- FTSE 100 advances 17.67 points to 8445.8
- Experian tops leaderboard on top-end results
- Royal Mail owner IDS jumps after new Czech Sphinx offer
4.45pm: FTSE 100 closes at another record
The blue-chip index finished the day's trading at another record closing high, up almost 18 points at 8,445.8.
It also set a new intraday high earlier in the session at 8,474.41.
4pm: Royal Mail bid does not have much of a chance, analysts reckon
Following Royal Mail owner IDS saying today that it would be minded to accept if a firm bid is made by Daniel Kretinsky.
Some doubts are cast by Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
"I don’t know whether the bid has much chance in an election year really," he says.
"To be commercially viable Royal Mail needs to trim its service obligations, but the government might not be keen on that right now.
"It will certainly make life more difficult, but ultimately IDS is not really attractive so long as current service levels have to be maintained."
Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell, also chips in, saying the sweetened deal from Kretinsky has been labelled ‘fair’ by IDS chairman Keith Williams even though it is substantially down on share price highs of yesteryear.
"This is a company that’s been running to stand still," says Hewson.
"Ofcom may have proposed a shake-up of second-class delivery services but the 6-day a week first class obligation will remain and will continue to put pressure on a business that used to rely on scale to keep costs down. The regulator will undoubtedly take a good long look at these takeover plans and may yet decide to prevent this deal going through."
But could the bid and IDS's initial response not quite be what they seem?
"It could be that IDS’s indication that it is minded to back the deal is just another move on the chess board designed to push the watchdog and the government to soften its stance on the universal service obligation," says Hewson.
"Private companies have shareholders and an obligation to make money for investors, and with fewer and fewer people sending letters, this part of the business has become tricky.
"Whilst there is a clear public interest case to keep current service levels it’s hard to make those demands from a company that is no longer in the public realm."
3.51pm: Market round-up
The FTSE early record-setting gains have been all but wiped out now, as the dollar falls and both Shell and BP both fall 1.7% as oil retreats to a two-month low.
Including those two oil supermajors, the shares of seven of the index's largest companies are all in the red.
Burberry is the biggest blue-chip faller of the day after first-half profits fell and it said the challenging conditions are likely to continue.
Compass was another notable faller in what seemed like profit-taking after a good set of results.
Top of the leaderboard are Experian and Imperial Brands, with the credit checker up almost 8% and the tobacco company up 5% thanks to strong results from both.
Meanwhile, unlike its big sibling, the FTSE 250 has got stronger as the day has gone on, helped latterly by the new Royal Mail bid.
The mid-cap index is up 0.6% at 20,747.
But Royal Mail owner IDS, up 17%, is not even the biggest gainer, with energy services group Hunting and construction sector engineer Keller both up almost 20% after a big contract win and a trading update, respectively.
Soft drinks maker Britvic's near-10% is almost made to look flat in comparison.
Around Europe things are looking greener in Spain for the IBEX and with Germany's DAX also the source of good gains, up 0.88% and 0.68% respectively, compared to the 0.1% gain from the Footsie and France's CAC 40 sitting flat.
US stocks are up fairly strongly, with the tech-powered Nasdaq out in front, up 0.76% with only three of its top 30 largest stocks in the red, followed by the S&P 500 at 0.66% and Dow Jones up 0.49%.
Biggest gainers include semiconductor groups Nvidia and AMD, up around 3%, while biggest fallers include GameStop and AMC Entertainment as the meme stock revival seems to come to a quick crashing end.
3.19pm: Netflix and other stories
Netflix will stream live NFL games starting from this season, according to a new deal that the Hollywood Reporter says "changes the sports media landscape".
These are the biggest live sports rights in the US, with the streaming giant also paying for at least one game in 2025 and 2026 as part of the three-year deal.
Also in the entertainment sector, Taylor Swift's UK tour dates will generate £1 billion for the economy, according to research by Barclays, which notes that over a million of her fans are preparing to attend her Eras Tour.
In June and August, the pop megastar will perform on 15 separate dates in locations such as Wembley, Anfield and the BT Murrayfield Stadium, with each attending fan is expected to spend £848 in tickets, travel, accommodation and outfits.
Elsewhere, Thames Water's investors are poised to resign from the board of its labyrinth of parent companies following the collapse of a planned equity injection.
