- FTSE 100 ends 4 points higher at 8,407
- Burberry (LON:BRBY) hit by Kering (LON:0IIH) woes
- Inchcape leads FTSE fallers with tariffs yet to hit
- Top news: Unilever (LON:ULVR), AJ Bell (LON:AJBA) and RELX
4.38pm: In the green - but only just
At the very last, the blue-chip index slithered out of red and into the green - but only just. The action was so torpid it was almost as if most of the Square Mile had decided to take a duvet day. The pull of Wall Street, with Dow up 350 points, was too much to resist.
4.00pm: FTSE flat as banks hold back broader rebound
The FTSE 100 is slightly underwater as it heads into the final half hour of trading on Thursday, though almost two-thirds of the index are in the green.
Heavyweight banks are the problem, with HSBC (LON:HSBA) down 2%, Barclays (LON:BARC) 1.8% lower, while Lloyds (LON:LLOY) and NatWest (LON:NWG) are both down more than 1%.
First-quarter updates are due from all those names next week, with falling interest rates, including a likely cut from the Bank of England next month, are likely to be on investors’ minds.
Speaking in Washington this week, BoE governor Andrew Bailey hinted this week that his monetary policy committee is likely to cut interest rates next month, with newspaper headlines this week suggesting the central bank may speed its pace of cuts due to the compact impact of global trade tensions.
Markets were already betting on a cut at the 8 May meeting.
Other fallers include L&G and Hiscox (LON:HSX), as their shares went ex-dividend, while Bunzl (LON:BNZL) dropped as investors continue to mull the effect of tariffs on the distributor.
Marks & Spencer Group fell after announcing a cyber attack earlier in the week, with the company confirming that click-and-collect orders remain suspended and online deliveries are still subject to delays.
The FTSE leaderboard is topped by engineer Weir Group (LON:WEIR) and wealth manager St James (LON:SJP)’s Place, both up on the back of trading updates.
Miners Anglo American (LON:AAL) PLC and Fresnillo PLC (LON:FRES), US-focused Ashtead (LON:AHT) and chemicals group Croda (LON:CRDA) International are next.
US and tech focused investment trusts are also climbing as US markets get into their stride, with the Nasdaq rising almost 2% and the S&P up over 1% now after a slow start.
3.37pm: Car exporter is biggest FTSE faller
Inchcape PLC (LSE:LON:INCH) is the biggest faller on the FTSE 350 today, sinking to the lowest in over four years after the car distributor reported a 5% fall in sales and warned of the potential effect from US tariffs.
The group, which exports cars for manufacturers (OEMs) across more than 40 countries, said: "Demand is not currently being impacted by the tariff situation, although we do expect to see potential impacts on supply from our OEMs, the competitive environment and market demand."
It said it is taking "a conservative approach" to managing inventory levels.
Revenue fell by 5% over the three months to March, with US tariffs on cars coming on 26 March, with a resilient performance from its Americas division but struggles in its Asia-Pacific and European markets.
Analysts at Panmure Liberum say comparatives with last year ease over the rest of the year, but still "leaves a lot to be done in the rest of a year in a macro environment that is unlikely to be helpful".
2.49pm: US stock indices mostly higher
US markets have opened mixed, with the Dow Jones down 0.1% but the S&P 500 up 0.5% and the Nasdaq climbing 0.9%. The small cap Russell 2000 is just above flat.
Hasbro is up 14% on its strong Q1 numbers.
PepsiCo (NASDAQ:PEP) is down 1.3% after it slashed its full-year profit outlook on higher expected supply chain costs stemming from tariffs, elevated macroeconomic volatility and a subdued consumer environment.
European markets all slipped since the US open, but have come off their worst.
2.13pm: US data seems solid
Some US data is in.
Durable goods orders saw equipment investment jump at the end of Q1.
Durable goods orders jumped 9.2% in March, well above the consensus, 2.0%. Orders excluding transportation were unchanged, while non-defense capital goods orders ex-aircraft rose by 0.1%, in line with the consensus.
Initial jobless claims were in line with forecasts, while continuing claims were lower than expected.
Initial claims rose to 222K in the week ending April 19, from 216K. Continuing claims dropped to 1,841K in the week ending April 12, from 1,878K, versus the consensus forecast of 1,869K.
