- FTSE 100 closes 4 points higher at 7,902.61
- US stocks under pressure on earnings reports
- Jefferies upgrades Direct Line
4.45pm: FTSE hangs in there
The FTSE 100 managed to hold onto marginal gains to close 4 points, less than 0.1% up at 7,903.
More poor earnings figures have held back markets, though dip buyers are still active in stocks even after the double-digit gains of the past month, commented IG's Chris Beauchamp.
"As yet, however, the market refuses to turn substantially lower – dip buyers have been content to step in over the past few sessions, even if they haven’t yet found the strength to push indices to fresh monthly highs,” he added.
By the UK close, US stocks were lower as disappointing earnings drag on equities. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded 0.3% down at 33,808, while the S&P 500 was 0.4% down at 4,136 and the Nasdaq was also 0.4% weaker at 12,106.
4.00pm: Bring it on
The FTSE 100 index had bobbed back above 7,900 with half an hour of trading to go in London, just off the session peak above that level, albeit having been stuck in a narrow trading range all session.
US stock indexes remained lower as a combination of weak corporate earnings, notably from Tesla, and some uncertain data which failed to quell fears over further interest rate hikes kept the mood on Wall Street cautious.
After an hour and a half of trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was 48 points, or 0.1% lower at 33,849, while the S&P 500 index was down 0.4%, and Nasdaq Composite was off 0.5%.
In London, around 4.00pm, the FTSE 100 index was 2 points higher at 7,901, after hitting a new session peak at 7,902.75
3.40pm: Gawd bless 'em
Tesco is to launch its first-ever pub in central London as part of celebrations to mark the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, May 6.
The Evening Standard newspaper reported that the supermarket will open a pop-up pub, 'The King in the Castle', in Cowcross Street, Farringdon, from midday to 11.00pm next Thursday and Friday (May 4 and 5).
Running at the premises of popular city pub 'The Castle', it promises “an affordable option” for Londoners looking to kickstart their bank holiday celebrations early.
All proceeds will go to Tesco’s charity partner The Prince’s Trust, which was founded by the King in his former role as The Prince of Wales, and helps support young people across the UK to build their skills and find employment.
3.15pm: Dialled up and down
BT Group PLC shares stayed lower, down 1% at 156p, even as analysts at US bank Jefferies International raised their share price target for the telco to 200p from 190p.
BT shares are up by 40% year-to-date, buoyed by CPI+ price hikes across the UK market, better visibility on costs and new tax relief to protect free cash flow (and divis) through FTTP (fast fibre) build, and the Jefferies analysts, though remaining buyers of the stock, think the firm still has plenty of challenges ahead.
They cautioned that BT's annual results, due on 18 May, will highlight wage negotiations resuming this summer and the risk of unquoted pension scheme assets being written down at the triennial review.
In view of these potential hurdles BT would be well-advised to guide carefully, the Jefferies analysts suggested.
They still expect BT to report a strong fourth quarter, with underlying profit growth [EBITDA] growth picking up to +5.9% leading to a full-year total of £7.91bn on a statutory basis (guidance: at least £7.9bn).
On the risk side, a triennial review gets underway post-30 June and BT's pension scheme holds £13bn of “unquoted, risky and potentially illiquid assets (PE, property, infrastructure)”.
The Jefferies analysts expect a modest 40% write down, adding £4bn to the net funding deficit with recovery extended beyond 2030 a likely solution.
2.50pm: Further struggles in New York
The FTSE 100 index stayed modestly lower in London as US stocks struggled at the open weighed down by disappointing quarterly earnings, notably from Tesla, and as US weekly jobless claims increased for the third consecutive week, a sign of softening in the labor market.
Initial jobless claims came in at 245,000, above the consensus analyst expectation of 240,000, the same number of claims reported last week.
Around 20 minutes after the opening bell in New York, the Dow Jones Industrials Average was down 167 points, or 0.5% at 33,729, while both the Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 index were down 0.6%.
Tesla shares tumbled 7% over with investors concerned about the company’s declining margins following the release of its 1Q 2023 results after the market close yesterday.
American Express and AT&T also failed to impress investors with their latest results, down 5.6% and 7.4% respectively at the open.
2.25pm: Philly Fed weak
The day's other main US data saw the Philly Fed manufacturing index fall to -31.3 in April, down from -23.2 in March and well below the consensus forecast for a rise to -19.2.
