- FTSE 100 advances 63 points to 8,732
- ConvaTec tops leaderboard as outlook maintained
- BP (LON:BP) confirms lower renewables investment in strategic reset
- Nvidia earnings the big focus later
4.05pm: Solid day for the FTSE
The FTSE 100 is heading toward a solid gain for Wednesday, currently up over 0.7% at 8,732.
This is not as much as some of the advances made in Europe, where Germany’s DAX and Spain’s IBEX are the top risers, up 1.6% and 1.5%, respectively.
Top risers on the blue-chip index were almost all financials, with lenders Lloyds, Barclays (LON:BARC) and Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) bookended by insurers Hiscox (LON:HSX) and Beazley (LON:BEZG).
Fallers were led by generic drugmaker Hikma, hit by profit taking, followed by housebuilders and defence stocks.
3.14pm: Apple investors support DEI programme
It looks like Apple Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AAPL, ETR:APC) shares are down as investors rejected a proposal to dismantle its diversity and inclusion (DEI) programme at the company’s annual shareholder meeting last night.
The request, submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research, argued that diversity programs could lead to discrimination and compliance risks.
Despite rejecting the measure, CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that shifting legal policies might require adjustments in the future.
2.56pm: US stocks open higher
As expected, the tech-powered Nasdaq has led an early rebound on Wall Street on Wednesday, rising 0.9%.
The broader S&P 500 has climbed 0.6% so far and the Dow Jones 0.25%.
A 3%-plus gain for Nvidia was powering a large part of the rise, along with other chipmakers, offset Apple slipping 1.6% and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) also sitting slightly in the red.
Shares in Super Micro Computer - a popular AI play and Nvidia’s third-largest customer - surged 21% after the server maker filed much delayed annual and September-quarter accounts last night.
2.30pm: Bitcoin falls to three-month low
Bitcoin has fallen sharply again, dropping to below $86K for the first time since mid-November.
Sentiment in the crypto market is "on the floor at this moment in time", says Simon Peters, crypto analyst at eToro.
He points to the ’crypto fear and greed index’, which has dropped from a level of 55 (Neutral) to 21 (Extreme Fear) in less than a week.
"Bitcoin had been holding up relatively well until the $92,000 level – which had been holding as support since November 2024 – was broken. I suspect this caused a cascade of liquidations of positions to occur, adding further downside pressure on the price.
Going by previous bull and bear markets, he says the price could still drop further from here.
2.02pm: Lloyds lifted by broker tips
Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LON:LLOY) is enjoying business fundamentals that are "too good to ignore" at the moment, analysts at Barclays reckon.
This is one of two positive notes on the UK’s largest lender, which has helped lift the shares to near the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard today.
Barclays analysts forecast that, by 2027, Lloyds could reward investors with buybacks and dividends worth almost half its current market cap.
Lloyds’s share price target was hiked to 90p, suggesting implies upside of more than 30% from Tuesday’s close.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn) also raised its price target from 80p to 88p, also maintaining its ’buy’ recommendation.
It cited strong revenue growth, book value expansion, and robust capital returns as key drivers of its optimism, with analysts also expecting Lloyds to step up its share buybacks significantly.
Another riser helping lift the FTSE is AstraZeneca (LON:AZN), the biggest company on the index, which has seen £2 billion added to its market value after reporting positive results from a breast cancer drug trial.
1.45pm: US stocks set to rebound
US stocks are expected to bounce back when they open in just over three quarters of an hour, after a mixed session yesterday.
Futures for the S&P 500 are up 0.5% ahead of the opening bell, with the tech-powered Nasdaq seen up 0.75% and Dow Jones futures up 0.2%.
This follows a day that capped the biggest four-day reverse in the S&P since last September, Deutsche Bank noted, almost entirely due to the Magnificent 7 falling back into technical correction territory, having shed more than 10% from their December peak to heighten the focus on Nvidia’s earnings after the US close tonight.
By contrast, DB analysts highlighted that most of the S&P 500’s constituents actually put in a steady performance, with the equal-weighted S&P index eking out a second consecutive gain.
1.33pm: BP timing is wrong
BP’s new strategy to focus more on oil and gas, reallocating capital from renewables, is aimed at driving shareholder returns in the long term but "this means reduced shareholder returns in the short term, which has triggered a small sell off in the stock price", says market analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB.
"Although there were no new job cuts announced, the plan includes cutting costs by $4-5 billion, which is likely to include job losses in the future," she says, with any cuts likely hit energy transition teams.
