Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 falls after steady start, down 22 points
- Persimmon green shoots lift housebuilders
- StanChart results top expectations, but banks weaken on US nerves
London stocks remain in red
The FTSE 100 is largely sitting around 20 points in the red as traders seem to be waiting for New York counterparts to join in and set the tone for the rest of the session.
AB Foods (LON:ABF), Spirax-Sarco (LON:SPX) and CRH (LON:CRH) are the biggest fallers, with drugs giant AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) dragged lower by GSK (LON:GSK) numbers out earlier.
The leaderboard is topped by Persimmon (LON:PSN), up 6% after its update, dragging rival housebuilders Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) and Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV) behind it, up 2.5%.
Looking down to the FTSE 250, it is down 0.17%.
Drax (LON:DRX) is the top riser, up 3.9% despite reports that its biomass fuel is being investigated by UK energy regulator and its own scientific advisers questioning whether it should even be calling biomass 'carbon neutral'.
Main fallers include travel groups Carnival PLC (LON:CCL) and TUI (LON:TUIT) amid a Bloomberg report that Chinese tourists remain wary of traveling overseas.
Retail survey
While the CBI remains embroiled in controversy, its research arm is still working and has published its Distributive Trades Survey, which looks at the retail sector.
Its reported sales balance rose to +5 in April, from +1 in March. No consensus forecast is reported.
The survey suggests retailers saw an uptick in sales in April, while the sales-for-the-time-of-year balance increased to a 17-month high of +21 in April, from +12 in March, remaining well above its average of -2 in the prior 35 years.
Gabriella Dickens, economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the time-of-year data has a slightly better relationship with the official data than the main balance.
She said the main figure perhaps got a boost from the hike to state benefits, but this will prove to be temporary, given that the real value will decline again over the coming months as prices continue to rise.
"In addition, both business surveys and the Insolvency Service’s data on redundancy notifications suggest employment will merely flatline over the coming months."
New CBI boss, Amazon union recognition sought
Looking at other stories in the business world this morning, the CBI's new boss starts today after the allegations of sexual misconduct reported in recent months.
The business group's former chief economist, Rain Newton-Smith, is taking over as director general, though many corporations have cancelled their membership.
Elsewhere, UK workers at Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) are applying for union recognition after membership numbers soared to 700, thought to be over half the staff on site.
If the Amazon Coventry site is successful, it would be the first time that UK workers at an Amazon site have won trade union recognition, said the GMB Union, which is representing them and organised recent strike action over pay and conditions.
There's also more inflation news, with Pret a Manger hiking the price of its coffee subscription 20%, which it said was in line with its staff pay hike but not as much as its 200% energy price rise.
The offer of five coffees a day is rising from £25 a month to £30, with a new 10% discount now also offered on food and snacks, with the service renamed “Club Pret”.
Crypto markets boosted by banking worries
In the world of crypto, big guns Bitcoin and Ethereum have been seeing a First Republic Bank (NYSE:FRC) bounce.
Something resembling an inverse relationship has been formed, writes our crypto correspondent, with bitcoin rallying close to 3% following First Bank’s disclosures and shares tanking yesterday.
"While open interest in the derivatives market has not noticeably surged, the tick higher on bitcoin’s spot price implied a rush of inflows as investors seek to diversify."