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London open: Stocks flat but Smith & Nephew surges after results
London stocks were steady in early trade on Tuesday following a downbeat session in Asia and a mostly weaker session on Wall Street, but Smith & Nephew surged on well-received results.
At 0825 GMT, the FTSE 100 was flat at 8,661.75.
Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said investors were digesting “a mix of global trade tensions and domestic economic signals”.
He pointed to “unease over looming US tariff policies and their potential ripple effects on global growth and inflation”.
In corporate news, consumer goods giant Unilever slumped as it announced that its chief executive was leaving “by mutual agreement” after just 19 months at the helm.
Hein Schumacher, who became CEO in July 2023 after serving as a board member for one year, is to step down on 1 March and will exit the firm on 31 May. He will be replaced by Fernando Fernandez, who has been the company’s chief financial officer since January 2024.
Britzman said: “Unilever’s CEO is stepping down in a surprise twist, cutting short his tenure just as he was steering the consumer goods giant toward a leaner, more profitable future. In his place, the company’s CFO Fernando Fernandez – a seasoned Unilever veteran – is taking the helm.
“Markets typically flinch at abrupt leadership shifts but his deep experience, and a clear mandate to push change with urgency, signal a bold move to accelerate the final stretch of Unilever’s turnaround.
“With Fernandez poised to build on the groundwork already laid, this unexpected transition might be the spark that helps deliver a new version of Unilever that investors have long been waiting for.”
Online trading platform CMC Markets tumbled as it said that chief financial officer Albert Soleiman has agreed to step down with immediate effect. CMC said Soleiman will remain with the company for a period of time to support an orderly handover.
On the upside, medical equipment maker Smith & Nephew surged as it posted a sharp jump in full-year profit and revenue, driven by a rebound in its US knee and hip implant unit, which offset continuing headwinds in China.
Revenue jumped 4.7% to $5.8bn, while operating profit surged 54.6% to $657m. The results follow a profit warning after a third-quarter trading update and pressure from shareholders to break up the group.
Specialty chemicals group Croda also gained as it met its profit guidance in 2024, though numbers were weighed down by a drop in annual sales and weaker margins, with the company targeting £25m of cost savings in 2025.
Top 10 FTSE 100 Risers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Smith & Nephew Plc | +8.58% | +89.50 | 1,133.00 |
| 2 |  |
Bae Systems Plc | +3.14% | +41.00 | 1,346.00 |
| 3 |  |
Natwest | +1.78% | +7.90 | 451.60 |
| 4 |  |
Hsbc Holdings Plc | +1.55% | +13.60 | 891.30 |
| 5 |  |
Astrazeneca Plc | +1.31% | +154.00 | 11,926.00 |
| 6 |  |
Banco Santander S.a. | +1.12% | +5.50 | 498.00 |
| 7 |  |
Bt Group Plc | +1.08% | +1.65 | 154.45 |
| 8 |  |
Gsk Plc | +1.00% | +14.50 | 1,467.00 |
| 9 |  |
Rolls-royce | +0.82% | +5.00 | 611.20 |
| 10 |  |
Centrica Plc | +0.66% | +1.00 | 152.05 |
Top 10 FTSE 100 Fallers
| Sponsored by Plus500 |
|
| # | Name | Change Pct | Change | Cur Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Ashtead Group Plc | -2.19% | -106.00 | 4,730.00 |
| 2 |  |
Unilever Plc | -1.81% | -81.00 | 4,402.00 |
| 3 |  |
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Plc | -1.77% | -19.00 | 1,055.00 |
| 4 |  |
Rio Tinto Plc | -1.75% | -87.50 | 4,919.50 |
| 5 |  |
Associated British Foods Plc | -1.73% | -33.00 | 1,875.50 |
| 6 |  |
Bhp Group Limited | -1.47% | -30.00 | 2,004.00 |
| 7 |  |
Informa Plc | -1.31% | -11.40 | 857.40 |
| 8 |  |
Bunzl Plc | -1.31% | -44.00 | 3,324.00 |
| 9 |  |
Pearson Plc | -1.15% | -15.50 | 1,334.50 |
| 10 |  |
Spirax Group Plc | -1.12% | -85.00 | 7,535.00 |
US close: S&P 500, Nasdaq hit six-week low as sell-off continues
Monday was another volatile session for US stock markets, with equities finishing mostly lower after a late-afternoon sell-off which pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to their lowest levels in six weeks.
