FTSE 100 live: Shares jump to new record high as HSBC and Whitbread rise

• FTSE 100 climbs 49 points to 8196
• HSBC profits beat forecasts, CEO announces retirement
• Premier Inn owner Whitbread plans 1,500 job cuts

12.06pm: FCA proposals criticised

​​​​​​​The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is getting more pushback over its plans to ‘name and shame’ companies under investigation.

Today, PIMFA, the trade association for wealth management, investment services and the financial advice industry, has expressed what it says are “serious concerns” about the proposals to make public enforcement investigations of financial services firms.

Responding to the FCA’s consultation paper, the trade body said: “There is a very real danger the proposals will damage the competitiveness of the UK’s financial services sector as investors are driven away, with the City’s attractiveness as a place to come to do business also diminished.

“In considering its approach, the FCA must surely be aware that larger listed firms subject to public enforcement activity will almost certainly be subject to significant market volatility because of shareholder action.

“Beyond the financial implications, consideration should be given to the reputational impact of an investigation announcement on the firm, its staff, and its customers particularly when exacerbated by press speculation.”

The FCA has argued that an investigation does not automatically mean that there has been misconduct or breaches, but PIMFA dismisses this as showing “a degree of naivety around the way the real-world works”.

Alexandra Roberts, head of regulatory policy and compliance at the body, added: “Public announcements of enforcement investigations might also lead to significant outflows of assets for many larger firms – potentially leaving them hollowed out – and sharp falls in the share price of those firms that are listed on the stock market.” 

11.59am: Another record Footsie high

London’s blue chips kept rising and just a minute or two ago came within a whisker of 8,200, setting a new intraday high of 8,199.95.

It has backed off a little now, but still up 0.57% today. 

Nine of the index’s largest companies are in the green, with HSBC’s near-5% rise on the back of today’s earnings doing a lot of the lifting.

Also in the top 10, Diageo PLC (LSE:DGE) share are up 1%. This is despite UBS and Deutsche Bank reiterating their ‘sell’ stances after 63% owned China-listed subsidiary, Sichuan Swellfun, held a conference after reporting results last week that showed weakness in the People’s Republic.

Whitbread is up 3.8% on the back of the job-cut announcements earlier.

Fallers are still led by Prudential, down 4.3% after it failed to deliver the share buyback that it seems many investors were expecting (see below). 

Anglo American is down 3.4% as no news of further offers dents investor hopes of a bidding war. The latest news is that activist investor Elliott upped its stake to 2.6% from about 2.5% it disclosed late last week, while analysts are speculating on which other potential buyers there could be. 

11.35am: FTSE 100 sets new record high

The FTSE 100 has gone on another burst higher in recent minutes, approaching its all-time intraday high, set yesterday morning. 

Led by HSBC’s gains, which have increased as the morning has gone on, the blue-chip index is up 43 points to top 8,190 for the first time ever.

This topped the London benchmark previous intraday record high of 8189.14 from yesterday.  

And it looks like it’s heading up to further heights in coming minutes. 

11.17am: Eurozone set for more growth, with ECB rate cut still expected

The earlier eurozone GDP numbers confirm a turning point to faster eurozone growth this year, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research.

“This morning’s confirmation of quarterly growth in Q1 has put an end to a short-lived recession in the Eurozone, with the economy having turned a corner since the beginning of 2024,” said Sam Miley, managing economist at the Cebr. 

“Prospects are likely to improve further throughout the year, driven by the expectation of interest rate cuts. Further data released this morning showed that inflation has now stood within one percentage point of target for seven consecutive months, suggesting a suitable environment for the European Central Bank to consider adopting looser monetary policy.”

Miley says rate cuts from the ECB will support growth this year, with the Cebr forescating the eurozone economy will expand by 0.6% in 2024, up from 2023’s growth figure of 0.4%.

Bert Colijn at ING said after the encouraging GDP data for Q1, “the continued modest recovery is putting the eurozone on track for a better-than-expected growth rate for 2024.

