The FTSE 100 is marginally lower on the day as the benchmark remains within striking distance of its all-time high. The pound is also looking to make gains with the currency holding above the 1.24 handle against the US dollar.
Barclays (LON:BARC) follows Lloyds (LON:LLOY) lead
British multinational bank Barclays has followed the lead set by Lloyds yesterday in posting an impressive set of results that have been warmly received by investors. After this earnings season for UK banks got off to a poor start with HSBC’s disappointing results on Tuesday, this morning’s announcement that Barclays almost trebled its profits last year has added more weight to the case for a resurgence in the banking sector and follows Lloyds’s positive release yesterday. Tomorrow sees RBS (LON:RBS) round off the period and whilst it is expected to report a ninth consecutive annual loss there is some expectation that it will beat the previous figures. Barclays stock has risen by a little less than 4% on the back of the news whilstLloydsis adding to Wednesday’s gains.
Intu surges higher whilst easyJet (LON:EZJ) losses altitude
The best performing stock on the leading UK index this morning is Intu Properties, with the shopping centre owner rising by more than 6% after announcing that underlying earnings had risen to £200m - a 7% rise on last year. RSA Insurance separates Intu Properties and Barclays at the top of the FTSE 100 after the firm reported a strong set of results with the highlight arguably being a 25% increase in operating profits to £655m. At the other end of the index is easyJet, with the budget carrier seeing a sharp decline of more than 5% this morning. A possible reason for this drop is the news that the Andrew Findlay, the Chief Financial Officer, announced that he sold a fairly substantial amount of shares last December.
Oil threatens to break out on inventory data
Brent crude, an international benchmark for the oil price, is edging higher today ahead of the weekly Department of Energy (DOE) inventory data release. Despite the previous two readings for this figure showing large builds of 13.8m and 9.5m the price of oil has remained not far from its highest level seen in over a year. Consensus expectations suggest a print in the region of +3-3.5m barrels but last night’s API number, a private equivalent that can be seen as a precursor, showed a surprise decline. The failure to see a sustained push lower in the face of clearly negative supply data could be symbolic of an underlying strength in the market and a drawdown in inventories at 4pm (GMT) could provide the catalyst for a break higher.