where it generates the bulk of its revenues.
AstraZeneca was rising after analysts at Berenberg lifted their target price on the shares from 13,000p to 15,000p.
Banking stocks were mostly under pressure early on, with NatWest, Barclays and Lloyds all trading in the red, though HSBC outperformed with a small gain.
ME Group International fell sharply despite reporting a positive first-half trading performance, with a 4.6% increase in group revenue and a 10.3% rise in profit before tax compared to the same time last year, driven by growth in its photobooth and laundry operations.
Chemring gained after signing a 15-year deal partnering deal with US defence firm Northrop Grumman for the supply of HMX energetic material used in its missile programmes along with an order for the product worth $83m as demand for military weapons increased globally.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Rolls-royce Holdings Plc | +1.66% | +7.60 | 464.50 |
| 2 |  |
Flutter Entertainment Plc | +1.01% | +150.00 | 14,960.00 |
| 3 |  |
Fresnillo Plc | +0.81% | +4.50 | 563.50 |
| 4 |  |
Crh Plc | +0.69% | +42.00 | 6,122.00 |
| 5 |  |
Hargreaves Lansdown Plc | +0.66% | +7.00 | 1,065.50 |
| 6 |  |
Bae Systems Plc | +0.65% | +9.00 | 1,404.00 |
| 7 |  |
Antofagasta Plc | +0.56% | +12.00 | 2,157.00 |
| 8 |  |
Bp Plc | +0.50% | +2.30 | 465.00 |
| 9 |  |
Standard Chartered Plc | +0.43% | +3.20 | 749.20 |
| 10 |  |
Tesco Plc | +0.39% | +1.20 | 308.80 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Smith (ds) Plc | -2.05% | -7.60 | 362.80 |
| 2 |  |
Barclays Plc | -2.05% | -4.45 | 212.80 |
| 3 |  |
St. James’s Place Plc | -1.82% | -9.50 | 511.50 |
| 4 |  |
Lloyds Banking Group Plc | -1.75% | -0.96 | 53.84 |
| 5 |  |
Diageo Plc | -1.69% | -45.00 | 2,625.00 |
| 6 |  |
Admiral Group Plc | -1.61% | -44.00 | 2,686.00 |
| 7 |  |
Compass Group Plc | -1.61% | -36.00 | 2,204.00 |
| 8 |  |
Hiscox Ltd | -1.56% | -18.00 | 1,135.00 |
| 9 |  |
Aviva Plc | -1.42% | -6.80 | 471.10 |
| 10 |  |
Smurfit Kappa Group Plc | -1.40% | -52.00 | 3,652.00 |
US close: Stocks slip as payroll data underwhelms
US stocks slipped on Friday after key labour-market indicators came in stronger than forecasts, cementing expectations that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady for longer in an effort to tame economic growth and fight inflationary risks.
The Dow finished down 0.2% at 38,798.99, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 5,346.99, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.2% to 17,133.13.
The US economy added 272,000 non-farm payrolls in May, up from a downwardly revised 165,000 in April, according to the Department of Labor. This was well ahead of the 185,000 expected by the market and the highest reading in five months.
Meanwhile, average hourly earnings increased by 0.4% over the month, picking up from the 0.2% growth registered in April and ahead of estimates, while the unemployment rate unexpectedly ticked higher to 4% from 3.9%.
“Fed September rate cut expectations dipped from 65% to around 55% with the US dollar strongly appreciating amid rallying US yields,” said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG. Bond yields surged, with the yield on a 10-year US Treasury up 14.7 basis points at a one-week high of 4.439%.
Bernard Yaros, lead US economist at Oxford Economics, said employment figures released this week suggests the labour market is “not too hot, but not too cold”.
“Despite the upside surprise to nonfarm payrolls, the job market is not at risk of overtightening, which would set the stage for wage-push inflation. Several factors may have biased May’s payroll gain higher, and with the unemployment rate gradually rising, it is hard to argue that monthly gains of more than 200,000 jobs, on average, have been unsustainably strong,” Yaros said.
Market movers
GameStop shares fell 40%, suffering their worst one-day performance since 2021 after the investor known as Roaring Kitty seemingly underwhelmed with a livestream about the meme stock.
DocuSign shares were down 5% after the e-signature firm’s second-quarter guidance on billings left investors disappointed.
Gold stocks like Royal Gold, Freeport-McMoRan and Newmont were under pressure as the price of bullion rose on the back of a stronger US dollar, falling 2.8% to $2,325 an ounce.
Ski resort operator Vail Resorts sank 10% after bad weather dampened its quarterly results, with 28% less snowfall across its Western North American resorts this winter.
Monday newspaper round-up: Macron, THG, LSE Group
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has been accused of gambling with French democracy after announcing that he will dissolve parliament and call snap legislative elections in the wake of his allies’ crushing defeat to Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) in Sunday’s European parliament elections. – Guardian
A leading shareholder in THG has joined a revolt against the company’s chairman as investors put pressure on the business to address its flagging share price. Ophorst Van Marwijk Kooy Vermogensbeheer, a Dutch investment firm that is the ecommerce group’s tenth largest investor with a stake of 1.89 per cent, has joined calls from Kelso, an activist fund, to vote against the re-election of Lord Allen of Kensington as chairman of what was The Hut Group. – The Times
She is diminutive, dapper and softly spoken, but Julia Hoggett, boss of the London Stock Exchange, pulls no punches in the battle between global stock exchanges to attract multi-billion pound company listings. ‘You should assume we’re going after everything. We fight for everything,’ she says. The London market has been losing out to rivals, particularly Wall Street, as companies have defected or chosen to list elsewhere. – Daily Mail
Labour is planning to override local councils to build data centres on the green belt, as Sir Keir Starmer’s Opposition seeks to boost Britain’s artificial intelligence industry. Peter Kyle, the shadow science, innovation and technology secretary, is understood to be considering classing data centres as nationally significant infrastructure projects in a bid to bypass opposition from Nimbys. – Daily Telegraph
