Stock markets in Europe are higher this morning even though the US-China trade story hasn’t changed. Yesterday we heard that Beijing were pessimistic about the possibility of signing phase one the trade deal, and the story hasn’t moved along. Traders are buying back into the market despite the lack of progress on the trade front.
The issue has dominated the headlines in recent weeks and is likely to stay at the forefront of dealers’ minds until mid-December – when the US are due to slap on new tariffs. The rally this morning underlines traders’ expectations of a deal being achieved.
EasyJet (LON:EZJ) revealed a 26% fall in full-year pre-tax profit to £427 million, but keep in mind the group’s guidance was between £420 and £430 million. The travel sector is finding trading tough as consumers are curtailing spending, hence why the firm saw profit fall. Capacity and revenue increased by 10.3% and 8.3% respectively. Forward bookings for the year are reassuring. The group will relaunch its holiday package business in a bid to snap up a segment of the market that Thomas Cook previously held. The move is likely to have limited long-term growth opportunities seeing as package holidays are not as popular as they once were – a contributing factor in Thomas Cook’s demise.
Halma's (LON:HLMA) share price hit a record-high this morning on the back of the solid first-half results. Revenue increased by 12% to £653.7 million, while statutory pre-tax profit rose by 11.9%. The interim dividend was lifted by 7%. The outlook is positive as it should make further progress in the second-half. The company is clearly firing on all cylinders as it saw revenue increase across all major regions.
Polypipe (LON:PLP) issued a largely positive update, but the group cautioned on profit so the stock is in the red. In the 10 months until late October, group revenue increased by 4.3%. Operating margins in the time period were 30 basis points higher. The firm cited political uncertainty in addition to adverse weather conditions for the mildly cautious outlook, hence why the company said that full-year profit will be slightly below the previous forecast.
Home Depot (NYSE:HD) will announce their third-quarter figures before the market open today. The Fed cut interest rates three times since June, but it will take some time for the more recent rate cuts to trickle down to the economy. The cuts are likely to assist the housing market, and in turn it should help Home Depot . Last year, the group registered record sales of $108.2 billion. In the latest quarterly update, the group cautioned that this quarter would be difficult, so it lowered the same-store sales guidance to 4% from 5%. EPS is tipped to be $2.52.
We are expecting the Dow Jones to open 114 points higher at 28,150 and we are calling the S&P 500 up 10 points at 3,132.
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