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- FTSE 100 down 18 points at 7,555.
- December wage growth places spring rate cuts in doubt.
- TUI (LON:TUIT) questions London listing after record quarter.
Oil prices gain on IEA assurances
Oil prices gained on Tuesday, following assuring comments from the International Energy Agency that markets should remain “comfortable” this year.
New supplies will continue to satisfy growing demand, according to the agency, with consumption increasing at a slowing rate year-on-year.
Daily global consumption will climb by 1.2 million to 1.3 million barrels in 2024, the agency added, being easily matched by growing production in the Americas.
Brent crude climbed 0.6% to US$82.49 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate jumped 0.8% to US$77.53.
Tui shareholders expected to back London delisting
TUI AG could be on course to deal the London Stock Exchange with yet another blow after urging investors to back plans to ditch its UK listing on Tuesday.
Following the travel firm’s report of record first quarter results on Tuesday morning, shareholders will vote on the proposal later in the day.
“The termination of the listing in London would offer understandable advantages for investors and the company,” Tui told investors ahead of the vote.
This would include “simplification of structures, improvement in liquidity and indexation, and support for EU airline ownership,” the firm added.
TUI: Analysts split on travel giant; real news comes later Tuesday
Such a move away from London would mark yet another blow for the market, as Tui becomes one of a number of firms eyeing listing elsewhere on the back of post-Brexit reforms.
“This comes after a period of weak price action in the UK post-Brexit, resulting in discounted valuations for UK stocks,” interactive investor analyst Victoria Scholar explained.
Highlighting a near doubling in value of former London-constituent Arm Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:ARM) over the past five days, she added such success elsewhere served as “a painful reminder of that nasty blow to London’s public markets”.
US stocks called lower as markets await inflation data
US stock markets are expected to fall on Tuesday’s opening bell as investors eagerly await inflation data for January.
The Nasdaq is being called 0.7% lower at 17,851 based on futures trading ahead of the data’s release, which is expected at 1.30pm.
S&P 500 and Dow Jones futures have the indexes down 0.4% and 0.1% respectively meanwhile, at 5,022 and 38,830.
“A potentially stronger inflation report could further bolster the dollar's position against currencies with lower yields,” City Index analyst Fawad Razaqzadal commented ahead of the figures.
“A softer reading would be welcomed by traders favouring foreign currencies over the US dollar.”
Analysts are expecting the consumer price index figure to sit at 2.9% for January, against a reading of 3.4% in December.
Elsewhere in the US, Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), Airbnb and Shopify are among big companies set to report on Tuesday.
Today’s FTSE 100 risers and fallers so far
DS Smith PLC (LON:SMDS), GSK PLC (LON:GSK) and Anglo American (JO:AGLJ) led the FTSE 100 risers come mid-morning on Tuesday.
Shares in DS Smith sat 1.6% higher, with reports having circulated in recent days over an impending takeover offer from rival packaging firm Mondi PLC (LON:MNDI).
Anglo American climbed by 1.3%, followed by GSK's 1.2% gain meanwhile, with the latter having been granted an upgrade by CitiGroup earlier in the day.
GSK: American investment bank goes positive on the stock for the first time in seven years. Here's why
Frasers Group PLC (LON:FRAS) led the fallers, with losses of 2.4%, which themselves came after gains on the back of a share buyback announcement on Monday.
Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LON:SMT) and Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR) then followed closely with losses of around 2.4% each respectively.
Scottish Mortgage’s turbulence is said to follow losses by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), which makes up its seventh largest holding, overnight.