Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 Live 4 June: Index closes down as Ocado slides, US job market cooling
BP and Shell shares today hindered FTSE 100 progress after oil prices fell to their lowest level since February.
Companies with trading updates out today include British American Tobacco and the warehouse business LondonMetric.
FTSE 100 Live Tuesday
Oil price retreat knocks FTSE 100
City bank in terrorist funding probe
LondonMetric bets on warehouses
FTSE 100 closes down 0.4%
Tuesday 4 June 2024 16:51 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 closed at 8,232.04 today, down 0.4%, despite greater hopes of US rate cuts.
London’s top flight fell as low as 8202 before a slight recovery in the afternoon.
Ocado was the top faller, down 7.6%, and is set to fall out of the blue-chip index.
US job market appears to be cooling as openings hit lowest since 2021
Tuesday 4 June 2024 15:51 , Daniel O'Boyle
The latest US JOLTS survey suggests that the labour market in the world’s largest economy is cooling, after a long run of surprising resilience.
Openings fell to their lowest since 2021, and were below all estimates in a Bloomberg survey.
The US jobs market had previously confounded economists with its strength, which allowed the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates higher for longer.
If the coolling also shows up in Friday’s non-farm payrolls data, though, it may encourage a move from Jerome Powell and Co.
Ronald Temple, Chief Market Strategist at Lazard, said: “The evidence is accumulating that the Fed should begin easing. The number of unfilled jobs per unemployed worker has decreased from 2.0 to 1.24, and fewer workers are quitting each month, clearly signaling fewer opportunities to earn higher wages by switching jobs. Today’s labor report taken together with April’s improved inflation data should cause investors to start raising the odds of Fed rate cuts.”
City Voices: Is the central London commercial property sector due for a rebound?
Tuesday 4 June 2024 15:45
Despite London's long established reputation as a global powerhouse and key destination for international capital, it couldn't dodge the 2022-23 market turbulence, with a 49% drop in investment .
High borrowing costs impacting on investor confidence led to a global real estate investment decline. Deals over £100 million, which are crucial for driving investment volumes, suffered most during the downturn. These buyers often rely heavily on leverage, but rising interest rates made financing less attractive, reducing such trades.
Despite the downturn, some investors eye a rebound, with Blackstone's recent £230m purchase of 130-145 New Bond Street potentially reigniting big deals. Could now be the time to capitalise on the market's recovery – we’ve analyse some key drivers:
New York stocks slip as volatile run stays ahead of jobs data
Tuesday 4 June 2024 14:45 , Michael Hunter
Wall Street stocks are slipping in opening trade.
Sentiment this week is likely to be shaped by employment numbers, with the headline non-farm payroll readout due on Friday.
One of the main pieces of economic data on the monthly calendar is expected to show the creation of 185,000 jobs in May.
Today will feature Job openings numbers known as Jolts, set to show 8.4 million open vacancies for April.
In early exchanges, the S&P 500 fell 13 points to 5270.51.
US markets expected to slip ahead of jobs data
Tuesday 4 June 2024 14:18 , Michael Hunter
New York’s stock market is expected to fall in opening trade, with investors on watch for insight into the employment market.
Job openings numbers known as Jolts is due in the US morning and expected to show around 8.4 million for April. vacancies, down from around 8.5 million the previous month.
In the meantime, future trade expects the S&P 500 to slip by about 16 points in initial trade to 5280 points.
That expectation came after a volatile session yesterday.
David Morrison at Trade Nation called the trading “indecisive”, adding: “This can be an indication that a trend may be coming to an end.
“That’s not to say that we won’t see higher prices, as anything is possible. But we’re certainly in an environment which feels quite different from that in the first quarter of this year, and investors need to be extremely vigilant now.”
British Airways to hire 350 staff to avoid Heathrow summer chaos
Tuesday 4 June 2024 13:38 , Daniel O'Boyle
British Airways will increase staffing at its hub in London’s Heathrow Airport by 5% to minimize the risk of any disruption in the peak summer season.
The carrier, owned by IAG SA, expects this summer to be its busiest since the pandemic and will hire about 350 new workers to fill customer service and ground handling roles, a spokesperson for the airline said. The airline is also upgrading some of its computers and other technology at the hub.
City Comment: Pull the other one, Rishi, Pints won't save you
Tuesday 4 June 2024 13:20 , Simon Hunt
Rishi Sunak has an electoral problem: there is virtually nothing he can do to stir the national mood.
Plenty of statistics present a rosy picture of the UK economy. GDP has risen to its fastest in two years. UK exports are up. Inflation is down to a steady 2.3%, while wage growth is strong. After a pandemic lull, business investment is rising and confidence rebounding, while rates are set for a cut or two in the second half of the year.
But these facts and figures belie the lived experience of the average Brit. Work still feels precarious, in a number of industries, and job opportunities scant. Savings built up during Covid have evaporated. The cost-of-living crisis has not abated, and everything still feels too expensive.