Kieran Clancy, senior US economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "The surprise drop in the Philly Fed follows the much stronger-than-expected Empire State survey on Monday, reminding us that no single regional Fed survey is gospel. We had expected a response in the Philly Fed to the rebound in China’s PMIs, so the gap between these measures is now enormous.
"The samples in the regional Fed surveys are extremely small, typically fewer than 100 firms, which makes them prone to wild month-to-month swings. The average of the regional Fed surveys, however, is generally a decent guide to the national ISM manufacturing index, so we will be watching closely the other surveys, released next week."
Clancy added: "The drop in the Philly Fed headline index leaves it at its lowest level since May 2020, though remember that the headline is a standalone question rather than an average of the subindexes. The shipments and new orders indices both increased, mirroring the improvement in the April Empire State survey, though future capital spending plans fell, in contrast to the small improvement in the Empire State measure. That means that the average of the April future capex index in the two surveys rose to 5.6 from 4.8, but this is still significantly below the first quarter average of 11.4, which already is low enough to signal a rollover in real non-residential investment."
2.15pm: Claims overshoot
The latest US weekly initial jobless claims came in at 245,000, overshooting consensus estimates by 5,000 and marking the third consecutive week of increases.
Commenting on the claims data, Tom Hopkins, Portfolio Manager at BRI Wealth Management, said: "The continuing weakness in the labour market may be taken positively by markets as it strengthens current bets that the Federal Reserve could cut rates multiple times this year, however, I feel these bets might be premature."
He added: "Last week’s inflation print showed the Fed is winning its fight against inflation though core inflation remains stubborn. The Federal reserve may be tempted by at least one more hike in May. Despite jobless claims slowly increasing, the labour market in the US still remains tight. The tight job market forces employers to raise wages to attract and keep staff, magnifying inflationary pressure on the American economy.
"Its already well documented that policymakers would only consider cutting rates after seeing a dramatic deterioration in the labour market and signs that a recession is imminent, and whilst there are signs of a little softening, I don’t think we are there yet to meaningfully change the FEDs current views.’’
1.35pm: Some of the top risers and fallers on the junior market
The day’s big mover was Ondo InsurTech PLC (LSE:ONDO), which advanced 82% after revealing it had inked a deal with WNS (Holdings) Limited, a US$4bn US business improvement group.
Manolete Partners PLC (AIM:MANO) added 7%, sending shares to 230p, after reporting record levels of new case investments, case enquiries, case completions, and gross cash recoveries for the year ending March 31.
Trakm8 Holdings PLC (AIM:TRAK) shares rose 10% on news the global telematics and data insight provider has been awarded a new contract with Freedom Services Group.
GB Group PLC (LSE:GBG) surged 8.5% higher to 305p after the digital location, identification and fraud software company said its full-year results are set to meet expectations.
On the downside, IG Design Group PLC (LSE:IGR) fell 10% after announcing a 4% decline in revenues for the year ended March 31.
1.02pm: US markets seen lower
Wall Street is likely to open lower as investors continue to pore over first-quarter earnings reports that reveal companies are operating under increasingly challenging economic conditions, including results from Tesla that show the electric vehicle maker's margins are under pressure.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) fell 0.5% in Thursday pre-market trading while those for the broader S&P 500 index shed 0.7% and contracts for the Nasdaq-100 declined 1%.
The main US benchmarks ended mixed on Wednesday as lacklustre earnings from a number of blue chips failed to ignite investors. The DJIA closed 0.2% down at 33,897, while the Nasdaq Composite added 4 points to 12,157 and the S&P 500 was flat at 4,155.
“Markets have stalled over the past few days, with the latest corporate updates failing to move the dial,” commented Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“A lot of companies are keeping their heads above water but there remain plenty of headwinds to cloud the outlook,” he added. “Later today we’ll get an update on US jobless claims, manufacturing activity and US home sales, helping to give a more up-to-date picture of the state of the country.”
Meanwhile, as earnings season progresses, Tesla fell 2% on Wednesday after announcing its sixth set of price cuts this year and sank a further 7% in after-hours trade on the back of its quarterly earnings.
“Last night’s Q1 announcement saw the shares slip back further in after-hours trading as modest misses on revenues and profits, along with a sharp decline in total gross margins weighed on sentiment, making the prospect of a revisit of the March lows at $164 a possibility,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
“Even though Tesla once again delivered a record quarter for deliveries in Q1, with 422,875, this was only a modest increase on the 405,278 delivered in Q4. Last night’s Q1 numbers saw that margin number fall further to 19.3%, below expectations of 21.2%, even as profits came in at $0.85c a share, and revenues came in at $23.33 billion, a rise of 24% year on year, although down on Q4’s $24.3 billion,” he added.