The problem for BP, she says, is that "it flip flopped away from net zero and back to oil and gas too late" and the timing of the reset "could not come at a worse time, when the price of oil is falling".
Brooks says CEO Murray Auchincloss’s speech will not be the key event but rather that will be what the judgement is from activist investor Elliott Management.
Elliott’s time scale is what "really matters" for BP, and whether the investor will give the company time to see if its reset will work.
1.05pm: Climate change committee says cutting carbon good for economy
BP’s statement about changing its investment priorities comes on the same day that the UK Climate Change Committee has urged the government to commit to an 87% cut on greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
It says this should be largely done by replacing gas heating and petrol cars with electric alternatives.
If this is done, annual household energy bills are predicted to be cheaper than today and energy security will increae, the committee said, with energy price shocks having been responsible for over half of economic recessions since the 1970s.
"If the country decarbonises against our balanced pathway and there was a spike in gas prices like the one following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, average household energy bills in 2040 would be 15 times less sensitive."
Rather than focusing on the power sector, committee chair Professor Piers Forster, said action was now needed in transport, buildings, industry, and farming.
"This will create opportunities in the economy, tackle climate change, and bring down household bills."
"Our analysis shows that there is no need to pitch action on climate change against the economy," he adds, with the new carbon budget offering "a secure, prosperous future for the UK".
12.10pm: European markets surging
Just after midday, European markets are flying, with the FTSE 100 lagging but still up 0.6%.
The London index was led by ConvaTec, insurers Hiscox, Beazley and Aviva (LON:AV), miners Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) and Glencore (LON:GLEN), and banks like Lloyds.
Gilt yields were on the way down, while those for US Treasuries were inching higher.
The DAX index is up 1.6% in Frankfurt and the Paris, Madrid and Milan benchmarks are all up more than 1%.
11.11am: BP reset ’shocking but not surprising’
Two views on BP from analysts at Morningstar ahead of the energy supermajor’s strategy update, where a ’reset’ of its investment priorities was confirmed earlier, generating protests from sustainability and climate groups.
"BP’s decision to reduce capital expenditure on renewables and double down on its fossil fuel assets will be shocking but not surprising to investors focused on sustainability," says Lindsey Stewart, director of stewardship research and policy at Morningstar Sustainalytics.
"Having already cut back its energy transition targets in 2023, BP’s subsequent underperformance compared with peers has created pressure for BP management to focus on sustainability of a financial rather than ecological nature.
"For sustainable investors, this will hardly be the end of the argument. Several of BP’s shareholders decided to vote against the company’s chair the last time BP reduced its commitment to energy transition, after not being offered the opportunity to vote on the company’s adjusted strategy.
"That’s a possibility again this year, unless the BP decides to table a ’say-on-climate’ vote at its upcoming AGM as 48 investors have already requested."
Allen Good, Morningstar’s director of equity research, says the refocus on its core oil and gas is "positive for BP" as is BP’s plan to lower overall spending, driven by lower spending on renewables.
"Along with the asset divestitures it should improve the balance sheet and returns. However, there still is little, if any, production growth, and BP’s repurchase rate has been reduced materially."
10.37am: European stocks in the lead
The 0.6% gain for the FTSE is being put in the shade by gains in continental Europe this morning, with Germany’s DAX surging 1.3% and France’s CAC rising 1.05%.
Consumer confidence data from GfK earlier showed a continued decline in Germany, with the index dropping to -24.7 in February from a downwardly-revised -22.6 in January, both below consensus forecasts.
Following US-led jitters yesterday from a weaker consumer sentiment survey, Europe "continues to provide a relative haven for traders, with the prospect of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war bringing with it significant potential benefits for sentiment in the region", says market analyst Josh Mahony at Scope Markets.
"While Donald Trump’s somewhat cold approach to Europe may provide a warning sign to some, the comments from Friedrich Merz over the need for greater independence from the US does highlight the prospect of a more expansive and self-sufficient Europe."
US markets are expected to rebound an early trade later, after the US budget blueprint was passed by House Republicans which will contain a raft of tax cuts.
But Mahony says fears over a rise in US inflation have led to sharp declines in US government bond yields, adding that "the benefit of any near-term weakness appears to be that we could see greater monetary easing from the Federal Reserve with markets now pricing roughly 55-basis points worth of easing this year."
10.05am: BP confirms new investment plans
BP PLC (LSE:NYSE:BP.) has confirmed its "reset" strategy involves ramping up oil and gas investment to $10 billion a year and a $5 billion-a-year reduction in renewables other areas of energy transition.
