Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 down 5 points, Standard Chartered (LON:STAN) rallies 8%
- Energy price cap to drop 12%
- GfK consumer confidence down to -21
FTSE 100 slips as IAG set to see Air Europa deal scrutinised
The FTSE 100 has slipped 5 points despite Standard Chartered rallying 8% after it ramped up bonuses and shareholder returns due to operating income jumping by 10%.
Leading the fallers with 2% drops are St. James’s Place PLC (LON:SJP), WPP (LON:WPP) and British Airways owner IAG.
International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG) saw shares dip after it was revealed Brussels was preparing to reveal its objections to the company's second attempt to purchase Air Europa, the Spanish airline.
The European Commission opened a probe into the deal last month, aimed at deciding whether the purchase would negatively affect consumers through the reduction of competition.
Advertising agency WPP also continued to shed its value, having led the FTSE 100 fallers on Thursday.
Mark Crouch, market analyst at eToro, said: “Advertising is typically first on the chopping block in times of economic uncertainty and with inflationary pressures hampering businesses across the globe in recent times, this has translated into an underwhelming set of results for WPP."
Forget the consumer confidence drop, says economist
Despite consumer confidence worsening in February, analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics believe it shouldn't be something to worry too much about.
Samuel Tombs, chief economist at Pantheon said: "Don’t worry about the small drop in GfK’s composite index in February, which is either just volatility or a seasonal drop, or both.
"The composite index is not seasonally adjusted, but consumers' confidence takes a knock every February, perhaps because the post-Christmas sales end.
Tombs expects that the index will continue to improve as soon as there is more data released indicating inflation is falling, with more spending power set to increase when a likely string of tax cuts comes through in April.
"All told, then, we expect households' real expenditure also to grow at an average quarter-to-quarter rate of 0.5% in 2024, broadly in line with disposable incomes," he concluded.
GfK Consumer Confidence fell to -21 in February from -19 in January, defying forecasts for a slight improvement to -18.
This marked the first fall in four months for the indicator.