Companies reporting today include Philip Morris, AT&T, American Express and Adobe, among others.
12.52pm: Protestors storm Euronext building
A group of protesters briefly invaded offices of stockmarket operator Euronext in the La Defense business district of Paris on Thursday, saying big companies must pay up to finance pensions, as part of wider protests against a rise in the retirement age, according to Reuters.
"We are told that there is no money to finance pensions," said Sud-Rail unionist Fabien Villedieu. But there is "no need to get the money from the pockets of workers, there is some in the pockets of billionaires."
Waving union flags, the group of a few hundred protesters occupied Euronext's lobby, engulfed in red smoke from flares.
They shouted: "Macron resign!"
Earlier this month, similar scenes occurred at Blackrock's Paris offices.
At the weekend, Macron signed into law the rise in the retirement age which means citizens must work two years longer, to 64, before receiving their state pension.
That was after three months of protests that brought huge crowds onto the streets and at times turned violent.
Opinion polls show a vast majority of voters oppose the pension reform.
Macron and his government say they want to move on and work on other measures to do with working conditions, law and order, education and health issues.
But the protesters in La Defense on Thursday, as well as those who heckled Macron during a visit to France's eastern Alsace region on Wednesday, made clear many were not ready to move on. "We'll continue until the (pension law's) withdrawal," protesters shouted in La Defense's central square, standing by a banner that read: "No to the pension reform".
12.24pm: Direct Line boosted by Jefferies upgrade
Direct Line Insurance Group PLC (LSE:DLG) received a boost from Jefferies today which has upgraded the stock to buy from hold. Shares rose 2% to 168.70p.
Jefferies forecasts a Solvency II ratio of 161% by the half-year 2023, improving to 184% by financial year 2025.
This, combined with improving pricing conditions and at an attractive 6x 2024 forecast P/E multiple, leads us to upgrade to buy, the broker said.
In a scenario where market conditions sufficiently harden Jefferies expects Direct Line to outperform Admiral.
The broker believes Direct Line can restore its Solvency II ratio to 165% by the end of FY23, comfortably above the middle of the company’s preferred range, without having to raise equity.
Jefferies also expects that the dividend will be resumed at the financial year 2023 and forecast a final dividend per share of 10.0p. In 2024, it expect a full year dividend per share of 15.8p, equivalent to a 10% dividend yield based on the current share price.
The broker has a price target of 210p per share.
12.00pm: Ikea unveils €2bn push into the US
Ikea is seeking to take advantage of the current economic downturn to expand its market share as the world’s largest furniture retailer unveils a €2bn push into the US, its biggest-ever investment in a single country.
The group plans to open eight new large stores and nine smaller planning studios and order points in the US as part of the three-year investment drive. It expects the US to overtake Germany as its largest country in terms of sales in the coming years.
“Not being on the stock market gives us a big opportunity to accelerate when maybe others are slowing down,” Tolga Öncü, head of Ikea Retail, told the Financial Times.
11.10am: Savers not seeing benefits of rising rates
Savers are missing out as banks fail to pass on interest rate increases to their existing customers, the head of the UK’s financial watchdog told MPs today.
Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, told the Treasury Committee that banks typically offer less attractive savings rates to existing customers.
That means they haven't seen the benefits of the last 11 increases in UK interest rates.
Answering questions from MPs, Rathi said: "It is, and has been, standard practice for firms to offer more attractive rates to new savers, while leaving existing savers earning less competitive rates.
"We expect that the harm from this practice (and the loyalty penalty faced by longstanding customers) will have increased as the base rate has risen."
Harriett Baldwin MP, chair of the Treasury Committee, noted parliament has its eye on the banking sector: "The regulator has now given us official confirmation that the UK’s biggest banks are profiting from interest rate rises and that loyal savers are being increasingly harmed.
"While it’s welcome to hear the financial regulator is monitoring this situation, we will be keeping a close eye to ensure they act on these assurances. Consumers should continue to shop around to get the best rates possible."
“With banks set to release their first quarter results in the coming weeks, we will be monitoring whether firms are continuing to squeeze profits from their loyal savings customers," she added
10.26am: BP faces investor backlash over U-turn on green pledges
BP PLC (LSE:BP.) is facing a shareholder revolt to remove Helge Lund as chairman according to The Times.