Lunchtime market snapshot: FTSE 100 down 0.5%
Tuesday 4 June 2024 12:37 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at our lunchtime market snapshot as the FTSE 100 continues to struggle
Private equity behemoth Blackstone and property investor Regis to buy £570m of affordable homes in Vistry deal
Tuesday 4 June 2024 11:42 , Daniel O'Boyle
Private equity giant Blackstone and property investor Regis Group teamed up today to buy 1,750 homes from affordable housebuilder Vistry in a £580 million deal.
The homes will be spread across 36 developments, mostly in the south east of England. They will be managed by Regis’ Blackstone-backed Leaf Living arm, with the first sales taking place by the end of the month.
The trillion-dollar asset manager Blackstone has become a larger player in the UK’s affordable housing market in recent years, amid what it calls “a chronic shortage of affordable homes”.
BP shares down 3% in weaker FTSE 100, M&S and Next rally
Tuesday 4 June 2024 10:25 , Graeme Evans
BP and Shell shares are under pressure after Brent Crude continued its recent slide in price to set a four-month low.
Signs of a weaker US economy and the option for OPEC+ members to unwind production cuts later in the year left the oil benchmark as low as $77.03 a barrel.
BP retreated 15.1p to 466.05p as the worst FTSE 100 stock and Shell fell 52p to 2730.5p. Other companies from the resources sector including Rio Tinto and Glencore dropped 2%.
The pressure left the FTSE 100 index 0.6% lower, a decline of 48.68 points to 8214.07.
Other big fallers included Ocado and St James’s Place ahead of their relegation in this month’s FTSE 100 reshuffle, which is based on tonight’s closing prices.
The grocery warehouse technology firm fell 4% or 16.2p to 366.5p and the wealth management business by 3% or 17p to 506p.
On the risers board, Marks & Spencer and Next lifted 3p to 309.1p and 86p to 9408p respectively after the British Retail Consortium reported industry sales growth of 0.7% in May.
In the FTSE 250, JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust eased 4% or 35p to 936p after stocks in the country fell sharply on signs that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to secure an election landslide.
Defence products firm Chemring also reversed 9p to 358p, even though half-year results revealed a record order book of just over £1 billion.
The wider FTSE 250 fell 0.8% or 167.76 points to 20,732.73, having surged yesterday.
Wizz Air passenger numbers edge up in May
Tuesday 4 June 2024 09:47 , Daniel O'Boyle
Low-cost airline Wizz Air carried 5.1 million passengers in May, it revealed today, as Brits gear up for their summer holidays.
The figures were up slightly compared to May 2023. The FTSE 250 carrier’s flights were 91% full, up from 90.3% a year earlier.
The strong numbers are likely to bode well for larger low-cost rivals Ryannair and easyJet, and come despite continued groundings of Wizz’s fleet due to mandatory inspections of its Pratt & Whitney engines.
The airline celebrated its 20th birthday during the month, with its first flight from Katowice in Poland to Luton taking off in May 2024.
Wizz could see a big surge in travel this month as Euro 2024 begins in Germany, having launched special flights from Luton to Dortmund, Frankfurt and Cologne ahead of England’s three group stage matches.
The shares were steady today at 2400p. They’re up 8% so far this year.
LondonMetric bets on warehouses after "transformational" year
Tuesday 4 June 2024 08:47 , Daniel O'Boyle
Property giant LondonMetric says its focus on warehouses will increase “materially” as it bets on ecommerce continuing to boom.
The landlord had a “transformational” 2023-24, as its portfolio size doubled to £6 billion thanks to major acquisitions. Net rental income for the year to 31 March grew to £177.1 million.
Boss Andrew Jones said the business was planning to focus more on warehouses, as it sees a renewed boom in demand for ecommerce after a slight slowdown in 2023.
He said: “Logistics remains our strongest conviction call for accelerated rental growth, particularly urban logistics, and this weighting is expected to increase materially as we reinvest proceeds from non core and ex-growth asset sales, with approximately £180 million already sold or under offer since year end.”
He added: “After many years of strong market rental growth, further growth in logistics rents is expected with rents predicted to grow by between 2% to 3% per annum over the next four years. We continue to believe that urban logistics remains the most attractive sub sector of logistics and has the greatest demand/supply tension and rental growth potential. Occupier demand is highly granular and is benefiting from an ongoing need for occupiers to evolve operationally by locating closer to the end customer, minimise delivery times, increase accuracy of delivery and satisfy consumer demands for instant gratification.”
Stocks lower as Ocado slips
Tuesday 4 June 2024 08:23 , Simon Hunt
A few minutes into the day’s trading session in London, the FTSE 100 is down, led by a 2.6% fall in Ocado shares.
Here’s a look at your key market data:
Oil giants lead FTSE 100 lower, Tritax Eurobox rallies on bid interest
Tuesday 4 June 2024 08:23 , Graeme Evans
Falls of 2% for BP and Shell shares have contributed to a weak session for the FTSE 100 index, which is down 25.91 points at 8236.84.