Lots of words that mean it is rowing back on its former green ambitions, with chief executive Murray Auchincloss promising "very selective" investment will be made in biogas, biofuels and EV charging, along with "capital-light partnerships" in renewables and "focused" investment in hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS).
Overall, investment in these energy transition businesses will be reduced by more than $5 billion a year from previous guidance to around $1.5-2 billion per annum.
Overall, this will mean annual capital expenditure is cut to $13-15 billion out to 2027, with higher structural cost reduction targets of $4-5 billion and $20 billion of divestments by the end of that year, including from offloading its share of Lightsource BP and a strategic review of Castrol.
Auchincloss said: "Today we have fundamentally reset BP’s strategy. "We are reducing and reallocating capital expenditure to our highest-returning businesses to drive growth, and relentlessly pursuing performance improvements and cost efficiency. This is all in service of sustainably growing cash flow and returns."
9.48am: Ukraine in focus
Hopes of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine are perhaps influencing financial markets today, suggests Kathleen brooks, research director at XTB, with movements in oil also likely to be affected.
"So far this week, European and Chinese shares are outperforming their US counterparts," Brooks notes.
"News that Ukraine has agreed to a deal that will give the US access to Ukrainian minerals is also boosting sentiment across Europe.
"Although this is not a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, the fact that President Zelensky is going to Washington on Friday is being noted by financial markets.
"This is seen as a step towards the peace process, and it could also be a step towards Russian oil returning for sale on the global commodity markets."
WTI oil dropped below $70 per barrel on Tuesday and Brent crude is also trading just above $73 per barrel.
"The downward pressure on the oil price, which has seen WTI and Brent fall 4.3% and 3.75% in the past five days, is a sign that the market thinks the war in Ukraine will be over soon.
"If that changes, then we could see the oil price stage a recovery."
9.21am: FTSE 100 and 250 both on the charge
Shares are mostly going great guns on Wednesday morning, with the FTSE 100 and 250 both in good form.
The blue-chip index is up 60 points or 0.7%, while the mid-cap index has gained 213 points or over 1% to 20,661.
ConvaTec continues to top the Footsie, followed by miners Antofagasta, Glencore and Anglo American (LON:AAL), along with banks Lloyds and Barclays.
Topping the FTSE 250 is Pets at Home Group PLC (LON:PETSP) (LSE:PETS) - though I can’t see why yet.
Bottom of the blue-chip fallers is Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LON:HIK) PLC, down fell 5% as investors took profits despite the generic drugmaker reporting strong results and an upbeat outlook for 2025.
It’s the BP PLC (LSE:BP.) capital markets day today, with a reversal in the group’s strategy expected as the Financial Times reported yesterday that CEO Murray Auchincloss is preparing to abandon oil and gas production cuts at the investor day.
The move follows pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management, which has built a 5% stake in BP.
Auchincloss, CEO for 13 months, has promised a "fundamental reset" but reportedly faces scepticism from investors and BP’s board, according to the FT.
There seems to be a couple of vans driving about from campaigners protesting against greenwashing by the oil giant
In a statement sent to us from Global Witness, campaigner Alexander Kirk says: "A few years ago BP undertook a massive public relations campaign to tell the world it was going green, highlighting its renewable energy investments.
"Now, while the world is reeling from fossil-fuel driven extreme weather, BP is widely expected to double down on the oil and gas creating climate breakdown.
"So why the U-turn? BP appears to be focusing on short-term profits to shareholders while energy prices are high, with the rest of the world picking up the tab from its climate-wrecking products. This is a company that cannot be trusted to deliver the clean energy transition. Fossil fuel companies like BP must be forced to pay for the climate damages they cause.”
8.41am: Copper-bottomed boost for London index
Stocks, government bonds and other assets have steadied this morning, market analysts say, as investors looked to move beyond disappointing US economic data that rattled financial markets yesterday.
The FTSE is being driven largely by miners and banks.
A 4% surge in copper prices is helping lift the former, as the metal is caught in Donald Trump’s sights, says market analyst Susannah Streeter at Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HRGV).
"The threat of more potential tariffs from Trump is moving markets as investors assess the knock-on effect on goods across the global economy."
The US President re-committed to introducing 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico but he’s been scouting for other targets, with copper prices shooting up as Trump ordered an investigation into extra duties on imports.
"The plan would be to spark higher US production and put a dent in China’s huge share of the global market. Copper is sought after as a key component in renewable energy systems, for wind, solar power and electric vehicles for example, and prices have been steadily rising this year, after dipping back at the end of 2024. This surge is in expectation that orders will pile up with US manufacturers expected to build up stocks ahead of any tariffs being brought in.
