The Beast from the East strikes again and today it’s the turn of two rather different UK Index companies to highlight the damage inflicted, both footing the blue-chip index. Firstly, Direct Line says the recent “freezing weather hit many drivers, households and businesses hard” (in other words, all customer groups) and it expects claims from…
Just Eat shares are up just shy of 4% after the online food ordering company delivered a smorgasbord of positive Q1 results. Investors are gobbling up news of a 49% jump in Q1 revenues, helped by strong order growth (+32% YoY to 51.6M orders) both in UK (+24%) and overseas (+46%). Investors are clearly ignoring…
The strongest factors influencing the direction and momentum of the FX rate are major macroeconomic indicators, chief among them the changes in the key interest rates. Higher interest rates make the currency more attractive and lead to a stronger Pound. In the UK, interest rate policy is determined by the Bank of England’s (BoE) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC),…
Shares in WPP are 8.8% to the good this morning despite a lacklustre Q1 report card: Q1 net revenues -5.1% (6.1% FX headwind as GBP recovers), like-for like group sales fell -0.1%, key North American sales fell 12.3% (a whopping 10.6% FX drag) and net debt rose 8%. The positive reaction likely derives from a…
Can anything put the brakes on the oil rally? Brent Crude and its cousin WTI have continued advancing throughout 2018, with seemingly nothing holding them back. With Brent’s June futures contracts trading just shy of $75 per barrel, oil prices have reached the highs last seen all the way in November 2014. And as the…
We’re bang in the middle of Q1 earnings season and the UK’s UK 100 index of blue-chip equities has rallied another 1.6%, easily outperforming global peers to hit its highest since early February. It’d be easy to assume that the driver was great results from big name companies, but it was actually a fall in…