Economist Oliver Allen at Pantheon Macroeconomics says the surge in headline orders "was almost entirely due to a 190% leap in the volatile aircraft orders component to its second-highest level on record, likely driven in part by worries about tariffs".
The main measures of underlying orders were "relatively weak" in March, with zero change in orders ex-transportation pointing to a small decline in real terms.
"Far weaker capital goods orders and equipment investment surely lie ahead, however, over the next few quarters," says Allen.
"The rush of pre-tariff activity probably now will unwind sharply, policy uncertainty is so intense that many new investment projects will be paused or shelved, and capital goods exports to China will nosedive.
"Leading indicators of capital goods orders have overstated the weakness in the hard data over the past few years, but most of these indicators had already plunged by March," he adds.
1.55pm: Another crypto firm invests in another football club
Cryptocurrency firm Tether has raised its stake in Italian football club Juventus to over 10%, it has revealed, saying the investment was "a commitment to innovation and long-term collaboration".
Tether Investments, an arm of the stablecoin operator, bought into the Turin-based club last month, with an initial 8.2% stake.
Today, it said snapped up additional shares in Juventus to lift its total shareholding to 10.12%, with 6.18% of voting rights.
12.40pm: Japan pushback hits mood
Stock markets were on the up for up until midday, but then something happened.
It seems to be reports that Japan intends to push back against any US effort to bring it into an economic bloc aligned against China.
Japan is taking this stance because of the importance of Tokyo’s trade ties with Beijing, according to current and former Japanese government officials cited in a Bloomberg report.
China’s central bank governor also met with the Bank of Japan governor yesterday, the PBoC said today, with Pan Gongsheng meeting Kazuo Ueda on the sidelines of the IMF meetings in Washington.
Earlier, a spokesman at China’s commerce ministry said Trump’s claim of ongoing US-China trade talks was "groundless and has no factual basis", after the US President told reporters a deal was week away and that Washington and Beijing were speaking "every day" on tariffs.
Japan will not take part in any trade bloc that seeks to isolate China, given the importance of China as a trading partner. https://t.co/AiTeT4OWOj pic.twitter.com/gB3YzT99Q5— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) April 24, 2025
12.07am: FTSE back to flat
The FTSE 100 and 250 are both back to pretty much flat now, with US futures similarly erasing earlier losses.
Gold miner Endeavour is top of the leaderboard, up 2.4%.
Next (LON:NXT) is St James’s Place, up over 2% as funds under management were roughly in line with consensus expectations, while gross and net flows were better than expected.
Weir Group is next, after saying it should be able to cope with US tariffs.
REITs, including Land Securities (LON:LAND) Group PLC, UNITE Group and Londonmetric Property, are also among risers.
Elsewhere in Europe, the DAX and CAC and other major benchmarks are all down around 0.2%-0.3%.
Across in the US, futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had broken into the green but have now dropped back into the red, down 0.1%, while Dow Jones futures are down 0.2%.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, says stock markets "are a bit lost", with European stocks and US futures lower but the "interesting dimension" to price action being that the Vix ’fear index’ is stable and well below the peak reached on 8 April.
"This is a sign that the aggressive sell off that we saw impact most risky assets is behind us. This does not mean that individual names are not volatile."
Although stocks are slightly weaker, government bond yields are lower on both sides of the Atlantic, Brooks says. "Thus, stocks seem to be bucking the trend on Thursday and are not benefitting from the positive tone in the bond market."
"The calmness in the bond market could help stocks to eke out a gain later on Thursday."
Brooks says US earnings season has been disappointing so far, with the percentage of companies reporting positive earnings surprises and the magnitude of earnings surprises below average for Q1, according to FactSet.
"For now, earnings reports are vying with White House statements about tariffs as the chief driver of markets right now.
"Although volatility is falling, it could be a bumpy few weeks for risk assets, as tariff concerns continue to bite and the weakness in the dollar persists."
11.37am: FCA aims to slash red tape
The City watchdog is proposing a 70% cut to red tape for investment firms.
The Financial Conduct Authority said its proposals "do not change the rules about how much capital firms must hold but focuses on simplifying and consolidating the existing rules about what qualifies as regulatory capital".