“With inflation remaining relatively benign at the moment and unemployment at record lows, the economic environment in the eurozone is looking up.”

Daniele Antonucci, chief investment officer at Quintet Private Bank said the GDP figure beat exceeds the highest prediction in the key polls of forecasters.

He said the GDP figures paint a picture of an improving eurozone economy, well, that “the glass-half-full story”, following the shallow recession the region has gone through in the second half of last year.

The caveat, he says, is that consumer spending across many European countries remains quite feeble.

“The glass-half-empty story is that the pace of growth remains rather anaemic, with the forward-looking indicators pointing to moderately positive economic conditions.

“The contrast with the US, where domestic demand looks resilient and GDP growth appears to be re-accelerating, is stark.”

In the context of inflation, price data for the US has surprised to the upside lately, while the Eurozone data shows a sideways trajectory for overall inflation, in line with expectations and lower in absolute terms than in the US.

Core inflation is slowing somewhat less than expected, just like in the US, but the path remains one of deceleration nonetheless.

“This is why we think the European Central Bank looks set to lower its key policy rate in June, while the Fed will probably wait a while longer and cut to a lesser extent this year. One risk, though, is that the ECB might refrain from lowering rates more than once or twice if the Fed delays the start of its rate-cutting cycle.

“If the ECB were to press ahead regardless, the euro might weaken, as short-term currency dynamics tend to be driven by interest rate differentials between the two regions. A weaker euro would likely raise imported inflation, and so complicate the ECB goal of returning consumer inflation back to its 2% target.”

10.50am: Gilt fears allayed

A UK sale of five-year government debt was oversubscribed by a record amount, the UK Debt Management Office has revealed.

This allays worries that the glut of planned bond issuance this year may struggle to find investor demand.

The DMO put up £4 billion of gilts for sale, receiving bids of more than £12.8 billion.

Last week the government upped the planned level of bond sales to £277.7 billion this fiscal year, the second highest ever.

10.24am: Thoughts on mortgages 

After UK mortgage approvals rose to an 18-month high in March, economists note that this increase was much smaller than those seen in the previous two months.

“This likely reflects the effect of rising mortgage interest rates,” says Peter Arnold, chief economist for EY UK.

“With mortgage rates set to edge up further, as the impact of higher swap rates feeds through, the EY ITEM Club expects the recovery in mortgage approvals to continue to cool.

“Another strong rise in gross unsecured lending adds to the evidence that consumers are shedding the caution that overshadowed 2023,” he said, with solid real income growth also being seen, he added that the EY ITEM Club expects “stronger demand for credit to drive a consumer-led upturn in activity through 2024”.

Rob Wood at Pantheon Macroeconomics said the figures showed households “moved swiftly to capitalise on lower mortgage rates” seen in the quarter, “but it remains to be seen whether this resilience lasts” after the recent rise in borrowing costs, including yesterday’s hikes from NatWest, Nationwide and Santander.

10.17am: Redbird flies away from Telegraph

An attempt to purchase of the Daily Telegraph by UAE-backed investor RedBird IMI is being called offer, Bloomberg reports.

IMI is withdrawing and will look to sell on its rights to the newspaper and Spectator British outlets.

The auction for the options over the media assets begins Tuesday and bidders have already approached the group with expressions of interest, RedBird IMI said in a statement on Tuesday. RedBird IMI said it would focus on securing the best possible value for the assets, “which remain highly attractive.”

10.13am: European markets gloomy despite solid inflation and GDP

Looking across the Channel, there has been strong GDP data and HICP inflation data was unchanged.

The euro-zone came out of its technical recession in the first quarter with gross domestic product rising by a slightly higher-than-forecast 0.3%, largely thanks to increases of 0.2% in Germany and France, 0.3% in Italy and 0.7% in Spain.

Flash HICP data showed that headline inflation remained at 2.4% in April which was in line with the consensus.

Core inflation, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, came down from 2.9% to 2.7% which not as low as the consensus 2.6%.