The report said the revolt was gathering momentum last night, with five of Britain’s biggest pensions schemes planning to vote against his re-election in protest at the company’s watering down of green commitments.
The Universities Superannuation Scheme followed the National Employment Savings Trust in announcing plans to vote against Lund.
Brunel Pension Partnership, a group of nine council schemes, also said it would vote to oust him.
Two other council pension umbrella groups, LGPS Central and Border to Coast, are said to be joining them.
BP faces a second potential revolt at a meeting next Thursday over bosses’ pay.
Glass Lewis, the advisory group, recommended investors reject BP’s remuneration report after it docked only £78,329 from the £10mln package of Bernard Looney, the chief executive, over the deaths of four workers last year.
The investors are frustrated that BP chose to reduce its targets for emissions reductions in February without seeking shareholders’ consent.
They believe that by announcing their intentions early, they could encourage wavering investors to join the protest.
The Times quoted Diandra Soobiah, head of responsible investment at Nest: “While it’s disappointing to see BP rowing back on their climate pledges, what is particularly worrying is they haven’t gone back to shareholders and given us a chance to vote on such a significant decision. Actions like this undermine the confidence shareholders have in the board and their corporate governance.”
9.55am: FTSE lower but outperforms European peers
The FTSE remains lower but is outperforming its main European rivals.
While London's lead index is down 0.2%, the Cac 40 in Paris and Dax in Frankfurt are faring worse, down 0.4% and 0.8% respectively.
In Germany, that is despite some better news on wholesale price inflation which cooled faster than expected last month, with the annual pace more than halving, official data on Thursday showed.
According to Destatis, German producer price inflation cooled to 7.5% on an annual basis in March from 15.8% in February. Economists had expected a reading of 9.8%.
Destatis said the main reason for the slowing of price rises was the "price brake" on electricity and natural gas introduced in January by the federal government, which only began to be realised in March.
9.46am: Link Fund Solutions agrees payout to Woodford investors
Link Fund Solutions has agreed with the UK financial regulator to pay up to £235mln to investors who suffered from the collapse of Neil Woodford’s Equity Income fund.
The Financial Conduct Authority said the redress package will cover the losses of more than 300,000 investors who had money in the fund when it was frozen in 2019.
Link Fund Solutions, Woodford’s fund administrator, will provide the compensation with “a material contribution” from its parent group, Australian company Link Group.
The agreement is subject to the completion of a sale of Link Fund Solutions to rival company Waystone Group.
“The FCA’s investigation raised serious concerns about Link Fund Solutions’ management of the liquidity of the Woodford Equity Income Fund,” said Therese Chambers, executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA.
AJ Bell head of investment partnerships, Ryan Hughes said: “While approval of this redress scheme with Link would close the case and liabilities against them, the FCA points out that this remains a live investigation with other parties remaining under investigation.”
“As a result, the Woodford drama will drag on past the four-year mark but many investors will no doubt be glad that significant progress now looks to have been made.”
“While it will take some time for this redress process to complete and for payments to be made, investors are one step closer to being able to finally put this whole sorry episode to bed.”
9.25am: Babcock slips on contract dispute
Shares in Babcock International Group PLC have slipped 2.4% after the defence contractor cautioned it could take a hit from an ongoing dispute with the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
The issue relates to a Type 31 contract with the UK Ministry of Defence back for five Inspiration Class frigates for the Royal Navy.
Through the past year, Babcock said it has been in discussions with the MoD about additional costs, but the parties have been unable to reach an agreement on who is responsible for the costs under the contract.
Should the costs not be recovered, the contract would be loss-making, and Babcock estimates the need for a £50mln–£100mln provision in its results for financial 2023.
"Any settlement or arbitral award would reverse the provision in part or in full," it said.
In better news, Babcok said its cash flow in the financial year that ended March 31 was "significantly" ahead of expectations, and now expects to reinstate dividend payments in financial 2024.
Underlying profit was in line with its expectations, excluding the potential one-off hit from a contract dispute.
8.51am: FTSE dips further
The Footsie has slipped further, now down 18 points at 7,881, as investors digest the latest batch of earnings amid fears further interest rates will dent economic growth.
Neil Wilson at markets.com felt the "modest decline after such a strong run indicates bulls pausing for consolidation."
But he noted the "next couple of weeks is key really as this is hinging on global risk appetite and the Fed."