There is also a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research calling for the government (or more likely whoever wins the election) to take more steps if it wants to keep up with the growth of the green technology industry.
2.59pm: Oil dives, hitting the FTSE
Oil prices have dived lower.
Not sure why, as there are reports with comments from Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting the UN backing of Palestine's statehood bid and that "discussions about postwar Gaza meaningless until Hamas is defeated".
Earlier, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for a "clear and concrete plan" from Israel to end the conflict.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude is down by a dollar or 1.2% to $81.38, which is dragging heavily the FTSE 100.
Shell and BP are down 1.45% and 1.7%, offsetting some of the gains made elsewhere.
NETANYAHU SAYS DURING A MEETING WITH HIS SECURITY CABINET AFTER BIDEN’S WARNING AGAINST CROSSING HIS RED LINE REGARDING RAFAH: “WE ARE NOT A STATE AFFILIATED WITH THE UNITED STATES.” - AXIOS
— RedboxGlobal (@RedboxWire) May 15, 2024
2.44pm: Royal Mail owner jumps on new bid
Shares in Royal Mail owner International Distributions Services PLC (LSE:IDS) are up 20% after Daniel Kretinsky, aka the ‘Czech Sphinx’, proposed a new possible offer.
The IDS board said it "would be minded" to accept if an offer is made and recommend it to shareholders.
Kretinsky's EP Group's new bid is 360p per share in cash, plus the final dividend for the past year to March that is expected to be 2p and paid in September, plus a special dividend of 8p per share conditional on completion of the transaction.
This values IDS at roughly £3.5 billion, a 72.7% premium to the valuation before the fist bid on 17 April and a 53% premium to the 12-month average price prior to that date.
IDS chair Keith Williams said in a statement: "The board is minded to recommend this offer price, which it considers to be fair and reflects the value of GLS' current growth plans and the progress being made on change at Royal Mail to adapt the business to a significant fall in the demand for letters and growth in parcels."
2.28pm: US inflation takes pressure off the Fed
Comments are coming in on what the US CPI and retail sales data all means.
"The good news is that CPI hasn’t reaccelerated and, most importantly, it was less-than-expected month-over-month (e.g. 0.3% vs 0.4%), but the bad news is that consumers seem to be reducing their spending," says Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance.
"On balance, we think it’s a positive that inflation is moderating and although a slowdown in spending could turn into a problem for the economy, in the immediate term it takes some pressure off the Fed and that is what has been moving bond and stock markets the past couple of months."
He notes that in a bull market bad news is largely ignored and he believes we are still in one of those, so the knee-jerk negative reaction on the retail sales miss is likely to be overcome by the relatively good news on the CPI data which is at or below expectations.
Paul Ashworth, Capital Economics' chief North America economist says the CPI is consistent with a September rate cut.
"The slightly more modest 0.3% m/m increase in core CPI in April was even better than it looked, particularly given that we already know the PPI components that feed into the Fed’s preferred PCE deflator measure came in, on balance, weaker than expected."
Digging into the weeds of the report, Ashworth notes that core CPI was boosted by another elevated increase in motor vehicle insurance and an increase in hospital services, while an increase in clothing prices "bears watching" offset by declines in household furnishings and motor vehicle prices.
"All things considered, this is consistent with the Fed cutting interest rates in September," he said.
2.05pm: Sony's cold feet, Vauxhall's China EV deal
A couple of interesting stories about US companies.
A CNBC report overnight suggests that Sony Pictures is reconsidering its bid for Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA).
Stories last week were that Sony and private equity group Apollo planned to sell Paramount's streaming services and TV channels if their US$26 billion joint bid goes ahead.
And closer to home, Vauxhall owner Stellantis is preparing to import low-cost Chinese electric vehicles into the UK, which comes just as Joe Biden imposed new 100% tariffs on cars imported from the People's Republic to the US, while UK quotas call for more EV sales.
In a joint venture, Stellantis is bringing vehicles made by Leapmotor, its Chinese partner, to Britain in March, 2025 and to Europe in September.
Stellantis plans to bring over two of Leapmotor’s models: TO3, a small EV with a range of 165 miles per charge, and the five-seater C10 SUV.