"However, it could be just a short-term boost; if tariffs lead, as expected, to increased consumer prices and higher-for-longer interest rates, there is likely to be a knock-on effect on growth and orders across a range of industries, which could lead to lower metal demand for metals and a drop in prices."
Oil is also being affected, with Brent Crude trading below $74 a barrel for the first time in two months, comes as traders assess trickier times ahead for the world’s largest economy, with the expectation that there will be lower demand for energy as a result.
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies have levelled off after the sharp falls yesterday as the ‘Trump bump’ reverses back to levels not seen since November. Bitcoin fell to $85.6K overnight but was back at $88.4K lately.
8.12am: FTSE charges higher at the open
The FTSE 100 has started on the front foot, striding 54 points or 0.6% higher to 8,722.3.
Leading the way is ConvaTec Group PLC (LSE:LON:CTEC), up 5.8% on the back of final results.
Miners are among the big risers, with Antofagasta up 3.3%, Glencore 2.6% and Anglo American 2.1% higher, as well as all the big banks.
8am: Hammerson loss up, debt down
Hammerson PLC (LSE:LON:HMSO), owner of London’s Brent Cross and Bristol’s Cabot Circus shopping centres, has reported a tenfold increase in its IFRS losses of £526 million for 2024 but a stronger balance sheet.
This reflected a £497 million impairment of its ’value retail’ portfolio before its €705 million sale (£595 million) sale in September.
Hammerson said it now has "one of the strongest balance sheets in the sector", with net debt down 40% at £799 million versus a closing portfolio value of £2.7 billion.
7.52am: HSBC cuts investment banking jobs
More job cuts at HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:LON:HSBA), this time at its investment bank, according to reports from the Financial News website.
As certain investment banking functions are no longer seen as a priority, the bank is axing "hundreds" of jobs in London and other European financial centres as part of chief executive Georges Elhedery’s streamlining plans.
London dealmakers have recently been told about the redundancies, sources said.
7.32am: Aston Martin (LON:AML) with another jam tomorrow report?
Aston Martin Lagonda Global has reported a mixed set of final results, where a stronger second half saw it generate a rarely seen positive cash flow in the final quarter, but still report an overall loss and a larger debt pile.
For the whole year, wholesale volumes fell 9% to 6,030, impacted by supply chain disruptions and weaker demand in China, however volumes rose 8% in the fourth quarter, reflecting deliveries of a new core product range.
Full-year revenue declined 3% to £1.58 billion, adjusted EBITDA dropped 11% and the company reported an operating loss of £100 million compared to a £111 million loss the year before.
Net debt mushroomed to £1.16 billion from £814 million the previous year.
New chief executive Adrian Hallmark, who took over as CEO in September, said 2025 is expected to see "materially improved financial performance".
7.16am: FTSE 100 set to surge
The FTSE 100 has been tipped to enjoy a strong start on Wednesday, as gilt yields retreat.
Futures for the London benchmark were pointing to a 57-point gain, after the index added just over nine points the previous day to close at 8,668.7.
Overnight, US stock markets were mixed, but the S&P 500 was down 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.35%, while the Dow Jones rose 0.4%.
In Asian markets this morning, the Hang Seng has soared 3.6% and the Shanghai Composite 1%, though the Nikkei is down 0.25%.
Oil prices seem to have found a floor after reaching almost a two-month low, with Brent crude falling below $73 overnight, its lowest since December, but climbing back to $73.2 so far this morning.
5am: What to watch out for on Wednesday
Among those London-listed companies reporting, Aston Martin’s (LSE:AML) guidance might be in the headlights as analysts had warned it looked too ambitious... read more
The main earnings event is Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:NVDA, ETR:NVD), after the closing bell so more of an impact is likely the following day, when the $3 trillion company be in line for yet another strong quarter... read more
Announcements due:
Trading updates: Seeing Machines Ltd
Interims: Avingtrans PLC
Finals: Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC, ConvaTec Group PLC, Hammerson PLC, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Morgan Sindall Group PLC, Rathbones Group PLC, Riverstone (LON:RSER) Credit Opportunities Income PLC
US earnings: Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA), NVIDIA Corp, Salesforce, Snowflake, Synopsys (NASDAQ:SNPS), Teladoc Health
AGMs: Abrdn Diversified Income & Growth Trust, Chemring (LON:CHG) Group PLC, Diales PLC, Image Scan Holdings PLC
Economic announcements: New Home Sales (US), Crude Oil Stocks (US)