"And earnings – the next two weeks are key with a deluge of megacap tech and Dow components coming down the pipe – the banks and Netflix/Tesla have only been the appetisers; the main course is served up over the next fortnight," he pointed out.
Worries over growth and, as a result, demand dragged mining companies lower with Antofagasta top of the FTSE 100 fallers, down 4%.
Packaging firms were also prominent fallers with Smurfit Kappa Group plc (LSE:SKG) down 3.1%, Mondi PLC (LSE:MNDI) down 2.9% and DS Smith 2.3% lower.
But the expectations of higher interest rates are supporting the banking sector with Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC), HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) and NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) all in the green.
The European Central Bank may need to raise interest rates in June and July following next month's increase, according to the chief of the Dutch central bank.
The ECB is widely expected to raise rates again on May 4 but it is unclear what direction it will take from then amid a mixed global picture for central banks.
ECB Governing Council member Klaas Knot told the Irish Times: “It's too early to talk about a pause.”
Markets in the UK have priced in a 25% basis point rise at the next Monetary Policy Committee meeting with traders betting on a higher peak of closer to 5%.
Elsewhere, the UK’s financial watchdog has launched an investigation probe into WANdisco after the group was found to have falsified around US$15mln in revenue last year.
The UK software group said that the Financial Conduct Authority’s probe relates pertains to announcements by the company between January 2022 and March 2023, “which may have materially mis-stated the company’s financial position”.
In March, WANdisco revealed that an independent investigation found that its revenue in 2022 should have been US$9.7mln, and not the US$24mln reported in January 2023.
“The board is co-operating with the FCA,” WANdisco said in a statement.
8.12am: Muted start in London
The FTSE 100 made a subdued start to trading following a muted performance in the US on Wednesday as a mixed bag of earnings failed to inspire investors.
At 8.12am, London’s lead index stood at 7,894.62, down 4.15 points, or 0.05% while the FTSE 250 dropped to 19,167.13, down 33.72 points, or 0.18%.
Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown said: “Equity trading is lacklustre and oil prices have continued their descent downwards as more worries bubble up about the strength of the global economy and economies brace for further rate hikes from central banks.”
“Concerns are colliding about stubbornly high inflation in Europe, expectations of a US recession and this week’s weaker-than-expected data on investment in the beleaguered property sector in China,” she pointed out.
The drop in the oil price pushed BP and Shell around 0.5% lower. Brent crude fell a further 1.4% to US$81.97/barrel after a 2% fall on Wednesday.
Tesla was the latest US corporate giant to disappoint with shares down 6% after the market close as a drop in selling prices and rising costs dented margins.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker reported a fall in first-quarter profit despite a jump in revenue.
Back in London, and a number of updates from FTSE 100 firms.
Haleon PLC (LSE:HLN, NYSE:HLN) rose 2.6% after it guided City scribes towards the upper end of guidance of the 4-6% guidance for organic revenue growth previously given after a strong start to the year.
Trading in the first quarter of 2023 has been strong with organic revenue growth of 9.9%, with price +7.1%, and also volume mix +2.8%.
Growth was seen across Respiratory Health, Pain Relief, Oral Health and Digestive Health and Other. Respiratory Health revenue was particularly strong given a continued strong cold and flu season.
Rentokil PLC said trading in the year has started well, with reported revenue up 64.5% to £1.24 billion, reflecting the benefit of M&A, including Terminix, and strong organic revenue growth of 6.7%. Shares fell 0.4% but are up 15% year to date..
Including revenue from COVID disinfection business, organic growth was 5.9%, it said.
The performance has been underpinned by resilient demand and effective pricing, which has continued to offset inflationary pressures.
Meanwhile, Relx was also upbeat reporting the year has started well across all four business areas.
It said it was benefiting from an ongoing shift in business mix towards higher growth analytics and decision tools.
The full-year outlook is unchanged, momentum remains strong across the group, and Relx expects underlying growth rates in revenue and adjusted operating profit to remain above historical trends, driving another year of strong growth in adjusted EPS. Shares rose 0.5%.
Jet2 PLC (AIM:JET2) jumped 3.2% as it raised profit guidance for the second time in three months. Pre-tax profit for the year to March is now expected between £387mln-£392mln before currency movements.
In January, the travel and leisure firm told the City it would beat market forecasts at the time of £317mln and come in between £370mln and £385mln.
For the new financial year, Jet2 reported seat capacity for Summer 2023 is currently 7.2% higher than Summer 2022 at 15.26mln seats.
