Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 Live: Halifax house prices down 2.4% from 2022, LSL Property warning, shares lower
The property market is in focus after another decline in the average house price and a profit warning by LSL Property Services.
The FTSE 100 index has started the week on the back foot, with US interest rate uncertainty keeping investors on the sidelines.
On the corporate front, FTSE 250-listed recruitment firm Page and shipping broker Clarkson have reported half-year results.
FTSE 100 Live Monday
House prices down 0.3% in July - Halifax
LSL Property Services hit by mortgage turmoil
Recruitment firm Page cuts headcount
Closing market snapshot
17:02 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at our end-of-day key market data
FTSE 100 closes slightly lower
16:40 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 closed down slightly today, at 7,554.49, erasing most of its early losses in a strong afternoon session.
The index of London blue-chips was down by aalmost 60 points in the late morning, but rallied to finish just 9.9 points below where it started the day.
Melrose Industries and Rolls-Royce were the biggest risers, while the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust was the biggest faller.
US market snapshot as Wall Street bounces back
15:07 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at our US market snapshot with stocks on Wall Street higher this morning.
Wall Street set to bounce back from Friday sell-off
14:24 , Daniel O'Boyle
US stocks are set to rebound this morning, according to futures markets, after a sell-off on Friday following June’s jobs report.
Dow Jones futures are up 0.3% to 35,272, while S&P 500 futures are up 0.4% to 4,517.25. Nasdaq futures are up 0.6% to 15,442.5 as investors are more confident no more rate hikes are on the way.
Big gainers include Tesla rival Nikola.
Cost of living crisis may already be ending as wages catch inflation, economists say
14:19 , Daniel O'Boyle
The cost of living crisis may already be ending, economists including those at the Bank of England have said, as wage growth catches up with inflation.
Ashley Webb, UK economist at Capital Economics, says he believes that wages started rising faster than prices last month.
The Bank of England shares a similar view. Last week, the Bank’s deputy governor Ben Broadbent said that he believed wages were already rising faster than inflation.
Bentley Boy racing driver’s Mayfair apartment sold for £16.1 million
13:35 , Daniel O'Boyle
A five bedroom apartment on Grosvenor Square once the home of a glamorous playboy racing driver has been sold for £16.1 million in the biggest deal of its kind in the area for two years.
The lateral residence at 49-50 Grposvenor Square overlooking the Connaught Hotel spans the entire depth of an Edwardian complex built in the 1920s that became known as Bentley Corner.
It was the London pad of driver and pilot Bernard Rubin, the wealthy son of an Australian pearl trader. The block also housed three other gentlemen drivers Glen Kidston, Tim Berkin and Woolf Barnato - collectively known as the Bentley Boys - who would park their green sportscars outside after a day’s racing.
HSBC executive apologises for saying Britain ‘weak’ for bowing to US demands
12:41 , Daniel O'Boyle
A senior executive at banking giant HSBC has apologised for comments suggesting that Britain would be “weak” for siding with the US and cutting back business dealings with China.
Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles made the comments during a private meeting but issued an apology after they appeared in a report in Bloomberg News.
The head of public affairs at the bank reportedly told the attendees that Britain often complied with the US’s demands, and should stand by its own interests rather than blindly following calls from Washington, according to the newswire which cited people familiar with the matter.
City Comment: Are restaurants finally showing signs of recovery?
12:16 , Jonathan Prynn
Is the worst of the crisis that has threatened the existence of so much of the restaurant sector since the start of the pandemic finally over?
New figures on profitability today suggest that may be the case.
Analysis from accountant Hacker Young shows the UK’s top 100 restaurant groups made a combined profit of £241.8 million in the six months to March, a 12-fold increase on the £19.9 million surplus it collectively scraped together in the previous half year — and years of draining losses before that. It is still far from boom times.
Retailers fear tourist tax will hurt UK Christmas trade
11:27 , Joanna Hodgson
A host of London retailers, from fashion brands to Savile Row suit makers and jewellery firms, have sounded the alarm over concerns the tourist tax could hurt their all-important Christmas trading.
They warn that the crucial festive season could be “negatively impacted” due to the loss of VAT-free shopping for foreign visitors.
It comes a week after an analysis from the Centre for Economics and Business Research concluded the tourist tax is costing the UK £10.7 billion in lost GDP and two million extra foreign visitors a year spending across the economy.
Market snapshot as FTSE 100 falls further
10:39 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at our key market data as the FTSE 100 slips further towards the 7500 mark, with Unite Group and Flutter Entertainment among the biggest fallers.
FTSE 100 under pressure, Card Factory surges 15%
10:23 , Graeme Evans
Card Factory jumped 15% or 13.2p to 102p in the FTSE All-Share after it revealed trading “materially” ahead of expectations.
The latest upgrade to City guidance means shares have now more than doubled since last October as the Wakefield-based firm’s 1,000-plus store portfolio continues to weather tougher trading conditions.
Card Factory’s edge in the £1.4 billion UK greetings card market comes as it takes advantage of an operating model that sees it design and make the majority of its own products, including from a facility in Baildon, Yorkshire.
