Closing post
Time to wrap up - here are today’s main stories:
We’ll be back in the morning. GW
Britain’s FTSE 100 index has begun February with a 1% rally.
The blue-chip stock index has closed 71 points higher at 7536 points.
Silver miner Fresnillo (+4%) and technology-focused investor Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (+3.6%), followed by a clutch of miners and oil giant Shell.
Banks and travel companies also had a solid day.
But Ocado led the fallers, dropping almost 5%.
🔔 European Closing Bell 🔔
— PiQ (@PriapusIQ) February 1, 2022
🇬🇧 FTSE 100 up 0.8%
🇪🇺 STOXX 50 up 0.9%
🇩🇪 DAX up 0.8%
🇫🇷 CAC up 1.2%
🇪🇸 IBEX up 1.4% pic.twitter.com/pS3UY7cPbv
Concerns about the pace of US interest rate rises may have faded a little, as michael Hewson of CMC Markets explains:
European markets have got off to a strong start to February, after last night’s push back by a number of Federal Reserve officials, who poured cold water on some of the hawkish narratives being put out with respect to the Federal Reserve’s hiking timeline.
This timely corrective, from the likes of Bostic, George and Daly, appears to have reset expectations of a 25bps move in March, and away from the narrative that had been suggesting we might see a move of 50bps.
This corrective could get added weight later this week, if we get a weak January payrolls report on Friday. Over the last two weeks we’ve seen consensus expectations revised lower from 238k to 150k, although we are seeing some estimates which suggest that we might see a negative number, due to an increase in sickness levels as a result of Omicron.
Amongst the best performers we’re seeing some decent gains amongst the basic resource and banks, with the likes of Rio Tinto, Glencore, and Anglo American near the top of the pile, while HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group are also doing well.
Supermarkets have been a mixed bag after the latest Kantar grocery sales data for the 12 weeks to 23rd January showed a fall of 3.8%, on a like for like basis. Rising prices also played a part in the decline, with prices rising sharply in the period after Christmas, by as much as 3.8%, a rise of 0.3% from December. In terms of market share only Tesco and Waitrose improved their market share over the 12-week period, despite weaker sales compared to a year ago, helping to push Tesco shares up on the day.
Sainsbury saw sales fall 4.8% year on year, as well as losing some market share, with the shares slipping back. Vodafone and BT shares are also lower ahead of their earnings numbers later this week.
