Proactive Investors - The FTSE 100 has stumbled lower at the open, down 17 points to just under 8182, a fall of 0.2%.
Mining giants are the main weight around the index's neck, with Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN), Anglo American (JO:AGLJ) and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) the big fallers, down 2%, 1.7% and 1.4% respectively.
Top of the leaderboard is Compass after the catering group reported continued 10%-plus growth in the past quarter.
Lloyds (LON:LLOY) insurer Beazley PLC (LON:BEZG) is next, up 2.6%, after putting out an update to reassure that as a leading cyber insurer, Friday's global IT outage the event "will not change" the current guidance for the full year.
Rightmove rent data
The latest data from Rightmove PLC (LON:RMV) came out last night, showing rental inflation easing slightly.
Average advertised rents outside of London hit a new all-time high of £1,314 per calendar month in the second quarter of 2024, indicating a 7% jump from the previous year.
In London, rents hit a new record of £2,661, 4% above the same period in 2023.
While these figures show that rent inflation has come down steadily from the 16% peak witnessed in 2022, supply remains considerably bottlenecked.
Compass points to more growth
FTSE 100-listed caterer Compass Group PLC (LON:CPG) served up solid quarterly numbers, with organic revenue climbing 10.3%.
For the full year, it said it now expects underlying operating profit growth to be above 15% on a constant-currency basis, with organic revenue growth above 10%.
It said all regions performed well, and industry trends remained strong to provide it with an "exciting" menu of potential new business.
Google turned down
Cyber security startup Wiz has turned down a proposed $23 billion takeover from Google in favour of pursuing an initial public offer.
It would have been the largest-ever purchase for Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL).
Instead, Wiz intends to proceed with its IPO, according to an internal memo by its co-founder, reported by CNBC.
Stability for stock markets
Markets began to stabilise again yesterday, says Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn)'s Jim Reid, pointing to the Magnificent 7 tech giants rising 2.3% to lead the recovery after a four-day slump last week.
"The moves came as earnings season is about to ramp up, with Tesla (+5.15%) and Alphabet (+2.26%) set to be the first of the Mag 7 to announce results after the US close today.
"We’ll have to wait to see what those bring, but the optimism spread across markets ahead of that," he says.
For markets, he says the reaction was mainly focused on a few specific assets, "and it basically led to a partial reversal of the 'Trump trade' that was evident last week - although not everything behaved as you would have expected.
"In essence, the perception is that Biden’s withdrawal makes it more likely that the Democrats will keep control of the White House, and the Republicans are less likely to get the full sweep that would also see them win both chambers of Congress, so making Trump’s policies marginally less likely to be implemented."
Solar energy firms did well, while in currencies the Mexican peso strengthened against the US dollar and was one of the top-performing global currencies.
"While there were some clear moves in specific assets, it was difficult to detect a broader move to price in any political outcomes across equities and bonds," says Reid.
To the day ahead, macroeconomic data releases include the European preliminary consumer confidence indicator, US existing home sales for June, the Richmond Fed’s manufacturing index for July, and today’s US earnings releases include Alphabet, Tesla, Visa (NYSE:V), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), General Electric (NYSE:GE) and General Motors (NYSE:GM).
FTSE 100 called lower
The FTSE 100 has been called lower on Tuesday as the index continues a summer season as changeable as the weather.
Futures for London's blue-chip benchmark are pointing 31 points lower, after it finished up 43 points at 8,198.78 at the start of the week.
European futures are mixed, with the Eurostoxx 50 and Gernany's DAX seen heading higher but France's CAC 40 joining the FTSE in the red.
Asian markets are also inconsistent, with Japan's Nikkei and Singapore's benchmark higher, but the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, the Shanghai Composite and India's Sensex all lower.
Overnight, US stocks finished on the front foot, led by the tech-packed Nasdaq and small-cap Russell 2000, which jumped 1.6% and 1.7% respectively, while the S&P 500 rose 1.1% and the Dow Jones 0.3%.
One reason for the FTSE's possibly heading lower is the price of oil, with Brent crude down 0.1% at $82.35 per barrel.
"The expectation that OPEC will start unwinding its production restrictions in Q4 and the rising odds that Trump presidency would further boost the US production take the upper hand," says market analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank.
"From a technical standpoint, oil has now stepped into the medium-term bearish consolidation zone and could experience deeper declines."