Closing post
Time to wrap up… here are today’s main stories:
The UK’s construction sector rebounded back into growth last month as fears of a recession fade.
The latest PMI survey found there was a “robust increase” in overall business activity across the UK construction sector last month, driven by in commercial work and civil engineering activity, although housebuilding continued to contract.
UK firefighters have accepted a pay offer aimed at averting strike action.
Mining stocks have dropped in London, after China set a conservative growth target of around 5% this year.
The number of cars sold in the UK increased by 26% year on year in February, the seventh successive month of growth as the industry recovers from the depths of the global computer chips shortage.
Luxury car maker Aston Martin is on track for first place on the leaderboard of top-performing shares in London this morning, a day after a very credible performance in the first Formula One race of the season.
Aston Martin is leading the FTSE 250 leaderboard, up 15%, having been up 25% at one stage this morning.
Last week, the company reported that pre-tax losses doubled last year, to £495m in 2022, but did predict “significant improvements in profitability” in the second half of this year.
Today’s rally comes after Fernando Alonso finished third in the Bahrain Grand Prix after a sparkling drive, (shrugging off an early bump from behind from teammate Lance Stroll, the team boss’s son).
So what’s going on?
Anthony Dick, an auto analyst at Oddo BHF, reckons the F1 result could be a factor, although investors who have bet against Aston Martin could be caught in a short squeeze.
He says, via Bloomberg:
“Could be some shorts covering or generally improved perception on the back of reassuring FY22 results.
It’s also possible the F1 performance could have something to do with it.”
Aston Martin surges as much as 22% in an unusual rally that some analysts have attributed to a short squeeze https://t.co/KiTW3Vcku8
— Bloomberg (@business) March 6, 2023
Investment bank Jefferies raised its price target for Aston Martin this morning, from 120p to 160p – today’s rally, though, has taken them from 240p to 275p today.
Jefferies said last week’s results were “interesting”, with a mix of “more confident qualitative comments from management and worsening 2023 financials”.
While we acknowledge progress on product and pricing, the path to organic de-leveraging is unclear. We think shares have run ahead of themselves and we would seek better entry points
