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London open: Stocks flat as consumer confidence slides
London stocks were steady in early trade on Thursday as investors mulled a slide UK in consumer confidence.
At 0830 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 8,542.94.
A survey released earlier showed that consumer sentiment has weakened to fresh lows, as the new year got off to a sluggish start.
According to the latest consumer sentiment monitor from the British Retail Consortium, expectations for the next three months have softened across a number of areas.
The personal finance situation dropped to -4 in January, down one point on December, while the state of the economy eased to -34 from -27.
Respondents also signalled they intended to spend less now the festive season was over. Personal spending on retail fell to -9 from -3, while spending overall declined to 4 from 11.
In contrast, expectations for personal saving in the current quarter increased to -3 from -5 a month earlier.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said: “As the government warns of tough times ahead, it is little surprise that the public have caught the January blues.
“Concerns [are] most pronounced among older generations. Gen Z (18-to-27 year olds) remain the only group to expect the economy to improve, while two thirds of 60-to-78 year olds expect things to get worse.
“Expectations of retail spending and wider spending both fell significantly, though much of this is likely to be at the end of the Christmas period, as people tightened their belts for the new year.”
In equity markets, Associated British Foods fell as it cut its outlook for Primark sales growth in 2025. It said warmer autumn weather and cautious consumers dented UK revenue in the 16 weeks to 4 January.
AB Foods said it was now targeting low-single digit sales growth for Primark, down from previous guidance of mid-single digit growth.
Trading platform CMC Markets tumbled after a very brief update in which it said it remained on track to deliver annual net operating income in line with previous guidance.
Shore Capital analyst Vivek Raja said: “The share price has been strong over the past couple of weeks, so to the extent the market was expecting a more positive trading update today (perhaps more news on how the Revolut partnership has progressed), we could imagine weakness today.”
Elsewhere, car dealership Inchcape was knocked lower by a downgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ at JPMorgan.
On the upside, Auto Trader was the top gainer on the FTSE 100, having slumped a day earlier after BNP Paribas Exane slashed its price target on the shares.
Precision instruments supplier Spectris surged after saying it expects to beat market expectations with its 2024 results, with adjusted operating profit for the year set to be above the upper end of analysts’ forecasts of £183.3m to £201m, but still down from £262.5m in 2023.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Centrica Plc | +1.59% | +2.15 | 137.05 |
| 2 |  |
Weir Group Plc | +1.28% | +30.00 | 2,380.00 |
| 3 |  |
Auto Trader Group Plc | +1.06% | +8.20 | 784.40 |
| 4 |  |
Natwest | +1.05% | +4.40 | 422.10 |
| 5 |  |
Imperial Brands Plc | +1.00% | +26.00 | 2,628.00 |
| 6 |  |
Intermediate Capital Group Plc | +0.97% | +22.00 | 2,280.00 |
| 7 |  |
British American Tobacco Plc | +0.95% | +28.00 | 2,987.00 |
| 8 |  |
Banco Santander S.a. | +0.88% | +3.50 | 402.00 |
| 9 |  |
United Utilities Group Plc | +0.86% | +8.40 | 981.40 |
| 10 |  |
Severn Trent Plc | +0.81% | +20.00 | 2,492.00 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
South32 Limited | -2.64% | -4.80 | 176.70 |
| 2 |  |
Anglo American Plc | -1.84% | -47.00 | 2,509.50 |
| 3 |  |
Associated British Foods Plc | -1.76% | -34.00 | 1,903.00 |
| 4 |  |
Ck Infrastructure Holdings Limited | -1.33% | -7.55 | 560.00 |
| 5 |  |
Prudential Plc | -1.32% | -8.60 | 643.60 |
| 6 |  |
Glencore Plc | -1.31% | -4.95 | 372.25 |
| 7 |  |
Bhp Group Limited | -1.24% | -25.00 | 1,992.00 |
| 8 |  |
Flutter Entertainment Plc | -1.19% | -260.00 | 21,570.00 |
| 9 |  |
Rio Tinto Plc | -1.18% | -59.00 | 4,942.00 |
| 10 |  |
Antofagasta Plc | -1.03% | -18.00 | 1,723.50 |
US close: Nasdaq breaks above 20,000 on AI optimism
Major indices closed higher on Wednesday as tech stocks continued to receive a leg-up from AI optimism.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.30% at 44,156.73, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.61% to 6,086.37, and the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 1.28% firmer at 20,009.34.
The Dow closed 130.92 points higher on Wednesday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.
Stocks traded higher despite President Donald Trump telling Americans he was mulling over slapping a 10% tariff on China as soon as 1 February and that he was also weighing up whether or not he would place levies on Canada and Mexico.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the charge on Wednesday, breaking above the 20,000 point barrier, after President Trump announced ‘Stargate’, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank that will see “at least” $500.0bn invested into AI infrastructure in the US, helping to lift tech stocks.
Elsewhere in the corporate space, Netflix shares were up double digits at the open after the streaming giant posted Q4 earnings and revenue that topped analysts’ expectations, while Procter & Gamble was in the green on the back of stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, and Johnson & Johnson also traded higher after reporting a beat on both the top and bottom lines.
On the macro front, US mortgage applications rose 0.1% in the week ended 17 January, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, with applications to purchase a home edging 0.6% higher week-on-week, offsetting a 2.9% drop in applications to refinance an existing mortgage.
Thursday newspaper round-up: ONS, Saba Capital, Telegraph
The government’s statistics agency is spending £8m to hire an army of low-paid temporary workers amid efforts to fix its “virtually unusable” data on unemployment and wages in Britain. Under pressure over the quality of its data, the Office for National Statistics last month agreed the multimillion-pound deal with the employment agency Randstad to recruit interviewers to help increase the reliability of its labour force survey (LFS). – Guardian
Campaigners will be blocked from “excessive” legal challenges to planning decisions for major infrastructure projects including airports, railways and nuclear power stations as part of the government’s drive for economic growth. High court judges will be given the power to rule that judicial reviews on nationally significant projects that they regard as “totally without merit” – and which can currently be brought to the courts three times – will be unable to go to appeal. – Guardian
Sweden is urging Britain to club together with Northern European neighbours to purchase a fleet of mini-nuclear power plants. Ebba Busch, the Swedish deputy prime minister, said her country wanted to band together with allies to jointly order at least “10 to 15” small modular reactors (SMRs) in a bid to cut costs and share expertise. – Telegraph
Lisa Nandy, Culture Secretary, must set a deadline for a sale of The Telegraph by an Abu Dhabi fund after it made a “very concerning” call for budget cuts, Sir Ed Davey has demanded. Sir Ed, the Liberal Democrat leader, was responding to news that RedBird IMI, which was blocked from completing its attempted takeover last year, had urged Telegraph executives to make one in 10 staff redundant and abandon planned editorial investments. – Telegraph
Saba Capital’s plan to take control of seven UK investment trusts has suffered a blow as the first group of shareholders to vote on its plans “almost unanimously’’ rejected them. Herald Investment Trust said the proportion of shareholders who voted against resolutions put forward by Saba, a US hedge fund, represented a “damning indictment” of Saba’s proposals to remove the trust’s board and appoint its own choice of directors. – The Times