Under the plans, the FCA would remove all references to the UK Capital Requirements Regulation (UK CRR), known as ‘own funds’, which is the capital that banks and other firms must hold to absorb losses in times of market volatility.
"Now the FCA proposes removing the EU-derived rules and to make them clearer and more accessible, reducing the time and resources firms spend interpreting and applying the requirements."
The rules are designed for banks, with large sections which are not relevant to the vast majority of firms, the regulator says.
"We are always trying to be a smarter regulator, and part of that agenda is reducing unnecessary burdens on firms," says Simon Walls, interim executive director of markets at the FCA.
This comes after the watchdog announced a new five-year strategy last month, with plans to streamline operations and support economic growth.
11.14am: More research on UK business optimism
The latest CBI Industrial Trends survey is out and found that output volumes were "broadly unchanged" in the three months to April, with firms expecting volumes to fall marginally in the three months to July.
Business sentiment and export optimism has deteriorated further in the month of April, not surprisingly given the global trade uncertainty, extra domestic costs etc.
Half of respondents cited political or economic conditions abroad as a factor likely to limit their export orders in the coming three months to July, which is the highest proportion in the survey since pandemic-hit April 2021.
Domestic orders also fell, as did the volume of new export orders - albeit marginally, with manufacturers expecting both domestic and export orders to decline in the three months to July.
Costs rose at an accelerated pace in the period, with cost growth expected to accelerate in the three months to July. Domestic price inflation is expected to pick up in the next quarter, whereas export prices are anticipated to be unchanged.
Half of respondents cited political or economic conditions abroad as a factor likely to limit their export orders in the quarter to July, the highest proportion since April 2021. pic.twitter.com/Y5cZzWJlKP— CBI Economics (@CBI_Economics) April 24, 2025
10.43am: Burberry a fashion victim; L&G goes ex-div
The fickle finger of fashion has been pointed at Burberry this morning - well, not directly.
Its shares fell 3.4% after Paris-listed rival Kering, owner of the Gucci label, reported a larger fall in first-quarter sales than analysts had forecast.
Posting results overnight, Kering said sales fell 14%, with a 25% drop at Gucci and 9% at Yves Saint Laurent. Other houses, including Balenciaga and McQueen, were down 11%.
On a rather turgid day, the FTSE 100 has been rangebound around the 20-point loss mark.
The index’s biggest faller, down 5%, is Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN), which is now trading without the investor entitlement to the latest dividend. For the pros in the know (and I know all of you are pros), its called ’going ex-div’.
9.33am: Summary of financial markets in the past 24 hours
Let’s hear from good old Jim Reid, macro strategist at Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn), who notes that Trump’s walking back on tariffs saw the S&P 500 posting consecutive gains of above 1% for the first time since November 6, the day after Trump’s election win.
The US benchmark has now pared back more than half of its losses since the closing low on April 8 – but is still down 5.2% since April 2.
Europe was much the same story, with the Euro Stoxx 600 has now risen by 9.98% since its closing low on April 9, and the VIX ’fear gauge’ index closed at its lowest level since ’liberation day’ on April 2.
"Volatility remains high," says Reid, "as investors struggled to gauge just how much tariff reversal was likely, with Bessent saying there was no unilateral offer to cut tariffs on China. So we’re not quite out of the woods yet."
Reid adds: "We’ll have to see what happens from here, but a large part of the optimism has come about because investors think the US administration will relent more.
"That view was supported by the WSJ’s report yesterday, which suggested the China tariffs could be slashed lower ...[and] also floated the idea of a tiered approach, saying that one possibility was for a 35% tariff on items that weren’t a national security threat, and a 100% tariff on strategic items.
"Shortly after yesterday’s close the FT also reported that the US administration was planning to exempt car parts from some of the most onerous tariffs, avoiding stacking 20% China fentanyl and 25% steel and aluminium levies on top of the 25% auto tariffs."
For US Treasury bonds, the tariff relief and the latest Powell comments led to a further flattening of the yield curve, says Reid, with the 10yr Treasury yield down 1.9bps and the 30yr yield down 5.5bps, while the 2yr yield rose 5.3bps to 3.87%, its highest since April 11 as investors dialed back prospects for near-term Fed cuts.