The strong performance also helped online rival Moonpig add 3.5p to 184.1p.
The wider stock market mood wasn't helped by Friday’s sell-off on Wall Street after resilient jobs figures suggested the Federal Reserve may not be done in its battle with rising prices.
The FTSE 100 index shed another 37.89 points to 7526.48, with BT Group and the miners Anglo American and Glencore among the stocks down by more than 1%.
Advertising and marketing services group WPP also lost another 4p to 814p after falling heavily on Friday following its warning about a slowdown in tech client spending.
In contrast, the demand for shares in BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce is showing no signs of tailing off after their strong performances last week.
The defence products giant edged closer to a new record by adding 3p to 1012p, while the Derby-based engines maker topped the FTSE 100 with a gain of 3.4p to 209.9p.
The FTSE 250 index fell 35.69 points to 18,898.93, led by a decline of 6.5p to 253.5p for Morgan Advanced Materials in the wake of Friday’s results.
London leavers at record high as homebuyers are priced out of the capital by mortgage chaos
10:20 , Daniel O'Boyle
High mortgage rates are pushing Londoners —particularly first-time buyers— out of the capital, as buyers look to reduce their borrowing costs by choosing more affordable properties.
New data from Hamptons shows that Londoners bought 32,600 homes outside the M25 so far this year, which represents 7.7 per cent of all property sales outside the capital.
First-time buyers make up a record 30 per cent of those leaving London this year, spending an average of £429,800 on their properties. This is £96,590 less than they would have spent on a home in London, on average.
Profit warning at Christie Group amid slowdown in deals
09:39 , Simon Hunt
Business brokerage company Christie Group today sounded the alarm on its profits as it bemoaned weak market sentiment and a slowdown in corporate transactions.
The 177-year-old firm, which arranges the buying and selling of small and medium-sized companies, said its performance would be “materially below previous expectations” as business owners dithered on signing off deals amid wider uncertainty.
“Deal delays, which have now been a prevailing factor throughout the first half, are unfortunately anticipated to last at least until the end of the summer period,” Christie said.
The slowdown in transactions brokered “reflects lower activity levels and sentiment in the wider market,” it added.
Christie Group shares tanked 18.6% to 120p.
The profit warning follows the shock departure of the firm’s joint chairman and chief executive, David Rugg last month as a non-executive director stepped in as interim chair while a permanent replacement was found. Christie said it was braced to face additional costs associated with Rugg’s departure. He was paid a salary of £477,000 last year.
It comes after insolvency levels in England and Wales soared further in the second quarter of the year, reaching the highest level since 2009.
In total, 6,342 companies were declared insolvent. That was up 9% from Q1, which was also much higher than normal.
Most insolvencies were creditors’ voluntary liquidations, but the biggest jump was in compulsory liquidations.
PageGroup slashes hundreds of jobs as it warns on market uncertainty
09:09 , Simon Hunt
PageGroup today warned of ‘uncertain’ and ‘challenging’ conditions as the recruitment firm said it had slashed more than 550 jobs.
The Weybridge-based business, which operates in 37 different countries, said: “The challenging conditions we saw towards the end of 2022 continued…with lower levels of both candidate and client confidence resulting in delays in decision making and candidates being more reluctant to accept offers.”
Headcount at the firm was cut by 5% compared to the end of last year, after 558 employees were let go “reflecting the uncertain macro-economic conditions”.
The company said market uncertainty had led to a switch in demand from permanent to temporary recruitment, as employers pushed pause on headcount expansion plans in favour of hiring contractors to plug gaps in the workforce.
Pre-tax profits slumped 45% to £63.3 million for the first six months of the year, while revenues grew slightly to just over £1 billion.
Around 100 of the job cuts took place in the UK, where headcount fell 6.9%, after revenues slid 3.2% and operating profits sunk 62.9% to £5.7 million. PageGroup’s performance in the Americas region was more robust, with turnover up by 10%, but profitability remained downbeat.
PageGroup shares fell 1.2% to 447p.
It follows a similar warning last week from recruiting agency Robert Walters, which said “candidate and client confidence has been muted throughout the first half of 2023” after it reported a 70% drop in pre-tax profits.
FTSE 100 lower, LSL Property shares fall 15%
08:37 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index has fallen 24.53 points to 7539.84, with BT Group and Anglo American among the blue-chip stocks down by 1%.
Advertising and marketing services group WPP also lost another 10p to 808p on top of Friday’s big fall, when the company warned about a slowdown in tech client spending.
Demand for shares in BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce continued into the new week after they rose 7p to 1016p and 0.6p to 207.1p respectively.
The FTSE 250 index lost 40.64 points to 18,893.98, led by a decline of 29p to 751p for the electronic components manufacturing business discoverIE.
In the FTSE All-Share, LSL Property Services fell 15% or 42p to 240p after its profit warning but Card Factory jumped 17% or 15.2p to 104p thanks to upgraded guidance.
Record sales and profits for AllSaints
08:00 , Daniel O'Boyle
Fashion brand AllSaints achieved record sales and profits in the year to 28 January, thanks in part to a new online sales platform.
