London stocks were expected to edge higher on Wednesday as investors focused on the latest policy announcements from the US Federal Reserve.
The FTSE 100 index was called for to open seven points higher at 7,673.
CMC market “Looking at the opening of European markets today, the focus today will be on the knock-on effects of last night’s quarterly results,” said analyst Michael Hewson. microsoft and alphabet, the latest inflation statistics for France and Germany, and today’s Fed interest rate decisions. ”
On the coast of my hometown, Nationwide It was revealed that house prices rose in January as mortgage interest rates fell.
House prices were flat in December, but rose by 0.7% from the previous month. Meanwhile, for the year, prices fell by just 0.2% in January, following a 1.8% decline in the previous month. This was the strongest performance since January 2023.
Robert Gardner, Chief Economist at Nationwide, said: “There have been some encouraging signs for potential buyers recently as mortgage rates continue to trend lower. Investors are becoming more optimistic about the outlook for bank rates, as investors’ views on this issue have changed.” The UK government will likely cut interest rates in the coming years.
“These changes are important because they led to a decline in long-term interest rates (swap rates), the basis for mortgage pricing, around the start of the year. The data warn that the outlook for interest rates remains highly uncertain. ”
Company News, Professional IT Service Provider FDM group said it expects full-year revenue to be flat, confirming a warning it issued in November about the hit from geopolitical uncertainty and customers delaying project decisions.
Calendar 2023 revenue is expected to rise 1% to £334m as customer referrals fell by 21% and FDM was forced to make a tenth of its internal staff redundant.
Chief Executive Officer Rod Flavell said: “The last nine months of 2023 have seen challenging trading conditions across markets, given the macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties faced by many of our customers. “This has resulted in delays and deferrals of decisions regarding projects and consultant assignments.”
“Customer engagement levels remain encouraging and the early signs of a return to customer confidence that we reported in November continue.”
De Beers, mining giant’s diamond division anglo americanreported that the diamond market prompts signs of further stabilization following a significant increase in revenue from the first sale bids of the new financial year.
The company said it sold $370 million in rough diamonds in the first cycle of bidding, down from $454 million in the first cycle of the same cycle last year, but in the final sales cycle of 2023. It was announced that the amount was significantly higher than the previous estimate of $137 million.
De Beers CEO Al Cook said, “Solid consumer demand for U.S. diamonds during the year-end holiday season has certainly helped stabilize the industry, with prices for polished diamonds once again rising. “We’re seeing it go up,” he said.
Sales have been in sharp decline since the spring of 2023, dropping to a low of $80 million in Cycle 9 (November), compared to $540 million in Cycle 3 (April).