It seems the market’s chunky relief rally following the latest US/China trade developments – namely that the tariffs hikes from both sides are ‘on hold’ – was only good for one session.
Having rocketed to an all-time high on Monday, the FTSE slowed down as Tuesday got underway. The index dipped by 10 or so points, just about taking it back below 7860. The fact the pound mounted – an admittedly meagre – rebound after the bell likely helped prevent the FTSE from building on yesterday’s burst of momentum.
Against the dollar sterling rose 0.3%, and is trying to pop its head above $1.345, while against the euro it’s knocking on the door of €1.14.
The eurozone indices were similarly unmoved this Tuesday. The DAX managed to add around 0.2%, causing the German index to nudge towards 13100, with the CAC sat flat at 5590.
After riding uphill to an 11 month high of £3.90 as recent as yesterday, Halfords (LON:HFD) fell off its bike in quite dramatic fashion on Tuesday, plunging around 13% following its full year results. A 5% drop in underlying pre-tax profit to £71.6 million was the main takeaway, the decline due to a hefty £25 million in ‘additional cost of sales’ related to sterling’s weakened state against the dollar. This easily overshadowed a 2% jump in like-for-likes and a 3.7% increase in revenue to £1.1 billion, with investors frustrated that the firm is struggling to translate its healthy sales, and the UK’s penchant for cycling, into similarly strong earnings.
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