But WH Smith PLC (LSE:SMWH) slipped 0.7% despite an upbeat trading update. The retail and travel operator reported healthy growth in revenue and more than doubled pre-tax profit boosted by strong growth in its Travel business.
The firm said revenue in the six months to February 28 rose 41% to £859mln from £608mln a year prior while pre-tax climbed to £45mln from £18mln.
The company highlighted strong momentum across its Travel business with significant recovery in passenger numbers, strong average transaction value growth, successful category expansion and further space growth.
7.49am: WH Smith pre-tax profit more than doubles
WH Smith PLC (LSE:SMWH) reported healthy growth in revenue and more than doubled pre-tax profit boosted by strong growth in its Travel business.
The retail and travel operator said revenue in the six months to February 28 rose 41% to £859mln from £608mln a year prior while pre-tax climbed to £45mln from £18mln.
The company highlighted strong momentum across its Travel business with significant recovery in passenger numbers, strong average transaction value growth, successful category expansion and further space growth.
It expects Travel to represent over 70% of group revenue and around 85% of group profit from trading operations by the end of this financial year.
Carl Cowling, Group Chief Executive said: “Travel UK, our largest division, has delivered a strong first-half performance and has excellent growth prospects.”
“This performance has been driven by our category expansion, focus on average transaction value, the success of InMotion and our travel essentials one-stop-shop format,” he added.
WH Smith said total Travel trading profit in the period reached £47mln, a near five-fold increase on last year’s £10mln while High Street trading profit edged lower to £24mln from £26mln.
The company said it had a new store pipeline of over 120 stores won and yet to open in Travel, including 60 in North America.
Trading momentum has continued into the second with a strong start made ahead of the peak Summer period.
“Current trading is strong and we are ahead of expectations for the full year" said Cowling.
WH Smith declared an interim payout of 8.1p per share which it said reflected strong current trading and confidence in future prospects.
7.27am: Jet2 raises profit guidance again
Jet2 PLC (AIM:JET2) upped guidance for profits for second time in three months adding to the optimistic sounds coming out of the aviation industry.
Pre-tax profit for the year to March is now expected between £387mln-£392mln before currency movements.
In January, the travel and leisure firm told the City it would beat market forecasts at the time of £317mln and come in between £370mln and £385mln.
For the new financial year, Jet2 reported seat capacity for Summer 2023 is currently 7.2% higher than Summer 2022 at 15.26mln seats.
Forward bookings to date remain encouraging, with the mix of Package Holiday customers representing just over 75% of total departing passengers and 5 percentage points higher than Summer 2022 at the same point.
In addition, average load factors for Summer 2023 are currently 0.7 percentage points ahead of Summer 2022.
The company cautioned it continues to face input cost pressures including fuel, carbon taxes, a strengthened US dollar and wage increases, but said pricing for both package holiday and flight-only products remains strong and margins per booked passenger are encouraging.
With over 40% of the Summer 23 season still to sell, Jet2 said it was too early to provide definitive guidance for profit for the coming year, but said it was “pleased with the current position.”
7.05am: FTSE 100 seen little changed
The FTSE 100 is expected to edge lower in early exchanges following a lacklustre showing in the US overnight after a mixed bag of earnings.
Spread betting companies are calling London’s lead index down by around 6 points.
The Dow closed Wednesday down 80 points, 0.2%, at 33,897, while the Nasdaq Composite added 4 points to 12,157 and the S&P 500 was flat at 4,155. The small-cap Russell 2000 index gained 2 points, 0.1%, to 1,797.
In Asia, markets were mixed. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.1%.
Tesla fell 6% after hours in New York after the electric vehicle maker reported lower first-quarter profit hit by rising costs and a drop in average selling prices which saw margins plunge.
The electric vehicle maker posted total revnue in the quarter of US$23.33 billion, up 24% from US$18.76b a year prior, boosted by growth in vehicle deliveries although there was an adverse forex hit of US$0.8 billion.
But operating income decreased to US$2.66 billion in the quarter from US$3.60 billion a year ago resulting in a 11.4% operating margin, down from 19.2% in 2022 and 16% in the previous quarter.
Profitability was also knocked by reduced selling prices, higher raw material, commodity, logistics and warranty costs and lower credit revenue.
GAAP net income fell 24% to US$2.51 billion from US$3.32 billion.
Back in London and the early focus will be updates from Rio Tinto, Segro, Rentokil, AJ Bell, and Dunelm.