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| Yesterday’s UK 100 Leaders | Price (p) | % Chg |
| St. James’s Place PLC | 1,003.0 | 6.8% |
| Whitbread PLC | 2,743.0 | 5.8% |
| Polar Capital Technology Trust PLC | 301.0 | 4.3% |
| Informa PLC | 758.6 | 4.2% |
| Easyjet PLC | 514.6 | 4.0% |
| Yesterday’s UK 100 Laggards | Price (p) | % Chg |
| Lloyds Banking Group PLC | 71.3 | -2.7% |
| Associated British Foods PLC | 2,016.0 | -2.3% |
| London Stock Exchange Group PLC | 11,360.0 | -2.3% |
| Marks And Spencer Group PLC | 380.7 | -2.1% |
| Pearson PLC | 1,174.5 | -1.8% |
| Major World Indices | Price | % Chg | 1 Year |
| UK 100 INDEX | 8,497 | 0.0% | 4.0% |
| DOW JONES INDUS. AVG | 40,753 | 0.2% | 6.6% |
| DAX INDEX | 22,497 | 0.3% | 25.7% |
| NIKKEI 225 | 36,831 | 1.0% | -3.5% |
| S&P/ASX 200 INDEX | 8,238 | 1.1% | 8.6% |
| Commodities | Units | Price | % Chg |
| WTI Crude Oil (Nymex) | USD/bbl. | 59.65 | 0.69% |
| Brent Crude (ICE) | USD/bbl. | 62.52 | 0.63% |
| Gold Spot | USD/t oz. | 3,249 | 0.3% |
| Copper (Comex) | USd/lb. | 469 | 1.3% |
Click graph to enlarge
The UK 100 called to open +57 points this morning at 8,553. The UK 100 looks set to start firmly on the front foot today, the UK’s bluechip index is on a winning streak of 14 days, extending its longest winning run of sessions since 2017.
Stocks rose Stateside on Thursday after strong quarterly results from two Big Tech players eased concerns that artificial intelligence progress would slow amid economic turmoil. The Dow Jones climbed 83.60 points, or 0.21%, to close at 40,752.96. The S&P 5gained 0.63% to end at 5,604.14, still slightly below its levels from before President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement in early April. The Nasdaq increased 1.52%, to close at 17,710.74 and wipe out the decline it experienced since April 2.
Asian markets advanced broadly on Friday, lifted by strong U.S. tech earnings and tentative signs of easing U.S.-China trade tensions. Taiwan’s Taiex Index led regional gains, rising 2.35%, with TSMC up 3.7% after Meta and Microsoft reaffirmed strong AI-related capex plans. Morgan Stanley said TSMC’s “major overhangs” have been largely removed and reinstated the stock as a Top Pick. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 1.6% and the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 3.2%. Alibaba and Tencent advanced 4.3% and 2.4%, respectively. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average added 1.1% and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2% and markets in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand also gained. Mainland China markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday.
NatWest today reported a 36% rise in first quarter operating profit to £1.8 billion, a performance that included a big increase in its provision for bad debts. The impairment charge of £189 million, or 19 basis points of gross customer loans, compared with £93 million a year earlier and £66 million in the previous quarter. The bank said levels of default were stable in the quarter, adding that it continued to have positive momentum across its business.
Shell today unveiled another quarterly shares buyback of $3.5 billion after adjusted earnings of $5.6 billion beat City forecasts for the three months to March. It is the 14th consecutive quarter of at least $3 billion in buybacks. Shell added that total shareholder distributions paid over the last four quarters were 45% of cash flow from operations, in line with its 40-50% policy. The profit haul of $5.6 billion compared with the previous quarter’s $3.7 billion and followed “strong performance across the business”. The dividend for the quarter is unchanged at 35.8 US cents a share.
Standard Chartered on Friday beat first-quarter profit expectations on the back of strong growth in its wealth management and global markets businesses. The bank’s reported profit before taxation for the three months ended in March was $2.103 billion, up from $1.91 billion in the same period a year ago.
UK
Shell (SHEL)
Standard Chartered (STAN)
Natwest (NWG)
US
Chevron (CVX) PMO
Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) PMO
UK
Quilter (QLT)
US
Ford Motor Co (F) PMO
Palantir Technologies (PLTR) AMC
Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) AMC
EU Economic Bulletin
EU CPI
EU Unemployment Rate
US Average Hourly Earnings
US Nonfarm Payrolls
US Unemployment Rate
US Factory Orders
UK 100 companies going ex-dividend on 8th May 2025:
RELX
HSBC
UK 250 companies going ex-dividend on 8th May 2025:
Ibstock
Clarkson
Hochschild Mining
Barr (AG)
Petershill Partners
Playtech
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