In China, cars like the TO3 typically sell for around £5,500, but Stellantis and experts believe the car could be sold for between £17,200 and £22,000 in the UK - implying quite a profit margin.
1.44pm: Traders firm up Fed cut bets
The FTSE 100 spiked slightly when the US CPI number arrived with no apparent bad news attached, but have eased back.
Bigger moves in the US, as you'd expect, with S&P 500 futures jumping, up 0.55%, while Nasdaq futures are now up 0.58% and Dow futures up 0.49%.
Federal Reserve liquidity swaps, which are a way of reading market expectations of US central bank policy, showed markets saw a faster pace of rate cuts in September and December this year.
Traders also slightly added to ECB and Bank of England easing bets this year.
UK rate futures fully price in two 25 bps rate cuts by the BoE's monetary policy committee by November, up slightly from 47 basis points of cuts before the data, while the ECB pricing moved to 73 basis points of cuts in 2024 up from 71 bps before.
As well as the CPI data, US retail sales figures also came out, showing a 3.04% rise, softening from 4.27% the previous month.
1.34pm: US CPI inflation comes in...
The must-watch US consumer price index data has arrived from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It seems to be mostly in-line with expectations.
The headline US CPI was up 0.3% in April compared to March, which was less than the 0.4% consensus estimate, down from 0.4% in March.
On the yearly basis US CPI was up 3.4%, as forecast, down from 3.5% a month ago.
Core CPI, which excludes food and energy was up 0.3% on the month, as predicted, and up 3.6% on the year, also in line with consensus down from 3.8%.
12.23pm: Mixed US start anticipated, memes where art thou?
Wall Street stocks are heading for a cautious start ahead of the CPI print in just over an hour.
Futures trading for the Dow Jones and S&P 500 are both pointing to a just-above-flat start, up 0.02%, while Nasdaq 100 futures are similarly modestly lower, down 0.05%.
Looking at individual stocks, the tech megacaps are all little-moved in premarket trading, while this week's big movers, GameStop and AMC Entertainment, are also becalmed after been up around 5% and 10% in recent hours.
The meme stock rally can't have run out of breath already can it?
None of the memes finished close to the pre-mkt heights yesterday, analysts noted, with most trades being small retail investor orders.
"The read across the Atlantic is indicative of the dysfunction of markets – Ocado soared and other heavily shorted stocks in Europe were among yesterday’s best risers," says Neil Wilson at Markets.com.
"The thinking is that retail will go after some of them in a Reddit (NYSE:RDDT)-style attack on shorts; hedge funds that are short will have reacted swiftly to Monday’s moves in New York to cover some of their positions as a precaution. Other stocks with a lot of short interest like SunPower (+60%) and MicroCloud Hologram (+61%) rallied but it wasn’t a case that all of the companies with the highest proportion of outstanding shares currently sold short rose."
He notes some give back today for Ocado with the stock down 4% early doors.
11.56am: Early gains pared ahead of major US inflation data
The FTSE 100 has given up more than half its early gains now, despite 7%-plus gain for Experian (LSE:EXPN), while Imperial Brands, Vodafone and Spirax-Sarco Engineering all up more than 4% now on the back of earlier updates.
However, the index's four largest companies, AstraZeneca, Shell, HSBC and Unilever are all in the red to varying modest degrees, along with Compass, Diageo, Lloyds and Barclays also among the top 20.
Miners are among the risers, with analysts pointing at copper as the cause.
Copper prices have smashed a record high, breaking above $5 a pound for the first time, with the May, Jun and Jul contracts all trading above this level this morning.
"No wonder BHP is after Anglo and its copper projects," says Neil Wilson at Finalto. "There has not been enough investment in supply and everything we need from green stuff to munitions is super copper heavy.
"I think we will see a major leg up, a doubling in the next 5 years is not unreasonable. It takes so long to develop mines that prices can remain very elevated for a while yet and demand is only rising."
He quotes a Goldman Sachs comment from last month, that copper is in “the foothills of what will be its Everest”.
So, it's likely to be the incoming US inflation print that's made investors nervous - though the MSCI All Countries World index is still up 0.1% at record levels of 786.96.
Here's market analyst Joshua Mahony at Scope Markets with his tuppenceworth: "Commentary from Jerome Powell yesterday helped alleviate fears of potential additional tightening in response to recent inflation pressures, with the Fed Chair stating that another rate hike was unlikely.