What economists said was most important for the European Central Bank, services inflation fell to 3.7% from 4.0%, where it had been stuck for five successive months.

“This will encourage policymakers to press on with their planned 25bp rate cut in June,” said Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics.

“Today’s stronger-than-expected Q1 GDP data means the euro-zone has come out of recession but, with core and services inflation both declining in April, this will not prevent the ECB from starting its easing cycle in June.”  

9.47am: Bank of England mortgage and money stats

The latest mortgage approval numbers from the Bank of England show an improvement on the previous month to a 19-month high.  

Net mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to 61,300 in March, the highest number of net approvals since September 2022, the stats show, up from 60,500 in February. This compared to consensus forecasts of 61,500 and 60,000 depending on who you ask. 

Remortgage approvals, which only capture remortgaging with a different lender, fell to 34,200 from 37,700 in the month.

Gross mortgage lending rose from £18.6 billion in February to £20.1 billion in March, its highest amount since February last year. 

The BoE said the ‘effective’ interest rate – the actual interest paid – on newly drawn mortgages decreased by 17 basis points, to 4.73% in March.

Net consumer credit improved to £1.6 billion in March from £1.4 billion, better than the £1.5 billion expected. 

9.27am: Inflation thoughts

While the FTSE maintains its early gains so far, one of the few European markets in the green, let’s have some thoughts on that BRC-NIQ inflation data from earlier.

As a reminder, the BRC shop price index fell 0.8% for April year-on-year, down from 1.3% in March. 

Analyst Kathleen Brooks at XTB says the data provides “further signs that the disinflation trend continues to take hold” and that the deflation in non-food prices to their lowest level since 2021 is the “big news” in this report.

With prices rising at a slower pace across the board, Brooks said, “Overall, this report supports the BOE’s view that inflation will fall sharply this month, and it could pave the way for the BOE to cut interest rates. The market is expecting the first UK rate cut in July, this report is supportive of that assessment.”

Retail sector analyst Clive Black at Shore Capital noted that non-food prices inflation compared to the modestly positive 0.2% score for March and a three-month rolling average of 0.3%. 

“The dip partially reflects the spring 2023 peak of the overall UK retail inflationary cycle, especially in clothing & footwear where a mild autumn persisted into a prolonged wet, windy, grey, and largely dispiriting winter/spring, doing little to encourage seasonal expenditure.”

On food, he said, “disinflation persisted, a message that the CEOs of both Sainsbury and Tesco have spoken to at their respective recent preliminary results, the key caveat being that they do not anticipate in the near-term deflation.”

Looking across to Europe, headline inflation in France fell fractionally in April, to 2.2% from 2.3% the month before, a touch above the consensus 2.1%. The HICP rate was stable at 2.4%, also above the consensus, 2.2%. 

Eurozone inflation is due at 10am London time. 

8.58am: Prudential’s lack of buyback

More on those first-quarter results from Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU). They showed a distinct lack of a big shiny new share buyback, which disappointed investors whose hopes were raised by Hong Kong rival AIA yesterday. 

The FTSE 100-listed insurer, which has a major focus on Asia, reported an 11% rise in new business profit to US$810 million, excluding economic impacts.

Analysts at Jefferies noted that Prudential’s new business growth was considerably slower than AIA, which reported 27% growth for Q1. 

They said: “While we expect that the market was hoping for a share buyback, especially after AIA yesterday, the lack of additional capital returns today is partially compensated for with management’s comment that ‘we expect to provide an update on our capital management plans by the HY 2024 results’.”

8.37am: HSBC and Hargreaves lead FTSE 350 risers

The FTSE 100 is being led higher by HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA), the third largest company on the index, which is up 2.4% on the back of its first-quarter results. 

A further $3 billion share buyback took the gloss off the news that CEO Noel Quinn’s surprise retirement news.  

Read-across from the numbers saw fellow Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:STAN) rise 1.6%.

Drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC AG (LSE:CCH) is another of the top risers, 1.9%, on the back of solid quarterly numbers and with management reiterating full-year guidance.