"A rate cut was 57% priced by the June meeting as of yesterday’s close, down from 78% on Monday."
{{2126|The dodollar index strengthened for a second day running yesterday but is down 0.5% today, with the pound back up to $1.33.
9.13am: Markets have decided it’s a down day (or morning at least)
With just over an hour of Thursday gone, the market seems to be deciding today is a down day, with the FTSE 100 falling 0.3%.
The mid-caps of the FTSE 250 are down 0.6%.
Fallers weighing on the indices include ex-divs L&G and Spirax (LON:SPX), down either side of 5%, as well as Marks & Spencer, Bunzl and HSBC, all down close to 2%.
Across the Channel, the French and German benchmarks are down 0.8%, with Spain’s Ibex 0.3% lower and Italy’s FTSE MIB just above flat.
Precious metals miners Endeavour and Fresnillo, oiler BP (LON:BP), and bond-proxies including Unite, Airtel, Imperial Brands (LON:IMB), SSE (LON:SSE) and several REITs.
Bond yields are falling on both sides of the Atlantic.
8.46am: Ring the Bell
AJ Bell shares are up modestly, continuing their recovery from a recent 10-month low in the wake of the Trump tariff turbulence.
The investment platform operator has published a trading update for its second quarter, which shows assets under administration topping £90 billion for the first time at its March half-year stage, up 13% over the last year and 1% in the quarter.
Customer numbers rose 18% in the year and 6% in the quarter to 593,000 (hello to any of them reading today).
CEO Michael Summersgill noted that, since the end of March, “global trade tariffs and broader macroeconomic uncertainty have created significant market volatility", which he said has led to increased D2C trading activity, where more than three-quarters of these trades were buys with the net investment totalling more than £300 million.
Analyst James Allen at Panmure Liberum said flows were a bit of a "mixed bag" and "worse than the flows reported by peers elsewhere this week and last".
He notes that management "mentions some of the peers being more aggressive on pricing. As a result, the company intends to tweak its pricing structure to make it more competitive going forward".
Allen also adds that he does not expect to make any significant estimate changes, given transactional activity has picked up significantly in April, with higher margins.
8.34am: Weir going to be ok, ok?
Engineer Weir Group has sought to calm investor nerves over the potential fallout from Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying it expects to mitigate any impact and is standing by its full-year guidance.
A trading update for the first quarter from the FTSE 100 firm shows robust global mining activity is driving strong demand for its equipment and services.
Original equipment orders were up 5% year on year, helped by a notable £18 million order for its GEHO pumps, while aftermarket business also rose 5%, buoyed by newly commissioned mining projects.
The shares are down 0.6%.
8.15am: Indecisive start for FTSE
The FTSE 100 started Thursday with a few indecisive steps lower before tiptoeing a few points higher and finding itself up 1.5% point after the first quarter of an hour.
Pulling the index higher were gains for gold miner Endeavour, up 2.6% as gold prices recover from their sell-off yesterday, followed by oil giant BP and utilities Airtel Africa (LON:AAF), SSE and National Grid (LON:NG), all up between 1% and 2%.
Down the bottom, Legal & General and Spirax were down 5.2% and 3.2% as their shares went ex-dividend.
Rentokil Initial (LON:RTO) was down 1.5% as investors read across to rival US pest control competitor Rollins.
Unilever is little moved after its Q1 update.
8am: ’Signs of recovery’
A quick note from Deutsche Bank on Asos, saying the retailer is "showing important signs of its path to recovery".
While LFL sales were down 13% there was a big improvement in gross margin, with saw adjusted EBITDA of £42.5 million, which was below the bank’s £62 million forecast, though full-year guidance of £130-150 million was maintained.
"Whilst profitability is being managed very well, the outlook for FY revenue is at the lower end of the consensus range," analyst Adam Cochrane says, "given weak underlying markets, reduction in discounted sales and a prudent marketing budget".
"Overall we see signs of progress and management is delivering on its plan but we sense some investors would like to see revenue growth," he adds, with shares expected to react positively.
7.55am: Asos results a mixed bag
ASOS (LON:ASOS) PLC (LSE:ASC) reported a smaller loss in the first half of the year but dampened down expectations for full-year revenue growth.