"Nonetheless, while markets appear keen to take the positives from Powell’s latest appearance, it would make sense to remain cautious given the growing likeliness that both CPI and PCE inflation metrics fail to return to 2% this year."
Economists and other forecasters think the US core CPI rose 0.30% in April, which would lower the 12-month rate to 3.6% from 3.8% in March.
Headline CPI is projected to have risen 0.37% in April, taking the 12-month rate to 3.4% from 3.5% in March.
11.23am: Finance fightback against no-win, no-fee
'No-win, no-fee' claims companies have been active of late in the financial services industry, with most people likely to have seen or heard an online or radio ad calling for potentially wronged customers of St James Place in recent months.
Vanquis Banking Group PLC (LSE:VANQ) is another, though the company has had it up to here with one NWNF outfit.
Vanquis said the level of complaints received from one NWNF management company remained unacceptably high and that it had taken legal action against the business concerned.
The finance group warned in March it had seen a significant uptick in such complaints related to its credit card business, adding that even though most were not being upheld it would materially affect profits due to the processing costs.
11.02: IPO chatter
The Raspberry Pi news earlier, a fresh pulse of positivity is coursing through the City, some analysts are saying.
This could mean an end is in sight to London's IPO drought, says Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.
"This development marks a significant step of progress and shows that efforts to persuade more companies to list are bearing fruit.
"It represents a coup for London, particularly given the reputation the UK is trying to foster as a breeding ground for tech startups."
Who could be next? Shein, Boots, Zilch or Zopa have all had IPO reports.
10.16am: Woodlands' worth
For those interested in green finance, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics on woodland natural capital accounts might be worth a read.
The ONS has just published new natural capital accounts estimates summarising ecosystem services for UK woodlands habitats, which apparently increased from 7% in of the UK in 1965 to 13% last year.
UK woodlands' asset value was estimated at £382 billion, though this is based on UK woodlands in 2021.
While timber and woodfuel accounted for 3.9% of the total or £14.8 billion, most of the asset value game from the "service" provided by woodland in regulating greenhouse gases, sequestering greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide, which was 39% of the total asset value at £150 billion.
Non-timber benefits of UK woodlands was estimated at £10 billion, exceeding the estimated £441 million market benefits of timber and woodfuel by approximately 23 times.
An estimated 3.2 million people gained health benefits from recreation in UK woodlands in 2022, with an annual value of £1 billion.
10am: Newspaper round-up
Looking around the business pages, there's a few other stories worth noting.
The Guardian has a piece on delays to perishable goods coming into the UK.
Lorries carrying perishable food and plants from the EU are being held for up to 20 hours at border posts as failures with the government’s IT systems delay imports entering the country.
Another Brexit story angle is on the Financial Times, where they report HSBC and Deloitte have become the latest businesses to withdraw job offers to foreign graduates in the UK, as large employers are forced to reconsider contracts after the government introduced stricter visa rules.
On the FT home page the lead is that the US is "encouraging Arab states to join multinational postwar force in Gaza", with a western official quoted as saying three Arab states have had initial discussions, including Egypt, the UAE and Morocco, "but they would want the US to recognise a Palestinian state first".
Always entertaining, The Telegraph's business section has a story about how Argenita's president Javier Milei "plans to use Thatcher’s own creed to win over the Falklands", and "sees rapprochement with the West as key to a transfer of sovereignty". (Sister title The Spectator has a similar piece.)
Sky News is among several places with the story that Boeing could face prosecution in US over 737 MAX plane crashes.
A decision will be made by the summer on whether Boeing is to be prosecuted for the first time over the crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia that were blamed on both shoddy software and regulatory oversight, Sky reports.
There's also a story there about how landlords have been accused of "holding parliament hostage" with the threat of selling up to stop tenants' rights from being strengthened, coming on the eve of the controversial Renters Reform Bill entering the House of Lords for its second reading.
9.47am: IPO confirmed
Reflecting the confidence seen in global blue chips, Raspberry Pi, the pioneer of affordable single-board computers, confirmed its plans to go public in London, which would provide an extra boost for the Square Mile.
It announced its expected intention to float, though there was no precise timetable for the IPO or a price tag.
