Hot Features
Premium
Trade smarter, not harder: Unleash your inner pro with our toolkit and live discussions.
London stocks fell in early trade on Thursday as investors waded through another deluge of corporate news, but Admiral bucked the trend after impressive results.
At 0855 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 8,707.21.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The UK markets have failed to latch onto the positive momentum seen from its US peers last night, with the FTSE 100 opening on the back foot, though only marginally.
“There’s a string of results to get through, from a giant in motor insurance to the world of legacy media, all while investors are trying to digest a major sell-off in European bonds yesterday, led by Germany, where there are expectations of a loosening of the country’s strict borrowing rules.
“UK Gilts followed suit, and yields have ticked higher again in early trading this morning, with rate cut expectations coming under fresh scrutiny.”
In equity markets, insurer Admiral jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 as it hiked its dividend and posted a surge in full-year profit, attributing much of the strength to its UK motor business.
Schroders was also a high riser as it announced a plan to deliver £150m of annualised cost savings alongside its full-year results.
Ladbrokes owner Entain advanced as it reported full-year earnings in line with expectations and said it was well placed for 2025.
Industrial thread maker Coats Group and broadcaster ITV also gained after full-year results.
On the downside, Melrose Industries slumped even as it said that full-year profit came in at the top end of expectations despite industry-wide supply chain issues.
Reckitt Benckiser fell as the consumer goods firm unveiled plans for a reorganisation of its divisions and said it was looking at opportunities for Mead Johnson Nutrition after a mixed 2024, as fourth-quarter sales missed estimates.
Rentokil Initial lost ground as it reported a drop in full-year profit, citing a “challenging” year and a weaker performance in North America.
Spire Healthcare tumbled as it posted full-year adjusted operating profit of £149.4m, which was below expectations of just over £157m.
Lancashire Holdings, Vesuvius and Harbour Energy also fell after results.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Admiral Group Plc | +6.69% | +194.00 | 3,095.00 |
| 2 |  |
Schroders Plc | +5.26% | +20.00 | 400.20 |
| 3 |  |
South32 Limited | +3.14% | +5.40 | 177.50 |
| 4 |  |
Antofagasta Plc | +2.80% | +51.00 | 1,871.50 |
| 5 |  |
Prudential Plc | +2.41% | +18.00 | 764.40 |
| 6 |  |
Aib Group Plc | +2.39% | +14.00 | 601.00 |
| 7 |  |
Glencore Plc | +2.13% | +6.85 | 327.75 |
| 8 |  |
Wpp Plc | +2.06% | +12.60 | 622.80 |
| 9 |  |
Weir Group Plc | +2.05% | +50.00 | 2,490.00 |
| 10 |  |
Vodafone Group Plc | +1.96% | +1.36 | 70.90 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Melrose Industries Plc | -9.24% | -62.80 | 617.20 |
| 2 |  |
Hsbc Holdings Plc | -4.80% | -44.60 | 883.80 |
| 3 |  |
Informa Plc | -3.41% | -28.00 | 792.00 |
| 4 |  |
Sant Uk.8fepf | -2.93% | -4.00 | 132.50 |
| 5 |  |
Compass Group Plc | -2.61% | -71.00 | 2,649.00 |
| 6 |  |
Rentokil Initial Plc | -2.58% | -10.00 | 378.00 |
| 7 |  |
Pearson Plc | -2.51% | -33.50 | 1,302.00 |
| 8 |  |
Gen.acc.7se.pf | -2.42% | -3.00 | 121.00 |
| 9 |  |
London Stock Exchange Group Plc | -2.20% | -250.00 | 11,130.00 |
| 10 |  |
Experian Plc | -2.06% | -76.00 | 3,607.00 |
US close: Stocks higher as tariffs, Ukraine tensions remain in focus
Major indices closed higher on Wednesday after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said that the US might meet Canada and Mexico “in the middle” to “work something out” on tariffs.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.14% at 43,006.59, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.12% to 5,842.63 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.46% firmer at 18,552.73.
