Bank of England governor Mark Carney may have cut this year’s UK growth estimate to 2.5%, but anecdotal evidence suggests consumers are still feeling good.
Top end car dealer Vertu Motors (LON:VTU) clocked up annual revenues of £2bn for the first time, while housebuilder Barratt’s forward orders have jumped by 18%.
New car sales are traditionally seen as a touchstone for people’s financial confidence, and Vertu boss Robert Forrester said the UK market is showing no signs of slowing.
Profits jumped by 33% to £21mln, while investors get a 31% dividend hike as an indicator of the company’s confidence.
Barratt meanwhile raised it expectations for the number of homes it will sell this year, while chief executive Mark Clare hailed the Tory election victory as supportive for the industry.
Shares in Vertu Motors were 2.6% higher to 59p while Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) shares climbed 4% to 567p.
The FTSE 100 was 30 points higher to 6,965 as it rebounded following yesterday’s monstrous losses.
Renewed fears of a Greek exit from the Eurozone, or Grexit, had sent the UK’s main index tumbling yesterday.
Weaker bond prices also didn’t help investor confidence it could impact on borrowing costs, which in turn may weigh on economic activity.
All eyes will turn to how stocks on Wall Street respond, with analysts expecting stocks to follow on from the UK and rebound following yesterday’s losses.
On the UK’s main index, paper maker Mondi (LON:MNDI) pulled off a punchy performance in its first quarter with operating profit 29% higher than the previous year to €236mln. Shares leapt 10% to 1,433p.
Meanwhile, Compass Group (LON:CPG) led the fallers despite revenue rising 5.7% and profits up 6.5% to £688mln in the first half of the year.
The largest contract foodservice in the world said the economic environment in some of its emerging markets was uncertain and shares dropped 3% to 1,128p.
Analysts are still on board with easyJet's plans (LON:EZJ), although estimates were lowered for the airline after yesterday’s cautious update.
Citigroup, Jefferies and Numis all reiterated ‘buy’ ratings but cut thei target prices on the stock. Shares in easyJet climbed 1.6% to 1,681p today.
Elsewhere, Alba Minerals (LON:ALBA) shares shot up after its broker issued a gravity-defying upgrade and described the AIM firm as the overlooked participant in the Horse Hill oil project.
The broker hiked its price target to a whopping 9.4p from 1.6p and shares rocketed around 25% to 0.68p.
In small cap news, New World Oil & Gas (LON:NEW) was the biggest gainer today, climbing 90% to 0.3p.
The jersey-based oil company said yesterday that a requisition by bulletin board favourite ChrisOil was invalid after he ended up buying a 48% stake in the company, rather than the 10% he had meant to.
The start of drilling at the Lalla Mimouna prospect in Morocco can put Circle Oil (LON:COP) on the path to a re-rating. The news boosted the share price 8.5% to 13p.