In its last fundraising round, the hobbyist microcomputer outfit was valued at just over £440 million, with the weekend reports suggesting this has risen to around £500 million.
9.33am: More balanced oil market expected
The monthly oil market report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) is out.
A "more balanced overall" oil market is expected in 2025, the IEA report says.
The OPEC+ cartel's output is expected to rise 330,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year, assuming current curbs remain in place, flipping from an 840,000 bpd decline this year.
"Next year, the market looks more balanced overall. Even if OPEC+ voluntary production cuts were to stay in place, global oil supply could jump by 1.8 mb/d compared with this year’s more modest 580 kb/d annual increase," the report said.
"The United States, Guyana, Canada and Brazil continue to dominate gains, even as the pace of the US supply expansion decelerates."
Global oil inventories surged 34.6 million barrels in March, the report confirmed, with early data suggesting global oil stock levels rose further in April.
Oil prices are up this morning, with Brent futures up 0.47% per barrel to $82.77 and West Texas up 0.51% to $78.43.
9.16am: Record markets
Wider European markets are also in the green this morning, though the FTSE is leading the way with its 0.5% gain.
In Frankfurt, Milan and Madrid, the DAX, FTSE MIB and IBEX 35 are all up 0.4%, while in Paris the CAC 40 is up 0.3%.
The wider Stoxx 600 has gained 0.39% and the major global gauge of the MSCI All Country World Index added another 0.1% to its record closing high from yesterday.
It has rallied nearly 6pc since April as central banks gear up for interest rate cuts, including the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
"Global equities are on a tear – the MSCI All Country World Index closed at a record high last night and the US tech-heavy Nasdaq also hit a record closing high last night," notes market analyst Victoria Scholar at Interactive Investor.
Susannah Streeter at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: "The feel-good factor is still washing through London markets as investors spy interest rate cuts on the horizon, despite signs prices are proving sticky."
Despite macroeconomic data not proving that supportive in recent days, investors are staying pretty sanguine, she says.
"Markets still expecting painful borrowing costs to ease this year, even though cuts are now expected to come later than hoped. The key CPI reading in the United States later will be crucial as far as sentiment is concerned, as it looks set to indicate that patience will be needed, before the Fed will feel comfortable about lowering rates."
Earlier, the People’s Bank of China held off from injecting the faltering economy with more stimulus, opting to keep its key lending rate on hold.
8.57am: FTSE 100 hits another intraday high, FTSE 250 big gains too
The Footsie has notched another new intraday high, up almost 46 points to 8,474.
And while it itsn't always the case that the FTSE 250 rises in sync with its larger sibling, with the mid-cap index having a more domestically focused mix of constituent companies than the strongly international FTSE 100, but this morning both indices are up.
The 250 is up 78 points or 0.4% to 20,697 and there are some big risers doing the heavy lifting.
Top of the mid-caps is Hunting PLC (LSE:HTG), up 17% after it announced a record $145 million OCTG order with the Kuwait Oil Company.
First revenues are expected to be recognised towards the end of the year, and this has helped swell the group sales order book to a record $665 million and management's full-year profit expectations to the top end of its current guidance of $125-135 million for 2024.
Elsewhere, geotechnical contractor Keller Group PLC (LSE:KLR) has risen 14% after saying it also expects a strong performance this year.
It said the strong momentum it reported at its results in March has continued, well ahead of the prior year, which when combined with a "strong" order book and recent contract wins means the board expect this year to be "materially ahead" of original expectations.
This pair of gains makes the 9% jump for soft drinks maker Britvic PLC (LSE:BVIC) seem relatively flat, though it announced a new share buyback after enjoying good progress from all three of its main business units.
It pointed to "standout growth" from Pepsi MAX, Ballygowan, MiWadi, Fruit Shoot and Lipton.
8.30am: Gains maintained
London's blue-chip index is holding onto almost all those initial gains, now up just under 40 points as a mix of results and broker comments provides an upward lift on a day that could turn either way later with the release of US inflation data.
Credit checking agency Experian (LSE:EXPN) is top of the risers, up almost 8% to a new all-time high as organic revenue growth topped analyst expectations and guidance confirmed more of the same for the current year.
Cigarette maker Imperial Brands is up 3% as price rises offset and lower losses from its 'next-generation products' offset lower tobacco volumes.