St James’s Place PLC is now among the leading blue-chip fallers, having started higher in early trading. Net flows in the quarter of £0.7 billion were shy of the City consensus of £0.9 billion.

Biggest faller is Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU), down 4.7% after its results included no buyback, which many expected.

It is followed by Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) and perennial see-saw stock Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO). 

Down in the FTSE 250, Hargreaves Lansdown PLC is up almost 8% after announcing a strong third quarter, with the end of the tax year reigniting activity among clients, who added £0.9 billion in the past two quarters, with a higher-than-expected 34k new customers during the third.

Total net flows of £1.6 billion were well ahead of the consensus forecast of £1.4 billion. 

The FTSE 250 is up almost 48 points at 20,132.38 – still nowhere near its 2021 highs in the 24,000s 

8.10am: FTSE 100 starts higher, Whitbread announces job cuts

The FTSE 100 has started at a healthy trot on Tuesday, adding 22 points to yesterday’s record close to reach 8,169.30.

HSBC and St James Place are both helping matters, up 2.4% and 2% respectively so far. 

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is down 1% after announcing 1,500 job cuts as its restaurant business, which includes chains like Brewers Fayre and Beefeater, struggles. 

Revenues from its UK food and beverage division have dropped 2% year-on-year in the first weeks of the new financial year, largely caused by “softer trading in a number of our branded restaurants”.

7.58am: St James Place

Quarterly numbers from  St James’s Place PLC (LSE:STJ) include no big news on the surge in customer complaints it has been seeing.

The UK’s largest wealth manager said it is “making good progress with our review of the business” and continues to “move forward” with what it admitted are significant programmes of work to review historic client servicing records and to implement the new charging structure announced in October.

The financial guidance associated with each of these remains unchanged, CEO Mark FitzPatrick said, hailing a “good quarter” as client funds under management (FUM) increased to £179 billion from £168.2 million at the end of December.

Elsewhere, Premier Inn owner Whitbread PLC said it would be cutting 1,500 jobs and shutting sites as part of an overhaul of its food and drinks business. 

7.47am: Money inside the card

There are plenty of big and mid-cap results out this morning.

Looking around, Card Factory (LSE:CARD) has reinstated dividend payments following a jump in revenue and profitability over the last year.

Revenue increased by 10.3% to £510.9 million in the year to January, the greeting cards retailer reported, feeding through to a 9% rise in pre-tax earnings to £122.6 million, or 27% to £62.1 million if adjusted to exclude one-offs.

A 4.5p dividend is declared for the year as a result, a figure that the FTSE 250 group was not able to reward shareholders at the interim stage.

7.37am: HSBC boss announces retirement

HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) chief executive Noel Quinn delivered some surprises with the bank’s first-quarter results, including announcing his retirement and a new $3 billion share buyback.

Some analysts had expected an improved outlook, due to reduced policy easing, but the Asia-focused lender keept its guidance unchanged.

A pre-tax profit of $12.7 billion was reported, down from $12.9 billion a year ago but beating the consensus City forecast of $12.6 billion.

Net interest income fell 3.3% to $8.7 billion due to deposit migration, which was better than forecast, while net interest margin of 1.63% was better than analysts predicted.  

7.14am: FTSE 100 heading for new records?

The FTSE 100 has been predicted to start higher on Tuesday as UK shop price inflation dropped to the lowest levels in almost two and a half years. 

London’s equity benchmark was trading 11 points higher on spread-betting platforms ahead of the open, having notched a new record intraday high just above 8189 and a new closing high yesterday of 8,147.03.

Shop price inflation eased to 0.8% in April from 1.3% in March, according to research from the British Retail Consortium, which said this was lowest since December 2021. 

Non-food price inflation even turned negative, with deflation of 0.6% in the month, down from 0.2% and the lowest since October 2021.    

Food inflation softened to 3.4% from 3.7% in the 12th consecutive month of deceleration to the lowest since March 2022.

Today’s company news includes quarterly results from HSBC, where chief executive Noel Quinn also announced his surprise departure after five years.