“Wall Street’s positive open has given way to more downside, particularly in tech stocks. Friday’s late slump has cast a shadow over sentiment, while hopes over a Ukraine deal have ebbed away,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
After a brief stint in positive territory after lunchtime, the S&P 500 turned lower by the close, falling 0.5% to 5,983.25 – its lowest finish since 16 January. The Nasdaq, which spent the majority of the session in the red, ending with a heavy 1.2% loss to 19,286.92 – its lowest since 14 January.
Meanwhile, the Dow managed to eke out a 0.1% gain to 43,461.21 – helped by decent gains from Nike – but closed well off its intraday highs.
Stocks fell sharply at the back-end of last week, partly due to ongoing concerns about how trade tariffs will affect global economic growth, while macro data from the US has been mixed. Investors are showing caution with the pause given to Mexico and Canada on additional trade tariffs scheduled to end this week.
On the macro front, the Chicago Federal Reserve’s national activity index fell to -0.03 in January, down from an upwardly revised reading of +0.18 in December. The three-month moving average, however, increased to +0.03 in January from -0.13 in December.
Market movers
Apple edged higher after committing to spend half a trillion dollars in the US over the next four years as it outlined plans to hire 20,000 new workers and expand development into AI. “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing US investments with this $500bn commitment to our country’s future,” said chief executive Tim Cook.
However, others in the tech sector were firmly out of favour, including Nvidia, Intel and Microsoft, which were nursing heavy losses of 7%, 6% and 3%.
Starbucks also rose on plans to eliminate 1,100 support partner roles as well as “several hundred” additional open and unfilled positions, as part of a restructuring plan to simplify its structure and operate more efficiently.
Domino’s shares were falling sharply after the American pizza delivery giant missed forecasts with its fourth-quarter earnings and profits, as same-store sales at its domestic operations barely grew.
Bridge Investment Group‘s stock jumped by more than a third after Apollo entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the company in an all-stock transaction worth approximately $1.5bn.
Nike was keeping the Dow afloat with a 5% gain after broker Jefferies upgraded the stock from ‘hold’ to ‘buy’, while Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway rose 4% to a new record high after impressing with fourth-quarter results.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Energy price cap, BMW, Chapel Down
The cost of the global energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will reach £3,000 for the average British household by the summer, after another expected increase in bills in April. The average annual bill in Great Britain under the latest energy price cap is forecast to be about £750 higher than in the pre-invasion winter of 2020-21, a 75% increase, according to calculations by the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, a campaign group. The cumulative toll of the price increases in the last four years comes to £3,033, the group said. – Guardian
Women occupy more than two in five seats on the boards of Britain’s biggest listed companies after further progress was made last year, but the number of female FTSE 100 chief executives dipped for a time to fewer than 10, according to a report. The proportion of board positions held by women at FTSE 350 companies rose to a new all-time high of 43.4% last year, up from 42.1% in 2023, according to the government-backed annual FTSE Women Leaders Review. Among the 100 biggest listed companies, the proportion of women in the boardroom was even higher, at 44.7% versus 42.6% in 2023. – Guardian
Ministers have insisted that BMW is still committed to Britain despite a decision to delay a £600m upgrade of its Mini factory in Oxford. The German car giant last week confirmed it was reviewing plans to restart production of electric Mini variants at the plant by 2026, amid sluggish demand across Europe. – Telegraph
Housing schemes are being strangled by a barrage of red tape that is costing developers tens of thousands of pounds each week and putting a brake on investment, a damning new report has found. Construction projects are suffering delays of up to 18 months owing to an “ever-increasing regulatory burden” caused by the Building Safety Act (BSA), according to the Purposeful Finance Commission (PFC), an alliance of businesses and local councils. – Telegraph
The billionaire Conservative Party donor Lord Spencer of Alresford has been topping up his large holding in Chapel Down Group, England’s largest winemaker, amid a lack of sparkle in the share price since listing on London’s junior market. Spencer, who founded the interbroker dealer Icap, is a non-executive director of Chapel Down. He has acquired 450,000 shares in recent days via his investment vehicle IPGL, stock exchange filings show, cementing his position as the largest shareholder with more than 27 per cent. – The Times