The Dow closed 485.860 points higher on Wednesday, reclaiming much of the previous session’s losses.
In addition to ongoing worries about Donald Trump’s trade war, extremely strained relations between Ukraine and the US were also in focus on Wednesday, with tensions appearing to be easing after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was ready to sign a deal on the country’s minerals with Washington, prompting an aide to Donald Trump to suggest that aid could be restored to the war-torn country.
After an extraordinary fracas in the White House last Friday, which saw Donald Trump and his deputy JD Vance shout at the Ukrainian leader, a letter from Kyiv stated that Zelenskyy was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible to bring lasting peace closer”
“My team and I stand ready to work under President Trump’s strong leadership to get a peace that lasts,” Trump quoted Zelenskyy during a rambling address to Congress, also claiming he had “serious discussions with Russia” and “strong signals that they are ready for peace”.
However, the US later said it had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine in a follow-up to the suspension of military aid to the war-torn country, hampering its ability to carry out long-range drone strikes on Russian targets.
American officials hinted that both suspensions could be lifted if there was progress on peace talks. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was prepared to sign a minerals deal with the US, although Washington seemed determined to strong-arm him into a negotiating position on White House and Kremlin terms.
On the macro front, private businesses added 77,000 workers to their payrolls in February, according to Automatic Data Processing, down from 186,000 in January and short of expectations for a reading of 140,000 for the smallest increase in seven months.
Elsewhere, factory orders increased by 1.7% month-on-month in January, according to the Census Bureau, slightly surpassing market expectations of a 1.6% increase with the first improvement in three months.
On another note, the Institute for Supply Management‘s services PMI unexpectedly rose to 53.5 in February, up from 52.8 in January and beating forecasts for a modest decline to 52.6, pointing to faster growth in the sector.
Finally, S&P Global‘s services PMI fell to 51 in February, down from 52.9 January, revised sharply higher from the flash estimate of 49.7, but still firmly below the initial market expectations of 53. S&P’s composite PMI fell from 52.7 in January to 51.6 in February, higher than preliminary estimates of 50.4 but still the slowest pace of expansion since April 2024.
In the corporate space, cybersecurity provider CrowdStrike tumbled as the company’s first-quarter guidance missed estimates, while Abercrombie & Fitch shares traded lower as the clothing retailer’s guidance disappointed, and Campbell’s lowered its FY sales and profit guidance on the back of weak demand.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Ofwat, Jes Staley, The Very Group
An environmental group is to take legal action against Ofwat, the water regulator, accusing it of unlawfully making customers pay for decades of neglect by the water industry. River Action will file the legal claim this month, arguing that bill rises for customers that have been approved by the regulator could be used to fix infrastructure failures that should have been addressed years ago. – Guardian
The Barclays chair Nigel Higgins’s assurances that Jes Staley had “no particular relationship” with Jeffrey Epstein, days after the child sex offender’s death in 2019, convinced the City regulator that there was no reason to investigate the bank’s chief executive, a court has heard. Jonathan Davidson, a former director of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), made the comments during a hearing of Staley’s legal challenge against the UK regulator on Wednesday. – Guardian
Workers could face a £10bn stealth raid on income tax this month as Rachel Reeves risks breaking her borrowing rules, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned. The Chancellor “has engineered a trap for herself” by leaving dangerously little room to hit the fiscal targets which she wrote in October, economists at the think tank said. – Telegraph
The Barclay family’s online shopping empire is facing mounting pressure from its debt pile as sales slide, a leading credit rating agency has warned. Fitch Ratings has cut The Very Group’s credit rating and put it on a negative watch, meaning it is liable for further downgrades. The retailer’s CCC+ rating puts it deeper into junk bond territory, making it costlier for the group to borrow. – Telegraph
Severe cost pressures “piling up on businesses” have led the British Chambers of Commerce to downgrade forecasts for economic growth, as companies face a “long and challenging year”. The lobby group’s quarterly economic forecast is for the economy to grow by 0.9 per cent this year, down from a previous expectation of 1.3 per cent, with the “limited growth” driven largely by increased government spending. – The Times