Revenue was up 36% to £457 million, including £66.1 million from the recently acquired menswear brand John Varvatos. Profit rose by 50%, to £58.6 million.
“This has been a record year for AllSaints, and these results are a huge credit to the passion, creativity and hard work of our fantastic team around the world,” CEO peter Wood said. “The performance has been driven by our intense focus on product development, ecommerce excellence, growing our global store network, and rigorous inventory management.
“AllSaints continues to go from strength to strength, with 25% growth in FY23 and entry into mainland China for the first time being just two of a long list of recent milestones for the brand.
“During its first full year with us, we’ve also been pleased with the performance of John Varvatos, which has returned to growth and is showing huge potential in the alternative luxury menswear market. Given the strong momentum across both brands, and our proven resilience in even the most challenging consumer environments, we remain hugely confident in the Group’s future prospects.”
Mortgage market turmoil hits LSL profits
07:59 , Graeme Evans
LSL Property Services, the surveying and valuation business, today warned that annual profits will be substantially lower than previously expected.
It flagged the “material impact” of June’s 0.5% hike in the Bank of England base rate, which has resulted in lower levels of purchase and remortgaging activity than LSL had previously forecast. This is only partly offset by increased lower margin product transfers.
The big shift in the mortgage market will significantly impact the company’s Surveying division, with LSL’s financial services arm also affected.
Chief executive David Stewart said: "LSL made a lot of progress over the past six months, delivering important strategic projects. Market conditions have been challenging, and more recently have become more difficult, impacting this year's financial performance.”
Ship broker Clarkson says demand for oil tankers offsets ‘easing’ container markets
07:45 , Michael Hunter
Demand for oil tankers and other vessels used to transport energy products has helped offset easing markets for container and dry bulk transport at London-based shipbroker Clarkson.
The St Katharine’s dock based firm said it was “now starting to see the softening of rates in some sectors, much of which was anticipated post-Covid 19”.
It added:
“Energy-related markets have been the key performers as complexity, geo-politics and energy security remain the major trade themes, whilst softer conditions have become prevalent within both the container market, where rates have again normalised, and the dry bulk market, where headwinds have been felt from the unwinding of congestion and lower demand, particularly in the smaller ship sizes.”
The 171-year old firm reported underlying profit before tax of £53.1 million up over a quarter, from revenue of £321.1 million, up from £266.7 million for the half-year to June 30. It kept its record for 20 consecutive years of dividend growth, lifting its payout for the period by 1p to 30p.
FTSE 100 seen lower after US sell-off
07:13 , Graeme Evans
Friday’s late sell-off for Wall Street shares means European markets will start the week on the back foot, with CMC Markets expecting the FTSE 100 index 31 points lower at 7533.
The S&P 500 index and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down by around 0.5% after it emerged the US economy created fewer than expected jobs in July. One of the bright spots of the session came from Amazon, which rose 8% on the back of Thursday’s results.
Despite the drop in non-farm payrolls to 187,000, traders remain unsure about whether the Federal Reserve has room to pause interest rate rises at their meeting next month.
The uncertainty and the fallout from the Fitch rating downgrade for US debt contributed to the S&P 500 dropping by more than 2% last week after registering declines in the four past sessions.
Markets in Asia have reflected the Wall Street performance by trading in the red, with the Shanghai Composite down 0.8% and the Hang Seng Composite off 0.2%.
Halifax house prices down, but decline remains slow
07:09 , Daniel O'Boyle
House prices fell again in July, according to the country’s biggest mortgage lender Hallifax, but at a slower rate than in June as the housing market continues to be surprisingly resilient to the surge in interest rates.
The average price is down 0.3% month-on-month and down 2.4% year-on-year. But the year-on-year decline was slower than the 2.6% dip in June.
Kim Kinnaird, director of Halifax Mortgages, noted that nearly all the decline came in the wake of the mini-Budget last year, anbd prices over the last six months had been more or less steady.
“In reality, prices are little changed over the last six months, with the typical property now costing £285,044, compared to £285,660 in February,” Kinnaird said. “The pace of annual decline also slowed to -2.4% in July, versus -2.6% in June. These figures add to the sense of a housing market which continues to display a degree of resilience in the face of tough economic headwinds.
“In particular, we’re seeing activity amongst first-time buyers hold up relatively well, with indications some are now searching for smaller homes, to offset higher borrowing costs. Conversely the buy-to-let sector appears to be under some pressure, though elevated interest rates are just one factor impacting landlords’ business models, together with considerations of future rental market reforms. It remains to be seen how many may choose to exit and what that could mean for the supply of properties available to buy.”
That comes despite 14 consecutive interest rate hikes from the Bank of England, which raised its interest rates to 5.25% last week.
Recap: Friday’s top stories
06:46 , Simon Hunt
Good morning. Here’s a summary of our top stories from Friday:
WPP profits halved after hard pressed tech clients rein in spending
ULEZ outsourcing giant Capita fell £68 million into the red after giant cyber attack
Beleaguered property investment trust Home REIT sold portfolio of homes at a massive loss
This morning we’re expecting results from recruitment firm PageGroup, which should shed light on hiring trends in the Economy.
