London stocks were expected to move higher on Friday after the S&P 500 index hit 5,000 for the first time on Wall Street.
The FTSE 100 was expected to open around 10 points higher.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, Senior Analyst swissquote bank“The S&P 500 index traded at the psychological milestone of 5,000 and then closed several points below this level. This rally has not only been driven by interest rate cut expectations and AI speculation. “This is also supported to some extent by boosting profits from high-tech companies.” From the league’s star players.
“note that apple, microsoft, alphabet, Amazon and meta generated approximately $140 billion in cash from operations last quarter. This was the highest amount on record. ”
UK company news, supermarket giants tesco sold its retail banking business to barclays The companies say the deal is worth 600 million pounds.
The companies also announced a 10-year partnership to sell and distribute credit cards, unsecured personal loans and deposits under the Tesco brand, as well as explore other opportunities to provide financial services to Tesco customers. did.
Tesco said it plans to raise a further £100m after certain regulatory capital amounts and transaction costs have been resolved. Combined with the previously announced special dividend of £250m paid by Tesco Bank in August last year, it is expected to generate a total of around £1bn in cash, the majority of which will be in the form of incremental share buybacks. The proceeds will be returned to shareholders.
polymer group victrex announced a “soft start” for the first quarter, with group revenue falling by more than a fifth, following continued weakness in end markets and harsh comparisons with the previous year.
Nevertheless, the company said the weakness in the three months to December 31 was in line with the broader chemicals sector, with chief executive Jakob Sigurdsson saying there were “signs of improvement in monthly run rates” in the second quarter. It pointed out.
bellway announced in a trading update that it had completed 4,092 homes at an average sales price of £309,300, delivering first-half housing income of more than £1.25bn, in line with expectations.
Despite slower building cost rises, the housebuilder reported a 15.4% rise in private booking rates, reflecting improved customer demand, with a rise in sales of £7,700 in the second half, down from £292.5m a year. It said it plans to open more than 40 new stores, backed by £10,000 of net cash. -All year round.