Another riser is British Gas owner Centrica, up 2.9% on the back of a positive Barclays write-up, where analysts suggest the share price de-rating is "unwarranted".
After reporting a 34% fall in profits and warning that tough times are likely to continue, Burberry is one of the main fallers, down 2.9%.
Catering giant Compass is down even further, 3.2%, despite upping profit guidance for the current year as a result of its strong first-half performance and positive outlook.
8.10am: FTSE 100 surges to new all-time high
The FTSE 100 has woken up on the right side of bed, jumping to an immediate all-time intraday high.
It's up 43 points or 0.5% to 8,471.53 in initial trades.
Top of the risers is Experian (LSE:EXPN), up 7.5% on the back of final results, which boss Brian Cassin boasted were at the top end of expectations.
"For FY25, we expect further strategic progress and expect to deliver organic revenue growth in the range of 6-8%," he says, also predicting that profit margins will expand.
Imperial Brands is another doing some lifting of the index, up 1.6% on the back of results seen below.
7.58am: Imperial Brands profits boosted by price hikes
Cigarette maker Imperial Brands PLC (LSE:IMB) reported first-half operating profits roughly in line with expectations as price rises and reduced losses from new technologies were offset by currency movements.
Underlying operating profit of £1.67 billion in the six months to 31 March, down 2.7% on a reported basis but rose 2.8% at constant currency rates. Analysts on average expected a £1.68 billion profit.
Revenues of £15.06 billion were down 2.3% as pricing increases of 8.6% more than offsetting a 6.3% tobacco volume decline.
Next-generation products (NGPs) like vaping and heat-not-burn saw an 16.8% increase in revenue as strong growth in Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific more than offset declines in the US.
An interim dividend of 44.9p per share was declared, up 4%, with £604 million of share buybacks completed in period, as part of plans to buy back £1.1 billion this year.
7.42am: Vodafone launches first tranche of buyback
After cutting its dividend yesterday, Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) has this morning launched a €500 million share buyback, as promised last night.
Having announced its results in the morning, late yesterday the telecoms group confirmed that the sale of Vodafone Spain to Zegona Communications (LSE:ZEG) was on track to complete by the end of the month after final approval was received from the Spanish authorities.
When the sale completes, Vodafone will receive around €4.1 billion in cash and €0.9 billion in the form of redeemable preference shares.
It said the €500 million buyback was the initial part of its plans to return €2.0 billion over 12 months.
7.29am: Burberry profits under pressure
Burberry Group PLC (LSE:BRBY) results are one of those out this morning, with profits down by more than a third as the UK fashion house says the "backdrop of slowing luxury demand has been challenging", which is expected to continue in coming months.
Revenues came to £2.97 billion for the year to 31 March, down 4% but flat if exchange rate effects are ignored and in line with analyst forecasts.
Retail comparable store sales were down 1%, which was worse than the 0.8% decline that City analysts expected.
Adjusted operating profit fell 34% to £418 million but with margins of 14.1% higher than analyst estimate of 13.9%.
The outlook, where management point to "a still uncertain external environment", the first half of the new financial year is expected to remain challenging.
7.13am: New FTSE highs predicted
The FTSE 100 is expected to zoom up towards new record highs on Wednesday morning, extending gains from yesterday after an upbeat Wall Street session overnight.
On spread-betting platforms, London's index was being called just over 31 points higher, having added 13 points to finish the day before at 8,428.13, just shy of a record closing high.
Last night US stocks shrugged off higher than expected factory gate price inflation figures, with the Nasdaq Composite index ending the day up 0.75%, ahead of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 0.5% and 0.3% respectively.
The big data print of the week, or month, is today, with the US consumer price index due this afternoon.
"Something doesn’t feel right," says market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank.
"Yesterday was one of those days when investors insisted on seeing a glass that was one-tenth full as completely full," she said, also noting the producer price data, new US tariffs on Chinese imports, a speech by Federal Reserve president Jerome Powell calling for patience on rates.
"All eyes are on the US CPI update today. Both headline and core inflation are expected to have moderated last month. If that’s the case, the risk rally will likely continue. And if it’s not the case, the risk rally could continue, as well," she said.
In London we have a host of corporate updates, including from Burberry, Imperial Brands and Experian.