The online fashion retailer’s interim results show group revenues down 13% on a headline basis to £1.3 billion for the 26 weeks to 2 March, with a swing to positive adjusted EBITDA of £42.5 million from a £16.3 million loss a year earlier.
For the full year, the AIM-listed group said it expects revenue growth “towards the bottom end of consensus range”, where City analysts are currently forecasting a decline of between 9% and 2%.
But CEO José Antonio Ramos Calamonte said the half-year results were “the strongest sign yet that our new commercial model is working. We are driving a significant transformation in profitability, with positive adjusted EBITDA up by circa £60 million year on year".
7.29am: Unilever off to a solid start to 2025
First-quarter results from Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) look solid, with underlying sales grew 3.0% that looks to have beaten the 2.7% expected by City analysts expected and the full-year outlook unchanged.
The consumer goods giant says its plan to spin off its ice cream unit are on track and it has revealed the name under which the unit will now be known...drumroll please.... it’s going to be called The Magnum Ice Cream Company – exciting eh?
The full-year outlook for 3-5% underlying sales growth and modest operating margin improvement was unchanged, with Unilver saying the direct impact of tariffs on profitability is "expected to be limited and manageable".
New CEO Fernando Fernandez, appointed in February after predecessor Hein Schumacher was uni-levered out after less than two years in charge, said the year started with "a resilient performance", with "interventions in place in some emerging markets to step up growth in the remainder of the year".
7.15am: FTSE 100 called slightly lower, other futures down too
The FTSE 100 has been called slightly lower ahead of Thursday’s open as the US tariff rollercoaster ride continues.
London’s blue-chip index is down 10 points on the futures market, which would trim some of the 74.6 points gained the day before and saw the benchmark close at 8,403.18.
Asian markets are mixed, and European and US futures are also pointing lower on Thursday, following comments from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on China tariffs, which undercut some of the blind optimism from the day before when President Trump said Chinese imports will be pulled "substantially" lower.
Bessent said that there are no plans to lower the Chinese tariffs unilaterally, but said an upcoming trade meeting with China would be an "incredible opportunity" to strike an agreement, if China was "serious" about making its economy less dependent on manufacturing exports.
Market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank said: "Concretely, the Trump show continues, optimism is too fragile to call the end of the equity selloff."
What to watch on Thursday
Unilever PLC is the biggest of the UK quarterly reporters this week, fresh from the fast-moving consumer goods giant parting ways with its CEO in February.
Analysts at Citi sees the long-term investment case but warned that the consumer goods giant faces a sluggish first half, with weak demand expected in developed markets and a subdued pricing environment in Asia. Tariffs commentary will be interesting...read more
A second-quarter update from AJ Bell PLC comes with the shares down 14% since hitting an all-time high last autumn, after rival HL was taken private. The last update in January showed all the key numbers moving in the right direction and recently Deutsche Bank returned the shares to its ’buy’ list...read more
ASOS PLC climbed off recent 17-year lows on the back of an update that was helped by a return to growth in full-price sales across its own-label ranges. But some analysts said not to read too much into it...read more
Announcements due on 24 April:
Trading updates: AJ Bell, Inchcape, Jupiter Fund Management (LON:JUP), RELX, Spirent Communications (LON:SPT), St James’s Place, Unilever, Weir Group
Interims: ASOS, Tracsis
Finals: Pennant International Group
Overseas earnings: Merck (NSE:PROR) & Co, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Willis Towers Watson (NASDAQ:WTW) (all pre-market), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD), Intel Corp (NASDAQ:INTC),
AGM: Greencoat UK (LON:UKWG) Wind, Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LON:HIK), Murray International Trust (LON:MYI), RELX, Team, Weir Group
Economics announcements: CBI Industrial Trends and Business Optimism Index (UK), IFO survey (GER), Jobless Claims (US), Durable Goods Orders (US), Existing Home Sales (US)
Ex-dividends to reduce FTSE 100 by: 5.65 points (mostly Legal & General Group and Haleon (LON:HLN), also Spirax, Hiscox, Rightmove (LON:RMV))
- FTSE 100 falls 21 points to 8,383
- Burberry out of fashion after Kering bombs
- Results out from Unilever, RELX, Weir, AJ Bell, Asos, Domino’s Pizza