Good morning from London, where the FTSE 100 is up once again at right around 7,700 points – the big gainer so far is Leicester-based fashion chain Next up a whopping 5% after increasing its profit guidance for the year. Sales during November and December were better than anticipated and they’re now expecting full year pre-tax profits of £905 million, up 4% on the year.
A point of interest there is that sales accelerated as Christmas approached, but the same can’t be said over at fellow high street operator JD Sports. They’ve lowered their guidance after a softer and more promotional festive period than they were expecting.
And Topps Tiles are also walking wounded into the new year, blaming a Q4 drop in sales of 4% on what they call “ongoing challenges in discretionary spending.”
Zooming out now with a look at the macro picture and Goldman Sachs is predicting that the Bank will start cutting interest rates in May, and drop them by 25 basis points all the way down to an eventual 3% in May 2025.
And finally Stuart O’Reilly from the Royal Mint says that gold prices may not yet have peaked, suggesting that events in 2024 could “turbocharge gold beyond recent market highs.”
Lots to look forward to this year and indeed today, I’ll be talking uranium a little later as well as speaking with several chief executives from the UK’s fascinating biotech sector so make sure you check back later – all the best til then.