Tobacco group BATS is also 13p cheaper at 2422p, having reiterated guidance for revenues growth in the low-single digits for the 2024 financial year.
In the FTSE 250, magazine publisher Future is up 29p to 1128p after Berenberg revealed an upgraded Buy recommendation alongside 1310p target price.
Defence firm Chemring fell 7.5p to 387p, even though half-year results revealed a record order book of just over £1 billion.
Tritax Eurobox leads the FTSE 250 with a rise of 5% or 2.7p to 62.6p after it emerged last night that Brookfield Asset Management is considering an offer for the owner of logistics assets in key European cities.
Standard Chartered stock lower after US court papers link it with $100 billion in terrorist financing
Tuesday 4 June 2024 08:22 , Michael Hunter
Shares in FTSE 100 bank Standard Chartered are falling this morning after allegations in US court papers that it was involved in transactions worth billions of dollars that helped finance terrorist groups.
The papers came to light overnight and include whistleblower allegations that the bank broke sanctions in place against Iran.
The allegations date from between 2008 and 2013 and cover transactions worth over $100 billion in total. Terrorist groups linked with them include Hamas, al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and the Taliban.
Standard Chartered – which is a major name in banking across African, Middle Eastern and Asian markets – has admitted breaking sanctions previously, in 2012 and 2019, and was fined over $1.7 billion in total.
It strongly denies the latest claims, and has never accepted any link with terrorist financing.
A statement from Standard Chartered today said:
“This filing is another attempt to use fabricated claims against the bank, following previous unsuccessful attempts. The false allegations underpinning it have been thoroughly discredited by the U.S. authorities who undertook a comprehensive investigation into the claims and said they were ‘meritless’ and did not show any violations of US sanctions.
“We are confident the courts will reject these claims, as they have already done repeatedly.”
Shares in the bank fell 10p this morning to 767p, a drop of 1.3%
Oil prices lowest since February, FTSE 100 seen lower
Tuesday 4 June 2024 07:16 , Graeme Evans
The price of Brent Crude today stood at its lowest level since February, having fallen by more than 4% in yesterday’s session.
US economic weakness and prospect that some OPEC+ members will unwind production cuts later in the year has left the benchmark at $77.83 a barrel.
The easing inflationary pressures have boosted hopes for near-term interest cuts, including in Europe ahead of this week’s meeting of ECB policymakers.
US markets had a mixed session yesterday, with Magnificent Seven and other growth-focused technology stocks the most in demand. The Nasdaq closed 0.6% higher whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%.
FTSE 100 futures are pointing to a fall of 17 points to 8245 after London’s top flight fell 12.63 points yesterday. In contrast, the FTSE 250 rose 0.8%.
Recap: Yesterday's top headlines
Tuesday 4 June 2024 06:53 , Simon Hunt
Good morning from the Standard City desk.
The richest man in history was probably John D Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil, later broken up into seven smaller companies, one of which is now Exxon Mobil.
Rockefeller might have been less fun than today’s tycoons. Certainly by the end he was bored, and heard to say: “Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? It’s to see my dividends coming in.”
Rockefeller bought shares that paid dividends and sold the losers to offset capital gains tax. It worked.
That plan, enacted in the UK lately, might even have made Rockefeller break a smile.
In the three months to March, London listed shares paid out £12 billion in hard cash to investors, the best for several years, and not bad for a period when the stock market itself was in the doldrums.
Elsewhere in Europe, dividend payments fell.
The flip side of big companies being cautious is that they have had cash they have rightly returned to investors in the form of higher divis and share buy backs.
You don’t have to be an investor solely looking for income to find, as Rockefeller did, something awfully reassuring about the clunk of cash from shares into your bank account.
Now the market for flotations seems to be improving, finally, perhaps we can stop worrying about London’s status as a global financial centre.
Even when the stock market was gloomy, most of the rest of the City functioned fine, and the dividend payouts were a symbol of the inherent sturdiness of most of our big firms.
As someone once said about America, there is nothing much wrong with the City that can’t be fixed by what is right with it.
~
Here’s a summary of our top headlines from yesterday:
London float hopes: Online fast fashion firm Shein is planning to file paperwork for a potential London share listing as soon as this week, according to reports. An initial public offering (IPO) could value the company at around $66bn (£51.7bn).
Hollywood Bowl ups dividend after revenue and profits growth after setting up shop in Canada, making it one of the few London-listed firms to have pulled off a successful North American expansion.
Blackstone increases offer for Hipgnosis Songs Fund from $1.57bn to $1.58bn after incurring lower-than-expected adviser fees
Brits doubt the AI hype, new poll for Standard shows. A third of the general UK population (33%) still fail to see the impact of AI in daily life, while 56% do not trust AI to control a vehicle, and two-fifths (41%) doubt AI’s competency in diagnosing health ailments.
Cancer case: GSK to appeal against a US court decision to allow over 70,000 lawsuits over its Zantac heartburn pills to go forward. Pharma company repeats its claim the “scientific consensus” is that the drug does not cause cancer
